The Role of Women in the CIA's Secret Air Force and Analyzing Spy Technologies

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This chapter provides insight into the CIA's secret air force and the development of spy technologies. It focuses on the role of women in the CIA who trained as imagery analysts and became instrumental in analyzing aerial imagery from spy planes. The chapter highlights their attention to detail, persuasive report writing skills, and ability to recognize changes over time.

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Shermer and Mundy discuss: • CIA research methods • a brief history of the CIA • the purpose of intelligence agencies • Misogyny and sexism in the early decades • the skills needed to be a spy • what women notice that men don’t in the spy business • Lisa Manfull Harper feminine approach to espionage, and finding Osama Bin Laden • how women worked around the restrictions on women advancing in the CIA • Lisa Manfull Harper and the CIA in the 1950s and finding Osama bin Laden in the 2000s • Heidi August and Gaddafi • Shirley Sulick and KGB • Molly Chambers and 9/11.

Liza Mundy is an award-winning journalist and the New York Times bestselling author of four books, including Code Girls. A former staff writer for the Washington Post, Mundy writes for The Atlantic, Politico, and Smithsonian, among other publications. Her new book is The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA.