John was drawn to the Middle East and the Palestine problem as a graduate student and worked with service groups before a career with the CIA, residing in Lebanon, Pakistan, Jordan, and Indonesia before retiring in 2005. Since then he has focused volunteer e!orts on local issues and served as an o”cer of several area historical nonpro#ts. John is author of Alexander Robey Shepherd: The Man Who Built the Nation’s Capital, detailing construction of Washington, D.C.’s infrastructure in the years after the Civil War.