[1] His name was also used on screenplays written by ghostwriters, nonfiction books on military subjects occasionally with co-authors, and video games.

He was a part-owner of his hometown Major League Baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles, and vice-chairman of their community activities and public affairs committees.

Originally an insurance agent, Clancy launched his literary career in 1984 when he sold his first military thriller novel The Hunt for Red October for $5,000 published by the small academic Naval Institute Press of Annapolis, Maryland.

[1][2] The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games (1987), Clear and Present Danger (1989), and The Sum of All Fears (1991) have been turned into commercially successful films.

Tom Clancy's works also inspired games such as the Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, The Division, and Splinter Cell series.

Despite the academic change, he continued to be an indifferent student spending a majority of his time reading books on military and naval history instead of tending to his studies.

[7] He joined the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps; however, he was ineligible to serve due to his myopia (nearsightedness), which required him to wear thick eyeglasses.

[1] Clancy's literary career began in 1982 when he started writing The Hunt for Red October, which in 1984 he sold for publishing to the Naval Institute Press for $5,000.

[1][2][10] The book was critically praised for its technical accuracy, which led to Clancy's meeting several high-ranking officers in the U.S. military, as well as Steve Pieczenik, and to inspiration for recurring characters in his works.

He repeatedly uses the formula whereby the heroes are "highly skilled, disciplined, honest, thoroughly professional, and only lose their cool when incompetent politicians or bureaucrats get in their way.

"[13] The Cold War epic Red Storm Rising (1986)[14] was co-written (according to Clancy in the book's foreword) with fellow military-oriented author Larry Bond.

He co-authored memoirs of top generals, and produced numerous guided tours of the elite aspects of the American military.

[citation needed] Andrew Bacevich states: Clancy did for military pop-lit what Starbucks did for the preparation of caffeinated beverages: he launched a sprawling, massively profitable industrial enterprise that simultaneously serves and cultivates an insatiable consumer base.

[19] In 1993, Clancy joined a group of investors that included Peter Angelos, and bought the Baltimore Orioles from Eli Jacobs.

[22][23] The first NetForce novel, titled Net Force (1999), was adapted as a 1999 TV movie starring Scott Bakula and Joanna Going.

He also branded several lines of books and video games with his name that are written by other authors, following premises or storylines generally in keeping with Clancy's works.

[25] Based on his interest in private spaceflight and his US$1 million investment in the launch vehicle company Rotary Rocket,[26] Clancy was interviewed in 2007 for the documentary film Orphans of Apollo (2008).

Among other observations during this interview, Clancy cited discussions he had with military experts on the lack of planning to deal with a hijacked plane being used in a suicide attack and criticized the news media's treatment of the United States Intelligence Community.

Clancy appeared again on PBS's Charlie Rose, to discuss the implications of the day's events with Richard Holbrooke, New York Times journalist Judith Miller, and Senator John Edwards, among others.

[44] In a June 27, 1993, interview with The Washington Post, he was quoted as saying, "I've had [sex scenes] in my books before, but you had to look real fast because, you know, I'm a married Catholic and I don't do that.