Of 129 fallen employees honored with engraved stars, Ranya Abdelsayed alone took her own life.
The CIA Memorial Wall in the main lobby of the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Va., pays tribute to operatives who “gave their lives in the service of their country.” By Ian Shapira Ian Shapira Enterprise reporter covering the Washington region and beyond Email Bio Follow May 19 at 6:30 PM She had spent the year in Afghanistan targeting senior al-Qaeda and Taliban members from one of the CIA’s most important bases.
Nicholas Dujmovic, a longtime CIA historian who retired in 2016, said that Abdelsayed’s inclusion violates the agency’s own criteria — and that her star “must absolutely come off the wall.” In an interview, John Brennan, who approved Abdelsayed’s star when he was CIA director, defended his decision. He said that Abdelsayed had volunteered for one of the agency’s most dangerous assignments and that “under those circumstances, there are a lot of stresses as well as daily challenges associated with that work.”
“Ranya was tremendously committed to the agency’s mission. Her death, I felt, was a direct result of her work and her dedication in a very difficult overseas environment,” he said. “It may not have been unanimous that Ranya was deserving [of a star], but I let it be known that . . . Ranya’s death was something the agency needed to recognize as being one of those unfortunate consequences of the global challenges the CIA addresses.
Shannon Spann, wife of slain CIA officer Johnny Micheal Spann, holds their 6-month old son Jake during her husband’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in December 2001. He was killed in a prison uprising in Afghanistan. But Dujmovic, the retired historian, said that only about half the people awarded stars died because of hostile action or terrorism.
When the wall went up in 1974, they were excluded because they were considered not technically part of the CIA. But, as Dujmovic wrote in an article on the CIA website, there was hardly any difference between the two groups, save for their initials. Steve Ririe, a Nevadan who spearheaded the effort to build a memorial at the site of the crash, wondered why those killed in the accident have been denied stars when someone who died by suicide received one.
An undated photo of Ranya Abdelsayed. She was very private, said a linguist on contract with the agency who also spoke on the condition of anonymity. The two, she said, were close friends, working long hours together and riding bikes to relax. Abdelsayed used dark humor to describe the job’s intensity. “Oh, it’s a clusterf--- today,” she was fond of saying.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
CIA, FBI, Director of National Intelligence working with Attorney General Barr to review Russia probe originsAttorney General William Barr is working closely with the CIA to review the origins of the Russia investigation and surveillance issues surrounding Donald Trump's presidential campaign, according to a source familiar with the matter, broadening an effort that the President has long demanded to involve all major national security agencies.
Read more »
Ex-CIA agent gets 20-year sentence for spying for ChinaAn ex-CIA officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday for spying for China in a case called part of an 'alarming trend' in the US intelligence community. Kevin Mallory, 62, was convicted under the Espionage Act for selling classified US 'defense information' to a Chinese intelligence
Read more »
Opinion | American Intelligence Needs Reform After SpygateThe warrant against Carter Page violated a decades-old norm. And what was the CIA up to in Britain?
Read more »
Petraeus: Iran should watch its stepFormer CIA Director David Petraeus said that Iran is going to have to be “very careful not to overplay“ its hand as tensions with the U.S. continue to increase
Read more »
Trump 'doesn't want to go to war with Iran': Gen. PetraeusGen. David Petraeus tells ABC's martharaddatz that it is 'pretty clear' that Pres. Trump 'doesn't want to go to war with Iran.' 'He's not after regime change, he's after what Secretary Pompeo has announced is the objective... regime behavior change.'
Read more »