The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA

by Liza Mundy Narrated by Liza Mundy

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Sisterhood is here to remind readers about the incredible women who dedicated their lives to the craft of espionage since the founding of the CIA in 1947. The is the history of the CIA from the lens of the women who have been at its forefront.

A “rip-roaring” (Steve Coll), “staggeringly well-researched” (The New York Times) history of three generations at the CIA, “electric with revelations” (Booklist) about the women who fought to become operatives, transformed spycraft, and tracked down Osama bin Laden, from the bestselling author of Code Girls

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE ¿ A FOREIGN POLICY AND SMITHSONIAN BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

In development as a series from Lionsgate Television, executive produced by Scott Delman (Station Eleven)

Created in the aftermath of World War II, the Central Intelligence Agency relied on women even as it attempted to channel their talents and keep them down. Women sent cables, made dead drops, and maintained the agency's secrets. Despite discrimination-even because of it-women who started as clerks, secretaries, or unpaid spouses rose to become some of the CIA's shrewdest operatives.

They were unlikely spies-and that's exactly what made them perfect for the role. Because women were seen as unimportant, pioneering female intelligence officers moved unnoticed around Bonn, Geneva, and Moscow, stealing secrets from under the noses of their KGB adversaries. Back at headquarters, women built the CIA's critical archives-first by hand, then by computer. And they noticed things that the men at the top didn't see. As the CIA faced an identity crisis after the Cold War, it was a close-knit network of female analysts who spotted the rising threat of al-Qaeda-though their warnings were repeatedly brushed aside.

After the 9/11 attacks, more women joined the agency as a new job, targeter, came to prominence. They showed that data analysis would be crucial to the post-9/11 national security landscape-an effort that culminated spectacularly in the CIA's successful effort to track down bin Laden in his Pakistani compound.

Propelled by the same meticulous reporting and vivid storytelling that infused Code Girls, The Sisterhood offers a riveting new perspective on history, revealing how women at the CIA ushered in the modern intelligence age, and how their silencing made the world more dangerous

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

10/23/2023

Drawing on more than 100 interviews with former CIA operatives, journalist Mundy (Code Breakers) demonstrates in this eye-opening survey that female operatives have made important contributions to the agency from its 1945 founding to the present day, despite facing decades of discrimination. Mundy shows how, in the CIA’s early years, most women agents hoped to enter the exciting world of undercover intelligence, but instead were systematically sidelined into positions as secretaries, typists, and similar support roles. Sexual harassment and office sex were also common, at least through the 1980s. And yet, Mundy makes clear, women agents were often able to obtain and analyze information that their male counterparts could not. For example, a woman perceived as a secretary or housewife could attend events and listen to important conversations without being suspected of spying. Likewise, female agents trapped at desk jobs in “analysis” and “targeting” departments made tremendous advances in those fields; Mundy recounts the story of Cindy Storer, who as a senior analyst in 1992 was the first at the CIA to realize that Osama bin Laden should be considered a serious threat. But Mundy is no hagiographer; her evenhanded account tracks how women’s growing influence led to increased opportunities for abuses of power, including analyst Alfreda Bikowsky’s exuberant support for the “enhanced interrogation techniques” used against terrorism suspects after 9/11. It adds up to a vivid and immersive new history of the CIA. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

Based on more than 100 interviews, published histories, academic articles, declassified documents and personal writings, The Sisterhood is a deeply researched, exhaustive read spanning seven decades of CIA history.”—Smithsonian

“Liza Mundy recognizes how rescuing stories from the past can illuminate bias and abuse, and she does so in her latest book. . . . The Sisterhood offers a different and valuable inside look at an agency that has long fascinated American culture.”—Washington Post
 
“Staggeringly well-researched . . . Mundy, who has written four other books, including the similarly sweeping Code Girls, delivers suspenseful stories of women like Heidi August, a onetime clerk who went on to spend three decades in the C.I.A. and became one of its first female station chiefs; and Lisa Manfull Harper, who worked menial jobs for a decade before being permitted to complete certification as a sleuth.”—The New York Times
 
“[This] well-written history provides remarkable insightsinto the Central Intelligence Agency’s agencies successes and failures as well as pertinent advice about how to keep American institutions strong. Mundy comes to the subject with experience and skill.”—Margaret Coker, The Current
 
“[The Sisterhood] touched me in ways I did not expect. . . . [A] deeply researched and highly readable book . . . Compelling.”—Valerie Plame, Foreign Policy

“A rip-roaring read about spycraft and the CIA’s inner workings . . . an inspiring group portrait of extraordinary CIA women whose careers are multisided profiles in courage.”—Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Ghost Wars

