Date of Award
Spring 2026
Document Type
Thesis (Master's)
Department or Program
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
First Advisor
William Phillips
Second Advisor
Eugenie Carabatsos
Third Advisor
Harriette Yahr
Abstract
Active Measures is a Cold War era espionage drama, written for television. In the story, two mid-level agents in a centrally located, yet functionally unimportant CIA station are scapegoated after a high-level defection is sabotaged by an unknown mole, resulting in the defector’s death. Having found intelligence sewn into the defector’s jacket, the agents, John O’Neil and Sam Rosen, attempt to pursue his lead and clear their names while under internal investigation.
The story is influenced by the moral ambiguity of espionage novels by Alan Furst and John le Carre, and the television series The Americans. Like these predecessors, Active Measures aims to cultivate a strong, character-driven story that accentuates the ambiguities of the espionage world. It explores the emotional and physical scars of service, the maintenance of individuality in a life defined by dedication to a nation, its bureaucracy, and ideology, and the use of power and authority as a shield behind which one can hide avarice, greed, and ulterior motives. It asks questions about how one maintains one’s moral center while living and working in a physical and psychological battleground, and how years of exposure to such stresses can corrode or reinforce one’s best instincts. It aims to complicate depictions of why people serve and how they feel about their service.
Recommended Citation
Campbell, Jacob, "Active Measures" (2026). Dartmouth College Master’s Theses. 285.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/masters_theses/285
