dumpster4 wrote:
> CIA officers mark death of spy with rare request:
If anyone is moved:
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/cia-officers-mark-death-1240563....
CIA officers mark death of spy with rare request
By KIMBERLY DOZIER
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — CIA officers are asking people to mark the 10th anniversary
of the death of the first American killed in the Afghan war by donating
to help the children of their fellow fallen.
FILE - In this May 23, 2002, file photo Director of the Central
Intelligence Agency George Tenet reaches out to touch a five-pointed star
freshly carved into the marble-faced lobby wall of CIA headquarters in
Langley, Va. The star, the 79th, honors CIA officer Johnny "Mike" Spann,
killed during a November 2001 prison uprising in Afghanistan by al-Qaida
members. Since then a total of 23 stars have been added to the wall, and
in a rare break of the silence that surrounds the families of the
clandestine community, the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation notes about
56 children of those killed in the line of duty will need educational
support. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)
FILE - This undated family file photo released by the Central
Intelligence Agency shows CIA officer Mike Spann. Since Spann's death in
2001, a total of 23 stars have been added to the wall at the CIA's
Langley, Va., headquarters that honors CIA operatives lost. Many were
killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Officers at the agency are
asking people to mark the 10th anniversary of Spann's death, the first
American killed in the Afghan war, by donating to help the children of
their fellow fallen. (AP Photo/Family Photo via the CIA, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2001, file photo Shannon Spann, wife of CIA
officer Johnny Michael "Mike" Spann, follows her husband's casket to the
grave site, holding her 6-month old son Jake, at Arlington National
Cemetery in Arlington, Va, Spann was remembered as an American hero as he
was buried with full military honors amid the white grave markers. CIA
officers are asking people to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of
Spann, the first American killed in the Afghan war, by donating to help
the children of their fellow fallen. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, File)
Since the death in 2001 of CIA officer Mike Spann, a total of 23 stars
have been added to the wall at the CIA's Langley, Va., headquarters that
honors CIA operatives lost. Many were killed in the wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
The clandestine world rarely breaks its silence, especially when it comes
to family, but the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation notes about 56
children of those killed in the line of duty will need educational
support over the next 17 years.
Spann was part of a small group of CIA paramilitary officers who went
into Afghanistan just 16 days after the al-Qaida attacks of Sept. 11,
2001. Less than two months later, the CIA along with U.S. Special Forces
Green Berets and a massive aerial bombing campaign helped Afghan militias
drive out the ruling Taliban.
Spann was killed when hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners, guarded
by just a handful of Afghans, tried to escape from a fortress jail in
Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.
Spann is survived by his wife, Shannon, a retired CIA officer, and three
children.
___
Online:
http://ciamemorialfoundation.org/
___
November 25, 2011 12:16 PM EST
Copyright 2011, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