“An indispensable history, untold until now, The Sisterhood has stellar reporting, sparkling writing, and shocking revelations of power struggles inside the world’s most famous secret intelligence service.”—Tim Weiner, National Book Award–winning author of Legacy of Ashes

“A must-read for anyone interested in national security, secrets, and the CIA.”—Annie Jacobsen, bestselling author of Surprise, Kill, Vanish

“Liza Mundy is a prodigious reporter and a wonderful writer who has uncovered the stories of the female spies and analysts who helped make the CIA what it is today.”—Peter Bergen, bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden

“Every page is electric with revelations as Mundy vividly and perceptively portrays the remarkable women who covertly elevated this complicated, controversial, yet essential government agency.”—Booklist (starred review)

“Another winner from Mundy, who tells a story that deserves to be told about women who deserve to be remembered.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2023-06-28
With painstaking research, an award-winning journalist reveals the crucial roles undertaken by women in the intelligence arena.

The Cold War and, later, the war on terror were conflicts fought in the shadows, a deadly game meant to prevent large-scale conflict. However, there was another battle conducted within the CIA: the struggle of women within the organization who had to fight sexism and discrimination to have their voices heard. Mundy covered related ground in her acclaimed 2017 book, Code Girls, but this book features a much larger canvas. The story spans seven decades, from the establishment of the CIA to the assassination of Osama bin Laden. Many highly qualified women applied to serve in the fledgling CIA, but those who made it through the grueling selection process usually found themselves shunted into typing and filing jobs. There was a culture of toxic masculinity in the organization, and women were often seen as little more than objects. Nevertheless, some managed to work their ways into field operations. They proved to be remarkably good at the tradecraft of spying, but there was little recognition from superiors. At the same time, women were doing critical tasks in intelligence analysis, and this group stepped into a new role when the threat of terrorism emerged. It required interpreting scraps of information, from financial transactions to the movement of dangerous radicals. Few people in the senior echelons of the CIA, however, were interested in their reports on Islamic militants. After 9/11, there were attempts to elbow the women out of the picture, but they managed to continue their work, eventually tracking down bin Laden. Mundy is able to keep the sprawling narrative and huge cast on track, drawing on interviews and declassified records. The result is a vivid, compelling, and important book.

Another winner from Mundy, who tells a story that deserves to be told about women who deserve to be remembered.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178223376
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	10/17/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	1,054,514

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1

Station W

Washington, DC

Winter 1944


In the uncertain winter of late 1944, with the end of war close yet frustratingly distant, a stream of well-dressed men and women filed through the front door of a “drab brownstone building” in downtown Washington, DC. They arrived between eight-fifteen and eight-thirty every morning except Sunday. Before the war, the brownstone had been an ordinary home, but not any longer. The nation’s capital had exploded in population over the past two years, as American citizens, foreign officials, and soldiers arrived to serve the war effort. Every available piece of real estate had been snapped up. Barracks-like temporary buildings dotted the capital’s green spaces: there were Quonset huts near the Reflecting Pool, even a government office in an old roller-skating rink. Near the Mall, members of America’s diplomatic and military corps labored in hulking, drafty offices through which messenger boys rode on bicycles. On E Street, in Foggy Bottom, on an elevated patch of land near the Christian Heurich Brewing Company, another ragged cluster of buildings was shaping up as the heart of the country’s espionage establishment.

The brownstone was unmarked—anonymous by design. Bundled against the winter weather, each person entering the building arrived bearing a unique paper card. Inscribed on the small card was a false name, the letter W, and a number. Each day’s group consisted of about eighteen applicants, their arrival times staggered so they could be processed one by one. Most had no idea what lay in store, but they knew why they had come. They sought employment in a new wartime agency: the Office of Strategic Services. They were applying to be spies.

Depending on who—if anyone—had briefed them, applicants might have been told to expect a series of tests, during a day that would be “interesting and profitable as well as strenuous.” Upon arrival, they were told to present their cards to the “clerk on duty.” Yet even that simple instruction was itself a test. At desks inside the foyer sat two officials, neither of whom made any effort to greet newcomers warmly, or at all. They sat silent, waiting for the applicant to make the first move. “Here was a difficult situation,” as a report later noted. Some applicants were put off; some were flustered; some became “aggressive and sarcastic.” All reactions were noted. If a person asked a reasonable question, such as “Is this the right place?” the question would be “challenged immediately” to throw the asker off guard.

