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.
Irish art historian and WWII espionage officer
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. 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 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.
Japanese-American artist, children’s book author, and civic activist who worked with the OSS (predecessor to the CIA)
Washington socialite on the eve of the Civil War and a spy for the Confederacy
Ruth Wilson was hired by the NSA in 1918 as a Spanish linguist for the first peacetime cryptologic service MI-8 better known as the “American Black Chamber.”
Vera Ruth Filby served with the Women Accepted for Voluntary Exceptional Service (WAVES) and the Communications Supplementary Activity, the Navy’s cryptologic organization, during World War II.
Eloise R. Page was a prominent and well-respected CIA officer, who shattered several glass ceilings during her remarkable career.