Dumb Question


Who was Spinnaker? Jack Ryan was talking to him on Bill Cabot's palm pilot(?) in the middle of the catastrophe and I never understood if he's the old man who takes out Dresser in the end, or not?
Dumb question, I know. But that part always confused me about who the source was.

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Hollywood BS is what Spinnaker is.

Does not exist in the Jack Ryan Series (Ryanverse)


Ryan was getting some deep intel about who was responsible for the Nuclear attack, more specifically, that Russia was NOT responsible. It's been a while since I read the Novel but it was based upon reports from either Kardinal or his successor.

The Film's Spinnaker is loosely based upon this idea but blown all out of proportion (as is everything else about this film)

Just like Cabot was altered to give a large and important role to Morgan Freeman to be a replacement "Greer" as James Earl Jones' character had previously died and they wanted an "Elderly and Wise Black Man Mentor" figure for the young Ryan.

In Clancy Canon... Cabot was a sniveling little sycophant that was a political appointee and did not know how to do his job, just enjoyed the perks of the job. Ryan was the Deputy Director (not some newbie analyst) and was burning out having to do his job AND his Boss's job.

I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!

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Oh wow! I had no idea about any of this! Then again, I've never read the novel.
It just seemed weird how that name popped up and was never spoken of before, or maybe I missed that part. But Jack Ryan never mentioned Spinnaker again after speaking with him.
But thank you for clarifying that for me! 🙂

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." -Gandalf the Grey

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Been a while since I red the books, too. Though I think "Spinnaker" is the codename given to a turned KGB informant.
He's found out in "The Cardinal of the Kremlin". In "Clear and Present Danger" he's part of the work Ryan is given to keep him away from the Columbian operation.
He might make other brief appearances, but I can't think of any other than the above.

If there was such appearance in the book here, it was unrelated to the plot.

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