“Jane Burrell was never a candidate for a star on the CIA’s Memorial Wall because the Wall commemorates Agency employees who died in specific circumstances, and deaths from commercial plane crashes have generally not qualified.”

The Mystery of Jane Wallis Burrell:
The First CIA Officer To Die in the Agency’s Service

CIA publication
(July 13 2016)

January 6, 2025 — Jane Wallis Burrell died on January 6, 1948, an Air France DC-3 from Brussels crashed on approach to the Le Bourget airport near Paris, France. Burrell is the first CIA officer to die while employed by the Agency. Burrell worked in the SCU (Special Counterintelligence Unit) 105 alongside Charles Michaelis and Lord Victor Rothschild. As part of the team, she played a pivotal role in interrogating and later recruiting SS-Sturmbannführer Friedrich Paul Schwend, a key figure in Nazi financial operations.

During the interrogations, Schwend confessed to the location of the immense fortune in gold he had amassed during the war. Following his cooperation, he was employed as an informant for the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC). However, all documentation regarding his interviews has mysteriously disappeared. Ultimately, Schwend escaped to Peru via one of the notorious post-war ratlines, networks used by fleeing Nazi officials. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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The CIA Memorial Wall stands as a solemn tribute to the officers who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country.

In his tribute, Director Panetta reflected on how Robbins became the first of ten women to give their lives in service since the CIA’s founding. [Memorial Ceremony – May 23, 2011]

“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.”

This revelation sparked my curiosity: Who were these ten women, and what were their stories? How did they serve, and under what circumstances did they give their lives for their country?

I began researching their names and discovered a unique aspect of the CIA Memorial Wall — a place where many stories remain untold due to the secretive nature of intelligence work.

After extensive research, I was able to identify the nine other women. Below is the list, ranked by the date of their death:

1. Barbara A. Robbins

(July 26, 1943 – March 30, 1965)

2. Monique N. Lewis

(October 29, 1946 – April 18, 1983)

3. Deborah M. Hixon

(September 15, 1952 – April 18, 1983)

4. Phyllis Nancy Faraci

(1939 – April 18, 1983)

5. Jacqueline K. Van Landingham

(1962 – March 8, 1995)

6. Leslianne Shedd

(September 15, 1968 – November 23, 1996)

7. Molly C. H. Hardy

(December 15, 1946 – August 7, 1998)

8. Rachel A. Dean

(April 10, 1981 – September 30, 2006)

9. Elizabeth Hanson

(February 14, 1979 – December 30, 2009)

10. Jennifer Matthews

(December 6, 1964 – December 30, 2009)

In September 2016, Abigail Jones published a piece in Newsweek titled “Women of the CIA,” highlighting the growing presence of women in the Agency. However, one sentence caught my attention:

“The Memorial Wall… has 117 stars… Eleven represent women.”

If this were correct, it meant the CIA was concealing the identity of a female officer recently honored with a star on the Memorial Wall.

Intrigued, I turned to social media and, on February 4, 2019, I directly asked the CIA on Twitter: “Could you tell us how many stars on the Memorial Wall represent women?”

On March 22, 2019, the CIA responded: “Currently, there are 129 stars… 11 represent women.” But I could only account for ten. Who was this eleventh woman?

On May 20, 2019, The Washington Post revealed her name: Ranya Abdelsayed, a young officer of Egyptian descent who joined the CIA in 2006. In August 2013, while serving in Afghanistan, she tragically took her own life.

Her story, like so many others, was complex and unexpected. Yet it added another layer to the hidden histories of those commemorated on the Wall.

Before closing this post, I want to share the story of Jane Wallis Burrell, the first CIA officer to die while employed by the Agency.

Burrell’s death on January 6, 1948, in a tragic plane crash occurred only 110 days after the CIA was officially established.

On that day, Burrell boarded an Air France DC-3 in Brussels, but the plane crashed on approach to Le Bourget airport near Paris, France.

Despite her service, she is not honored with a star on the Memorial Wall. According to the CIA,

“Jane [Burrell] was never a candidate for a star on the CIA’s Memorial Wall because the Wall commemorates Agency employees who died in specific circumstances, and deaths from commercial plane crashes have generally not qualified.”

Most people begin counting from one, but sometimes it is convenient to start from zero. Physicists, for example, refer to the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics.

In the same way, I see Jane Burrell as the Zeroth Star of the CIA — the unchiseled, mystic star of the Memorial Wall.

The stories of these eleven women, each defined by their own mysteries and sacrifices, became my gateway into a broader investigation.

My research was born from a deep desire to uncover the hidden lives of those represented by these stars on the CIA Memorial Wall.

“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

Jane Burrell was born on 22 Sep 1911 in Dubuque, Dubuque County, Iowa, USA. She is buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York, USA.

The CIA knows nothing about Jane’s activity at the time of her death.

“She was returning from a trip to Brussels on January 6 — traditionally the end of the Christmas season— and despite speculation that she was on an operational mission, the limited documentation sheds no light.”

