John H. Waller, 81; Ex-CIA Officer Wrote About Espionage, War

John H. Waller, 81, a former CIA official who wrote books on historic espionage and war, died Thursday in Washington, D.C., of complications from pneumonia.

Perhaps best-known among his writings was the 1990 “Beyond the Khyber Pass: The Road to British Disaster in the First Afghan War.” The book examines 19th century war and international intrigue in India and Afghanistan, including the 1840s siege of Kabul, as Queen Victoria’s Britain and czarist Russia struggled for strategic advantage in the region.

Waller also wrote “Gordon of Khartoum: The Saga of a Victorian Hero” in 1988, “The Unseen War in Europe: Espionage and Conspiracy in the Second World War” in 1996, and “The Devil’s Doctor: Felix Kersten and the Secret Plot to Turn Himmler Against Hitler” in 2002.

A native of Paw Paw, Mich., Waller went into counterespionage for the Office of Strategic Services, predecessor of the CIA, in 1943 when he was refused for military service because of an ear disorder. He later worked in Iran, Sudan and India as well as at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., rising to inspector general.