Born in the United States, Rose was raised in Australia and Britain and educated at Cambridge University.
[1] He was awarded a doctorate for his thesis, Radar Strategy: The Air Dilemma and British Politics, 1932–1937.
He worked as a journalist for several years, including as an editorial writer for The Daily Telegraph (UK) and the National Post (Canada).
He has authored Kings in the North: The House of Percy in British History, a biography of some thirteen generations of the barons and earls of Northumberland between 1066 and 1485; Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring (a detailed account of George Washington's personal spies, the Culper Ring); American Rifle: A Biography, describing how America's military firearms shaped the country's history and vice versa; and Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World concerning the competition between airplanes and zeppelins.
[2][3] Rose writes the Spionage newsletter, and his work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Observer, the CIA journal Studies in Intelligence, MHQ: The Quarterly of Military History, Invention & Technology, Intelligence & National Security, The National Interest, and the English Historical Review.