Espionage Archives - Page 3 of 10

Marlisa L Smith

US National Security Agency Chief of Staff

Jacqueline K Van Landingham

She was one of the first African Americans at the CIA to lose her life in service to her country.

Ann Bates

Loyalist spy in the American Revolutionary War

Barbara A. Robbins joined the CIA, but just two years later – in March 1965 – she was killed when terrorists bombed the U.S. Embassy in South Vietnam. She was the first female CIA officer to die in the line of duty and she remains the youngest ever, at just 21-years old.

Erica O’Donnell

Irish art historian and WWII espionage officer

Virginia Jenkins Riley

In the early 1960s, Riley was one of the designers and programmers of a general program written for the UNIVAC 490, the first computer designed specifically for real-time applications at NSA. In the late 1960s, she moved to the Cryptanalysis Department at the National Cryptologic School, where she developed a new course in Cryptanalytic Diagnostics.

Dr Sarah Botsai

Dr. Botsai spent twelve years in Operations before she was selected for a tour as the NSA representative in the White House Situation Room, the first NSA woman to hold this position. After her two-year tour she was asked to return as the Deputy Director of the White House Situation Room. She also attended the National War College, the first NSA woman to do so, graduating in 1977.

Vera Shoffner Russell

Vera Shoffner Russell graduated from West Virginia State College as a math and physics major in 1951. She took the government employment math test and was offered a position at the NSA. She reported to the Agency in 1951 and was assigned as a programmer on the early computers, ABNER 2, ATLAS 1, and ATLAS 2.