After the candidate managed to present the card, the intake officers introduced themselves. One was a psychiatrist, the other an assistant. They would be today’s examiners.

Male applicants were directed to the basement, to change into Army fatigues. The aim was to make each man appear equal before his peers, so nothing would be known of his job, his social class, his military rank, his role in what might be called real life. He would come before the group naked, as it were, shorn of insignia or “ego support.” He must try to prove his ability to work with others and his capacity for leadership, if he had any.

Women were taken to another room to remove coats and hats. Since the women were, well, women, no further equalization was thought to be needed.

Applicants received a purple-inked sheet of instructions, fragrant from the ditto machine, and learned they would be graded on comprehension. The instructions were intentionally vague: The psychiatrists wanted to see how recruits reacted to confusion. Some read quickly; others read, hesitated, reread.

The instructions told applicants they’d been called there to assess their assets and liabilities for confidential spy work. They had been instructed to develop a cover story—a fake identity they could sustain. They were to reveal nothing about their real lives, apart from what they wrote on a personal history form that would be seen only by the examiners.

The applicants moved on to room 41, which had been turned into a classroom. Here they found desks, pencils, and copies of a questionnaire. They were given one hour to complete it. Questions included their parents’ names and places of birth; their family’s politics and religion; whether they had siblings and what were their ages. Then the questions became more probing. Which parent did you feel closer to at various ages? Which parent wielded the discipline in the house? Do you often think of your father? If so, is it with affection or resentment?

Applicants answered questions about past marriages, illnesses, and foreign travel. Did they drink alcohol? Had they ever been sued? The questions invited self-reflection or even stoked potential emotional vulnerability.

If you came into a large fortune, what would you do with the money?

What embarrasses you?

What did you lack most as a child?

After one hour, a staff member called stop, explaining that “the rest of the morning would be tight and the tempo fast.” They moved on to a health form—Did they suffer dizziness? bad dreams? headaches?—then a “work conditions” survey in which they were asked how they felt about work that involved danger; lots of parties; a hot, humid climate; responsibility; initiative; monotony; “working in close relations with Negros”; “working in close relations with Orientals”; working “exclusively with women”; or “seeing only men for long periods of time.” Did they mind dirt? What if they were sent to a region with a lot of malaria, syphilis, alcoholism? Applicants were being considered for work in the global war theater, an array of overseas locations in which one fact held certain: something, probably many things, would go wrong.

After forty-five minutes, a staff member greeted the test takers. This was the security talk. At no time should they reveal their real name. If they recognized another person present, they should not let on.

In the afternoon, they would gather for a group discussion. The first task was to select a problem the United States was likely to face after the war, then arrive at a solution and plan of action. The point was to sort leaders from followers, listeners from talkers. Each part of the day was a test, including breaks.

“Lunch will be served in room 21 at about twelve forty-five p.m.,” the staffer told them. “It will probably be announced by the cook shouting, ‘Let’s go back!’ ” The official explained: “We have tried to get her to say something more intelligible, but we have better success if we simply tell each class of students what this strange phrase means and let it go at that.” They were observed, to see how they reacted to weird behavior.

“You’re going to be kept pretty busy today, but you will have occasional brief breaks,” the staff member continued. “During these periods we urge you to go to room 31, in which you will find a ping-pong table, some cards, a checkerboard, and some other small recreational equipment. This is your room and you are encouraged to go to it for visiting, rest, and relaxation.”

At lunch, the staff noted how people interacted. “Some were uncommunicative and ill at ease,” the report noted. “Others found it difficult to talk of anything other than their experiences of the morning. Some competed constantly for the staff members’ attention, snubbing or interrupting their fellows.”

During breaks—while playing ping-pong or darts—they were observed even more closely. Were they competitive? Friendly? Shy? Aggressive? How did they function in a group? Were they—as instructed—observing one another even as they were being observed?

The need for a formal US intelligence service had become clear even before America entered World War II. In May 1940, Germany swept through Belgium and marched into France, where more than three hundred thousand British and French troops found themselves stranded at the port of Dunkirk. England sent fishing boats, ferries, and every other manner of watercraft to rescue them, evacuating close to 340,000 troops—more than one-third of them French—but only after taking disastrous casualties. Heavy equipment, now under Hitler’s control, was left behind. Amid the ensuing months of blitzkrieg and occupation, England stood vulnerable and alone. President Franklin Roosevelt needed to know two things above all: Could Britain stand? And, if the United States entered the war, did America have what it needed to win? To the first question, US ambassador Joseph Kennedy, reporting from London, predicted England would be defeated by the Germans.

Videos