“Dear Molly, Could you tell us how many stars on the Memorial Wall are known to represent women? Regards, Intel Today”

Intel Today — Question to Molly Hale (February 4 2019)

February 4 2022 — On February 4 2019, CIA Molly Hale went digital. I could not resist firing the very first question on Twitter! How many CIA women are honoured by a star on the CIA wall? A few weeks later, we got the answer to that question… And much more! Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

RELATED POST: CIA Honors its Fallen in Annual Memorial Ceremony (May 21 2019) — [UPDATE : 135 STARS?]

RELATED POST: The CIA Book of Honor — Gina Haspel Visits Auburn University

RELATED POST: Mother, Daughter, Sister, SPY – Women of the CIA

RELATED POST: CIA : A Few Good Women

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A special page  “CIA Book of Honor” has been created. This will allow you to find easily the references to the stars we have already written about. I will try to keep this page up to date.

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“In our HQs lobby, a wall w/black stars carved into white marble stands as a humble memorial to our fallen officers. There are currently 129 stars; 91 are unclassified. Out of those, 11 represent women”

Molly Hale — March 22 2019

(February 4 2022)  — The story of the 11th Female Star — This story clearly shows that when you collect the facts patiently and accurately, you can make pretty good predictions.

Here is a extract of my Diary page for May 20 2019.

I have long argued that the CIA was “hiding” the identity of a female officer recently honoured by a star on the Memorial Wall. 

In September 2016, Abigail Jones published a piece in Newsweek titled “Women of the CIA.” Jones wrote: “The Memorial Wall, in the lobby of the CIA in McLean, Virginia, has 117 stars, honoring the agency officers who’ve died in the field. Eleven represent women.”

I have written a series of post about the CIA women honoured with a star on the agency’s Memorial Wall. And, to the best of my knowledge, only 10 were known to have been “killed in the line of duty.”

On March 22 2019, the CIA confirmed that 11 stars represent women. Then, on May 20 2019, the Washington Post revealed the name of the mysterious star. And, as I suspected, her story is rather unusual.

The daughter of Egyptian immigrants, Ranya Abdelsayed (DOB 04/28/1979) joined the CIA in 2006. On August 28 2013, while serving in Afghanistan, she committed suicide. 

As I wrote recently, there are three kinds of people. Those who understand events before they happen. Those who only understand events after they have happened. And there are some people who never understand events, even after they have happened.

On the day the Washington Post revealed the story, some ‘experts’ wrote that a star for Ranya Abdelsayed had just been added to the CIA wall!

“So, the conclusion is rather obvious. Either, I have so far missed the story of a woman CIA officer known to be honoured by a star. Or else, the name of that person has not so far been declassified and in this case, someone has been nutty and passed classified information to Abigail Jones in 2016.”

Intel Today (Feb. 4 2019)

February 4 2019 — This question — How many stars on the Memorial Wall are known to represent women? — was the very first tweet sent with the #AskMollyHale hashtag!

About 25 minutes later, Molly began to post a few tweets about herself…

Please, read the question carefully:

“Could you tell us how many stars on the Memorial Wall are known to represent women?”

Well, Molly Hale never replied to me. And although it breaks this old man’s heart, it was perhaps not entirely surprising.

Nevertheless, on March 22 2019, Molly posted the following message:

Dear Fallen Stars,

We have an ivory-white marble wall in our lobby at CIA Headquarters that stands as a silent, simple memorial to honor the women and men who have given their lives in service to our country.

Currently, there are 129 stars carved into the marble of the CIA Memorial Wall: 91 are unclassified. Of those, 11 represent women.

RELATED POST: Mother, Daughter, Sister, SPY – Women of the CIA

RELATED POST: CIA : A Few Good Women

Officially, the first female CIA officer to die in the line of duty and receive a star on the Memorial Wall was Barbara Robbins.

She was killed only two years after joining the Agency – in March 1965 – when terrorists bombed the US Embassy in South Vietnam. She remains the youngest CIA officer to receive a star, at just 21-years old.

RELATED POST: CIA : A Few Good Women – Barbara A. Robbins (July 26, 1943 – March 30, 1965)

However, what many Agency history buffs don’t know is that the first ever CIA officer to die while working for the Agency was also a woman: her name was Jane Wallis Burrell.

RELATED POST: Jane Wallis Burrell — First CIA Officer to Have Died While in Service

At a time when most women in US intelligence worked in clerical roles, Jane was a CIA counterintelligence officer who served in all of CIA’s predecessor agencies: the Office of Strategic Services, the Strategic Services Unit, and the Central Intelligence Group.

On January 6, 1948, an Air France flight from Brussels crashed on its way to Paris, killing all five crew members and 10 of the 11 passengers. Among the dead was a young woman who the press said was either a clerk or a courier. She was neither. Jane was a CIA officer, and her death—only 110 days after CIA was officially established the previous September—makes her the first CIA officer to die while employed by the Agency.

