“Why are women hired at a lower grade than men? Do you think that women are given sufficient recognition in the CIA? And as the new Director of CIA, are you going to do something about the professional discrimination against women?”
The Wise Gals (1953) — Questions to CIA Director Allen W. Dulles
March 8 2021 — International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality. MI6, the CIA, CSIS and many other Intelligence Agencies tweeted interesting messages to celebrate IWD 2021. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
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MI6 — Richard Moore, the current chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, otherwise known as MI6, tweeted a few messages early in the morning.
The CIA Tweet reminds us that the “Petticoat Panel” has worked hard before Gina Haspel became the first woman to be the CIA Director.
The CSIS tweet was not really about espionage.
The National Crypto Museum reminds us that women often played an important role in breaking codes.
“Jane Wallis Burrell was in the OSS from 1943-1945, and was a case officer in X-2 in France and Germany. She segued into the SSU, the CIG, and then the CIA, and was recognized as the first CIA officer to have died while in service.”
The OSS Society — August 27 2018
Intel Today would like to point out that Jane Burrell was the first CIA officer to die while in service on January 6 1948, only 110 days after CIA was officially established the previous September.
According to the CIA,
“Jane was never a candidate for a Star on CIA’s Memorial Wall because the Wall commemorates Agency employees who died in specific circumstances, and deaths from crashes of commercial aircraft have generally not qualified.”
Yet, according to my research, since 9/11, at least eleven former officers honored by a star have died in travel accidents. [81 – 87 – 114 – 115 – 116 – 117 – 118 – 119 – 120 – 130 – 131]
REFERENCES
The Petticoat Panel: CIA’s First Study on the Role of Women in Intelligence — CIA Website
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Happy International Women’s Day 2021 [Tweets from MI6, CIA & CSIS]
Intel Today 