Literature review: problem statement, research question, and background context

¶ … female HUMINT Intel collectors as well as the utilization of female HUMINT Intel collectors during WWI and the Cold War Era. Specifically, their use in the form of secretaries and teletypes. It will go systematically during both wars, analyzing the use of the two main categories of secretaries and teletypes. The literature review also brings to light any possible gaps in literature on what lacked from the records of HUMINT Intel collectors and any possible roles they may have played other than teletypes and secretaries.

HUMINT, a term used to define human intelligence, remains essentially any Intel collected from human sources. Within America, the NCS (National Clandestine Service), a branch of the CIA, makes up most if not all of the collection of HUMINT (Schnell, 2013). Specifically, any interpersonal communication or contact signifies HUMINT. SIGNIT, MASINIT, or IMINT are more technical intelligence collection disciplines that rely on signals, imagery, and signature and measurement intelligence.

Interpersonal contact initiated to begin HUMNIT may include interviews. First, however, HUMNIT requires identification of persons of interest like iris scans, voiceprints, fingerprints, and/or physical/facial features. From there extended interrogations may occur in order to emotionally connect with the subject and gain more information. The person performing the interview may place herself in the subject's life experiences as the subject explains everything. After the interview process or information gathering, the debriefing phase happens.

The debriefing phase consists of getting those subjects that cooperate, to placate intelligence requirements in accordance with the laws, policies, and rules of the HUMINT organization (Schnell, 2012). Debriefing may occur through casual conversation however, during this phase, most is done standard because subjects are willingly cooperative. Those classified as "tasked individuals" belong in some way or another, to the interviewer's organization.

Typically, those classified as tasked in voluntary debriefing military police, special reconnaissance teams, diplomats, and/or intelligence personnel. Those classified as not tasked include residents of ostensibly controlled regions, nongovernmental organization workers, neutral or friendly foreign diplomats, persons outside the area but knowledgeable concerning it. Teletypes and secretaries may have fit into the not tasked area of debriefing and may have collected Intel without the use of standard practices. The literature review will highlight such practices.

Literature Review

WWI

HUMNIT began in America based off Britain's own intelligence gathering standards. Britain granted its techniques and methodology to America starting in WWI and then later during WWII. WWI became an integral part of human intelligence gathering in both America and Great Britain. British female intelligence workers were some of the first revealed to have collected important information during the war to aid the Alliance. As Proctor notes in her book, "…adolescent girls had been entrusted with reports and secret memoranda at Military Intelligence 5, Counterespionage (MI5) headquarters in London, one of the major secret offices in the British government" (Proctor, 2003, p. vii). Although secretaries and teletypes did play a major role in female HUMINT collection, so did teenage girls within Britain. It supports the idea that inconspicuous players like women, were able to perform the job of intelligence gathering more effectively because of the way they appeared- and their lack of title or office.

Women during and after the world wars, played an important role, albeit small, in the game of human intelligence gathering.

Women, who had been a small part of very small intelligence networks prior to the twentieth century, now became a crucial yet invisible element in the creation of World War I spy organizations. There were many strong, educated women who were patriotic and willing to do their bit for a low salary, and it was these female workers on whom the British intelligence establishment precariously balanced (Proctor, 2003, p. 28).

Women served as a means of collecting intelligence because they were unassuming and were in the background of some highly classified meetings, taking down information for the men participating in the war and serving for their country. They were also effective in delivering sensitive information because no one would suspect their participation in espionage or intelligence gathering. Hence why teenage girls were used in Britain vs. adult men. Ironically, espionage was considered very feminine whereas intelligence gathering was considered masculine.

Although women played a vital part in intelligence gathering, especially delivery and transference, during WWI, there were attempts by governments to stifle female activity for example, the DORA legislation in Britain. "Curfews were established for certain women…police were given new rights to examine and detain women and girls. For example, DORA 35C and 40D established new versions of the nineteenth-century Contagious Diseases Acts, giving authorities the right to stop suspected women and administer gynecological examinations" (Proctor, 2003, p. 31). Women could not go outside past a certain time without fear of being detained. This ran true especially for those non-British women in the country. Although women clerks, teenage girls, and secretaries were used by intelligence, to transfer messages to and forth offices, because of legislation and the espionage portrait, Boy Scouts filled these positions.

Britain was the home for intelligence gathering during WWI and was in fact the first to make it a national organization by 1909 through the help of female intelligence gatherers. Another writer, Christopher Hart details British women and their efforts during WWI. "While these male fictions usefully foreground the linkage of English, Britishness with the secret service, they tend to overshadow the position of actual women spies. Yet women have played a central role in espionage from the establishment of spying as a profession" (Hart, 2008, p. 1). Secretaries, teletypes, and other inconspicuous office workers provided important not tasked debriefing information to tasked HUMINT personnel that allowed Britain to develop its intelligence network to what it is today and what it was after WWI.

People like Mata Hari and Edith Cavell, generated the polarizing stereotypes of female espionage and to some extension, female intelligence gathering. However, these two portraits of female spying was not the complete picture. Women as earlier mentioned, often worked in low paying positions as typists and secretaries and through these jobs gathered intelligence, which was then transferred to those working within their respective governments. "Yet women had been playing an active role in intelligence long before the war started and became important during the First World War- certainly, their diligent and poorly paid work kept the British intelligence services going" (Hart, 2008, p. 4).

Great Britain was not the only country during WWI to utilize female intelligence gathering. The British government also worked in Belgium using women in their intelligence networks there. "During the First World War women played key roles not only in the British intelligence services but also in the intelligence networks in occupied countries such as Belgium. The La Dame Blanche network in Belgium was a militarized espionage group for both men and women" (Hart, 2008, p. 5). Although the organization was short lived, it allowed women to be on equal footing with men in an organization. It was a short breath of fresh air for female intelligence gathering and female espionage.

During its run, as Jeffery notes in his work, the organizations reached "…more than 900-strong, a large number of whom were women. All members took a military oath of allegiance and after the war they were eventually recognized formally as the Corps d'Observation Anglais, a 'Volunteer Service attached to the British Army in France'" (Jeffery, 2010, p. 24). If one organization that included government recognition for women employed for intelligence gathering existed during WWI, it would be La Dame Blanche as it not only made the British government recognize the women a part of the organization, but it also provided legitimate opportunities for official intelligence gathering for women during its short run. In fact, 30% of the 190-battalion members belonging to the organization were women. A single, female schoolteacher also led the unit itself in her forties named Laure Tandel.

Laure Tandel and other female members legitimized female intelligence gathering during WWI. The ages of the participants ranged from as early as 16 to 81. It also provided information on which kinds of women were more likely to work within these organizations. "Observing that 60% of the women were single (and 7% widowed), Proctor concluded that 'independent, older women were more likely than younger women to work as formal soldiers' in the organization" (Jeffery, 2010, p. 25). Of the women a part of Tandel's unit, most were unemployed though some included shop assistant and schoolteachers.

Some of the notable participants within Tandel's unit were Anna Kessler, a Brussel widow, and her 4 daughters, who joined after the death of her only son and their brother. The family of women acted as transcribers, couriers, letterboxes, and held reports for forward transmission. Three unmarried sisters named Weimerskirch ran other reliable letterboxes. They ran a Catholic bookshop in Liege. Although some of their efforts were successful and security for the organization was robust, the organization suffered casualties and thus ended an effective part of intelligence gathering that officially included women.

Labor spying was also a major form of intelligence gathering. