Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #womeninintel

Most recents (6)

Maria Gulovich, a young Slovakian schoolteacher, was only 23-years-old when she began harboring Jews from the Nazis.

She joined the underground resistance & led a group of #OSS & British officers through a blizzard & out of German clutches

bit.ly/2IBTkpM

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Maria was born in Slovakia in 1921 & became a school teacher when Slovakia fell to the Germans.

In 1944, a Jewish friend, Julius Goldberger, begged Maria to hide his relatives. She knew she could be imprisoned or worse, but agreed anyway.

#WomenInIntel
Slovakian authorities quickly suspected Maria, but the Slovak captain who questioned her was part of the anti-fascist resistance.

The Army captain offered to hide the Jewish woman & son if Maria would join the resistance.

Maria agreed & became a courier.

#WomenInIntel
Read 5 tweets
As a founding member of the Agency, Elizabeth Sudmeier helped usher in a new era of woman’s equality at CIA, going from typist to field ops officer at a time when few women were allowed to do so.

bit.ly/2K2XBVs

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Elizabeth was born in South Dakota & was fluent in the Sioux language. She earned a BA from @StKate in 1933

In March, 1947, Elizabeth joined CIA’s predecessor the Central Intelligence Group as a stenographer

Elizabeth became a founding member of CIA in September

#WomenInIntel Image
1951: Elizabeth joined Directorate of Ops & took an assignment in the Middle East.

Originally she wasn’t allowed to run local agents due to her gender, but during her assignment she proved women could operate securely in an intense counterintel environment.

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Read 6 tweets
Betty Ann Lussier was a fiercely independent, hardworking woman w/a craving for excitement & a compassion for humanitarian issues.

She was one of a few female pilots in #WWII.

She was also an #OSS counterintel officer.

bit.ly/2FBw2hZ

#WomensHistoryMonth
#WomenInIntel
Betty’s father, Emile John Lussier, was a decorated #WWI fighter pilot w/British @RoyalAirForce.

She inherited his love of flying & joined Civilian Pilot Training Program @UofMaryland & worked nights building B-26 bombers.

At 20 years old, Betty was determined to fight in #WWII
1942: Betty joined British Air Transport Auxiliary, 1st female pilots to officially ferry planes in wartime

Betty wanted to see combat. Her godfather Sir William Stephenson [1.usa.gov/1EKjbUm] was friends w/Gen Donovan & helped her get a new gig w/#OSS

#WomensHistoryMonth
Read 8 tweets
Her life reads like a spy novel. From overcoming loss of her leg to working covertly behind enemy lines for #OSS, she’s a true American hero

Some knew her as "Marie Monin," "Camille," & even "Nicolas" but we know her as #VirginiaHall

bit.ly/2YbXeee

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Virginia had a gift for languages, a sense of adventure, & wanted to join the Foreign Service, so she became a clerk @USEmbassyWarsaw.

However, while on a trip to Turkey, she was involved in a serious hunting accident & lost her left leg below the knee.

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Virginia’s wooden leg & aluminum foot were attached by leather belts wrapped around her waist. It weighed more than 7 lbs.

She couldn’t take Foreign Service exam due to strict rules against employees w/disabilities joining diplomatic corps at the time.

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Read 12 tweets
“Spy Girl” Betty McIntosh lived a storied, adventurous life.

She was one of only a few women during #WWII to work in #OSS Morale Ops, where she used her talents as a former journalist to create so-called “black propaganda” campaigns.

bit.ly/2HwApNt

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Betty was working as a reporter for Scripps Howard news service in Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Fluent in Japanese, Betty joined #OSS in 1943. Soon she found herself working w/a group of OSS artists, writers, & cartoonists in Asia.

#WomensHistoryMonth
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Betty & her #OSS Morale Ops colleagues created so-called “black propaganda”: false news reports, postcards, documents, & radio messages designed to spread disinformation to undermine Japanese troop morale during #WWII.

#WomensHistoryMonth
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Read 5 tweets
There are relatively few American’s who died after turning 100 buried @ArlingtonNatl, even fewer who are female, & only a mere fraction of those who served as intel officers

Captain Stephanie Czech Rader was a woman ahead of her time

bit.ly/2NZbpyI

#WomensHistoryMonth
“[The #OSS] gave me a gun, but I never carried a gun. I thought, ‘What the heck was I gonna do with a dumb gun?'” Stephanie’s most valuable weapon: her wits.

It wasn’t until decades later that the details of her amazing story were declassified.

#WomensHistoryMonth
Stephanie, the daughter of Polish immigrants, grew up immersed in Polish language & culture in an immigrant neighborhood in Poughkeepsie.

She was the 1st person in her family to graduate college, & she eventually earned a master’s degree – in chemistry.

#WomensHistoryMonth
Read 6 tweets

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