From 1995 through late 1999, Charles was served as Staff Director and Chief Counsel for the Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight under chairmen Bill Zeliff, Dennis Hastert and John Mica.

He was also senior staffer to the Speaker's Task Force on a Drug-Free America and U.S. House Bi-Partisan Drug Policy Group during this period.

[5] His management style was detailed in State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration,[6] Seeds of Terror,[7] and The New York Times.

His latest book, Eagles and Evergreens (North Country Press, 2018), contains 45 stories on growing up in rural Maine under the influence of WWII veterans, celebrating non-artisan values they passed along.

Eagles and Evergreens got endorsed by The Washington Post, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, Apollo 11 astronaut and Korean War veteran Buzz Aldrin, and the Chief Speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, Tony Dolan, as well as others.