Among Honest Communists is Dan J. Basta’s true account of tales during the height of the "Cold War" (1973 - 1975) about: lurking spies and counter intelligence agents; the impacts of the "Yon Kippur War" and Russian pressures; face to face encounters with "operatives"; unexpectedly finding common ground with drunken Russians; being buzzed by MIG-21s; and of the realization many years later that the Author may have unwittingly been playing a role in an east-west covert operation. The tales reveal that, during the Cold War, many things may not have been what they appeared to be, as is probably the case in the current turmoil engulfing Eastern Europe. There are lessons in these tales, including the fragmentation of the former Yugoslavia, that are directly relevant to the people and events unfolding affecting the former Republics of the Soviet Union - perhaps even in the Ukraine.

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About the speaker

Raised in an Italian immigrant family from Brooklyn, New York, Daniel J. Basta has had an exciting if not unorthodox career, which over five decades has taken him around the world, from huddled around cooking fires with indigenous peoples in Papua New Guinea to dinner at the White House with the President and many places in between.

His professional interest took him from the Aerospace Industry to practically every facet of environmental engineering and management. He has published several scientific books and more than 50 technical papers and articles.

His extensive experience with joint US Navy history projects included those involving the wreaks of the USS Monitor, the US Conestoga, and others.

He has three engineering degrees and was a senior civil servant in the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for nearly four decades before his retirement. Basta is best known in NOAA for his long-term management and the evolution of the Nation’s National Marine Sanctuary system (1999 to 2016).

Outside of NOAA he is best known for his expeditions to faraway places, underwater adventures, and as a major proponent of re-discovering Maritime Heritage as a means to have the past inform the future. In 2014 he received The National Maritime Historical Societies Distinguished Service Award for his leadership.

Since retirement, he has become a writer and author, spinning the tales of his adventures, sometimes to the wildest of places, and the colorful people he finds there.