“For a small cadre of CIA veterans, the death of Osama bin Laden was more than just a national moment of relief and closure. It was also a measure of payback, a settling of a score for a pair of deaths, the details of which have remained a secret for 13 years. Tom Shah and Molly Huckaby Hardy were among the 44 U.S. Embassy employees killed when a truck bomb exploded outside the embassy compound in Kenya in 1998.”
AP (5/29/2011)
“Molly exemplified the valor and compassion that are hallmarks of our finest officers.”
CIA Annual Memorial Ceremony (May 22 2012)
The Memorial Wall is a memorial at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It honors CIA employees who died in the line of service. There are 133 stars carved into the white Alabama marble wall. Eleven represent women.
August 7 2020 — The Memorial Wall is a memorial at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The wall honors CIA employees who died in the line of service. Today, there are 133 stars carved into the white Alabama marble wall. Eleven are known represent women. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
RELATED POST: Mother, Daughter, Sister, SPY – Women of the CIA
RELATED POST: CIA : A Few Good Women
RELATED POST: Jane Wallis Burrell — First CIA Officer to Have Died While in Service
RELATED POST: CIA : A Few Good Women – Barbara A. Robbins (July 26, 1943 – March 30, 1965)
RELATED POST: CIA : A Few Good Women – Monique N. Lewis (October 29, 1946 – April 18, 1983)
RELATED POST: CIA : A Few Good Women – Deborah M. Hixon ( 15 Sep 1952 – April 18 1983)
RELATED POST: CIA : A Few Good Women – Phyllis Nancy Faraci ( 1939 – April 18 1983)
RELATED POST: CIA : A Few Good Women — Jacqueline K. Van Landingham (1962 – March 8 1995)
RELATED POST: Remembering CIA Leslianne Shedd (September 15 1968 – November 23 1996)
RELATED POST: Remembering CIA Molly C. H. Hardy [Dec. 15 1946 – Aug. 7 1998]
RELATED POST: Remembering CIA Rachel A. Dean (April 10 1981 – September 30 2006)
RELATED POST: On This Day — Remembering CIA Elizabeth Hanson ( February 14 1979 – December 30 2009 )
RELATED POST: On This Day — Remembering CIA Jennifer Matthews ( December 6 1964 – December 30 2009 )
RELATED POST: CIA Memorial Wall — The Mysterious Star : Ranya Abdelsayed (April 28 1979 – August 28 2013)
***** ***** *****
A special page “CIA Book of Honor” has been created.
This page will allow you to find the references to the stars we have already written about. I will try to keep this page up to date.
***** ***** *****
Molly C.H. Hardy died in the August 1998 suicide bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. She was 51.
“Veteran officer Molly N. Hardy, moments before she was killed in the August 1998 suicide bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi, used her keen situational awareness to warn colleagues to take cover.” [CIA Website]
[NOTE. Her full name is Molly Carol Huckaby Hardy. So, the CIA — see website — seems to be a mistaken regarding her middle name. ]
Hardy was a divorced mother from Valdosta, Georgia, who raised a daughter as she traveled to Asia, South America and Africa over a lengthy career.
At the CIA station in Kenya, she handled the office finances, including the CIA’s stash of money used to pay sources and carry out spying operations.
She was a new grandmother and was eager to get back home when Al Qaeda struck.
PS: Did you know Molly C. H. Hardy? Would you like to share a story? Just let us know.
The 1998 US Embassy Bomb in Nairobi, Kenya
REFERENCES
Women of the CIA — Newsweek
The Mystery of Jane Wallis Burrell: The First CIA Officer To Die in the Agency’s Service — CIA news & Information
Remembering CIA’s Heroes: Barbara A. Robbins — CIA Website
Barbara Robbins: A slain CIA secretary’s life and death — WP
Tribute to Women Who Have Died — STUDIES IN INTELLIGENCE
CIA discloses names of 15 killed in line of duty — LA Times
CIA Holds Annual Memorial Ceremony to Honor Fallen Colleagues — CIA Website
Phyllis (Nancy) Faraci — Human Rights & Democracy for Iran
REAGAN SAYS BLAST WON’T DETER PEACE EFFORTS — NYT 21 April 1983
Memorial Service 1983 — CIA Website
Remembering CIA’s Heroes: Jacqueline K. Van Landingham — CIA Website
U.S. Seeking 3 Gunmen In Karachi — NYT March 10 1995
Remembering CIA’s Heroes: Leslianne Shedd — CIA Website
Osama raid avenged CIA deaths, a secret until now — TODAY
CIA Adds Four Stars to Memorial Wall — CIA website May 21 2006
Khowst – 5 Years Later — Cia Website
Who was Elizabeth Hanson? — COLBY Magazine
Year Later, Some Details Emerge About CIA Officer Killed In Afghanistan — npr
Silent Stars — The Washingtonian
“Zero Dark Thirty” entertaining but inaccurate: ex-CIA agents — Reuters
=
CIA : A Few Good Women — Molly C.H. Hardy (Dec. 15 1946 – Aug. 7 1998 )
Remembering CIA Molly C. H. Hardy [Dec. 15 1946 – Aug. 7 1998]
Remembering CIA Molly C. H. Hardy (Dec. 15 1946 – Aug. 7 1998) [2020]
Intel Today 