Born: 1915, United States
Died: 16 September 2004
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following is republished from the National Security Agency. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Born in October 1915, Velva Klaessy attended Iowa State Teachers College, earning a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics. She worked in the Iowa public schools from 1937 until 1944 when she joined the World War II cryptologic effort.
She remained in the field following the war as the Armed Forces Security Agency and NSA were formed. For many years she was a member of the highly respected Technical Consultants group. This organization, made up of some of the Agency’s most talented cryptanalysts, assisted other analytic offices with their most difficult problems. While with the group, she and a male officer spent July and August 1953 in the Far East training military personnel. This is noteworthy because at that time, according to oral tradition, female NSA employees never went on Temporary Duty (TDY) assignments to this part of the world. Her work there was highly praised. Before leaving the technical consultants organization, she made at least one other TDY, this time to the United Kingdom.
From 1958 to 1967, Ms. Klaessy held positions of high responsibility in organizations dealing with cutting-edge technology. In 1958, she was part of a three-member team called the Advanced Weaponry and Astronautics Research Division (AWARD). From there she moved to be the deputy chief of the New and Unidentified Signals Division and was finally made its chief in 1964.
Ms. Klaessy returned to what is now called the extended Enterprise in 1967 when she was named Deputy Senior United States Liaison Officer (SUSLO) in Ottawa, Canada, and then SUSLO in 1970. As SUSLO, she represented the United States Intelligence Board and the NSA in all signals intelligence and communication security matters with the appropriate organizations in Canada. She was the first woman to hold a senior liaison officer post anywhere in the world.
Velva Klaessy returned to Fort Meade in 1975 but retired shortly afterwards.