Let us see if we can help…

Mrs. Burrell was recruited from her Washington R&A Pictorial Records Section into X-2 London in December 1943 by James R. “Jimmy” Murphy, head of X-2. Her initial posting was SHAEF [Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force] Counter-Intelligence with an office in Norfolk House.

By the spring of 1944, she was a part of Ryder Street X-2 and then transferred to Paris in November where she worked in the SCU (Special Counterintelligence Unit) 105 alongside Charles Michaelis and Lord Victor Rothschild.

In May 1945 she and Michaelis were transferred to Munich SCI, 12th AG. [SCI stands for Special Counterintelligence, a unit focused on counterintelligence operations. The 12th AG refers to the 12th Army Group, a major U.S. Army command during World War II.]

SCU 105 was part of the X-2 Branch of the OSS, which specialized in counterintelligence operations. The unit was tasked with identifying and neutralizing enemy intelligence threats, vetting individuals for connections to the Nazi regime, and ensuring the secure rebuilding of administrative structures in post-war Germany.

SCU 105 also played a significant role in Operation Paperclip, the secret U.S. program designed to recruit German scientists and intelligence experts for American use during the early stages of the Cold War.

In 2003, Kevin Conley Ruffner — a CIA historian — wrote a report titled: “Eagle and Swastika: CIA and Nazi War Criminals and Collaborators.”

The introduction reads:

“Eagle and Swastika: CIA and Nazi War Criminals and Collaborators examines the Central Intelligence Agency’s involvement with Nazis and their collaborators after World War II. It details the Agency’s assistance to various US Government investigations, primarily by the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigation (OSI) and by the General Accounting Office (GAO), of dealings with Nazis from the 1970s to the present day. The study recounts the Agency’s long involvement with Nazis — first as an enemy in World War II, then as a quasi-ally in the Cold War, and finally as the subjects of criminal investigations and prosecutions by Federal officials.”

According to a footnote, it would appear that Mrs. Burrell was part of a team hunting for the NAZI gold. [Footnote about Burrell]

According to Michaelis, Spitz “persuaded Schwend that his best chance would be to confess his activities with the RSHA and to cooperate with us.”

As an act of good faith, Schwend agreed to turn over to OSS all of his “hidden valuables.” Capt. Eric W. Timm, X-2’s chief in Munich, and Capt. Michaelis accompanied Spitz and Schwend to a remote location in Austria in July 1945 where Schwend uncovered 7139 pieces of French and Italian gold, which he had buried only days before the end of the war.

Friedrich Paul Schwend (November 6, 1906 — March 28, 1980), later known as Federico Schwend,was a German SS-Sturmbannführer who participated as the sales manager of Operation Bernhard during World War II under the control of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA).

From 1945 to 1946, Schwend worked as an informant for the Counterintelligence Corps. He was put in charge of an intelligence network in the Balkans and Czechoslovakia. In 1945, he joined the Gehlen organization, and in 1946 he escaped to Peru via one of the so-called ratlines.

CIA’s Modern Censorship Battles

There is no doubt in my mind that the CIA knows exactly what Jane Burrell was doing at the time of her death. The agency, however, pretends otherwise, likely to avoid scrutiny over how funds have historically been collected to finance covert operations.

Without any explanation, Amazon banned my book on the CIA Memorial Wall. I am convinced this decision was made at the request of the CIA.

Banning books, especially those addressing sensitive or controversial topics, poses a significant threat to democratic values. Such actions stifle open discussion and public accountability.

Critics have long argued that Amazon’s close ties with the CIA could result in indirect influence over its operations, although no direct evidence has yet emerged to substantiate these claims.

However, this particular case raises questions that deserve deeper investigation. It presents a compelling opportunity for journalists and researchers to explore potential connections.

I am not yet prepared to state precisely why I believe the CIA sought to suppress my book. Perhaps I wrote something that is both simple and profoundly unsettling. Or maybe they fear the broader narrative that emerges when all the pieces of the story are considered together.

What do you think? Could there be a larger narrative at play here that the powers-that-be are trying to suppress? Feel free to contact me: contact@inteltoday.org

References

Jones, Abigail. “Women of the CIA.” Newsweek, September 30, 2016.

Twitter Interaction: @Intel_Today with Molly Hale, CIA. February 4, 2019. Original interaction on Twitter (archived link: @Intel_Today Status).

Comment: The original tweet was slightly edited by the CIA before they posted a response on their website: “Dear Molly, How many CIA women have died in the line of duty? ~ Fallen Stars.”

“Ask Molly: Women on CIA’s Memorial Wall.” CIA Website, March 22, 2019.

Shapira, Ian. “A CIA Suicide Sparks Hard Questions About the Agency’s Memorial Wall.” The Washington Post, May 21, 2019.

“The Mystery of Jane Wallis Burrell: The First CIA Officer to Die in the Agency’s Service.” CIA Website, July 13, 2016.

Friedrich Schwend — Wikipedia

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CIA Memorial Wall — STAR 0 : Jane Wallis Burrell (Paris, France – January 6, 1948)