We know don’t know much about Jane’s activity at the time of her death. She was returning from a trip to Brussels, but there are no records to indicate whether or not she was on vacation or an official operation.

Jane was not a candidate for a star on the Memorial Wall because the wall commemorates Agency employees who died in specific circumstances: deaths from accidental crashes of commercial aircraft have generally not qualified. Still, her service with CIA and its predecessor organizations was honorable and she deserves to be remembered.

When any CIA officer (male or female) dies in the line of duty, their names frequently must be kept secret. Sometimes, the first time that families hear that their loved one worked for the Agency is when that officer has died. However, with the passage of time, we’ve been able to unveil many of the fallen, and share their heroic stories with the public. If you’re interested in reading more about the lives of our fallen officers, see our “Feature Story” section on CIA.gov and look for articles from our “Remembering CIA’s Heroes” series.

Molly

Please, read again the first sentence:

“Currently, there are 129 stars carved into the marble of the CIA Memorial Wall: 91 are unclassified.

Of those, 11 represent women.”

The answer is unfortunately horribly ambiguous. It is indeed unclear if “of those” refers to the 91 unclassified stars, or to the 129 total number. [NB: these numbers are the correct one at that time: March 22 2019.]

Let me explain.

The people familiar with this blog know that I have written a series of post about the CIA women memorialized with a star on the agency’s Memorial Wall at its headquarters.

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: Remembering CIA Phyllis Nancy Faraci (1939 – April 18 1983)

RELATED POST: On This Day — CIA 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 )

Obviously, I wrote ten stories. So, who is the “missing star”?

In September 2016, Abigail Jones published a piece in Newsweek titled “Women of the CIA.”

Jones wrote:

“There are more women in the CIA than ever before, with women operating at unprecedented levels on every floor of CIA headquarters and throughout its far-flung global outposts.

Yet women remain underrepresented in executive-level jobs and the clandestine service.

The Memorial Wall, in the lobby of the CIA in McLean, Virginia, has 117 stars, honoring the agency officers who’ve died in the field.

Eleven represent women.”

So, the conclusion is rather obvious. Either, I have so far missed the story of a woman CIA officer known to be honoured by a star. (That is if 11 refers to the 91 known names.)

Or else, the name of that person has not so far been declassified and in this case, someone has been nutty and passed classified information to Abigail Jones in 2016.

Stay tuned!

“To this day, Barbara [Robbins] is the youngest officer memorialized on our Wall. She was the first American woman to die in Vietnam and the first woman in our Agency’s history to make the ultimate sacrifice.  Nine women since then have fallen in service to our mission. Today we remember them all, with great love and great admiration.”

CIA Director Leon Panetta — Memorial Ceremony (2011)

UPDATE (February 4 2020) — I have long argued that the CIA was hiding the identity of a female officer recently honoured by a star on the Memorial Wall.

On March 22 2019, the CIA indeed confirmed that 11 stars represent women.

And, to the best of my knowledge, only 10 were known to have been “killed in the line of duty.”

On May 20 2019, the Washington Post revealed the name of the mysterious star. And, as I suspected, her story is rather unusual.

The daughter of Egyptian immigrants, Ranya Abdelsayed (04/28/1979) joined the CIA in 2006. On August 28 2013, while serving in Afghanistan, she committed suicide.

RELATED POST: On This Day — Remembering CIA Ranya Abdelsayed (April 28 1979 – August 28 2013)

At the 2014 Memorial Ceremony (May 19, 2014), Abdelsayed was honoured with a black star on the CIA’s vaunted Memorial Wall, which pays tribute to members of the CIA who gave their lives in the service of their country.

END of UPDATE

“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

UPDATE (February 4 2021) — In September 2020, Yahoo News revealed the names of 4 CIA officers who died in a September 2008 mission. 

“In 2008, six anonymous stars were added to the wall. Four of them belong to Stephen Stanek, Michael Perich, Jamie McCormick and Daniel Meeks.”

As the readers of Intel Today know, I have built a timeline of the CIA Memorial Wall post 9/11.

According to this timeline, it is clearly not true that six anonymous stars were added to the wall in 2008.

My work is certainly not perfect. In this game, you do the best you can with the information available to you. Still, the timeline is almost certainly ‘about’ right.

Assuming that the Yahoo News story is true, these FOUR anonymous stars could NOT have been added in 2008. FULL STOP!

Once again, this is a reminder of the importance to build the most accurate timeline you can manage. And of course, one must always go back and correct the errors whenever necessary.

As CIA psychologist Richards “Dick” J. Heuer has beautifully demonstrated, most people are unable to do so…

END of UPDATE

REFERENCES

Have a Question About the CIA? Ask Molly! — CIA Website

Remembering CIA’s Heroes: Barbara A. Robbins — CIA Website (August 2 2013)

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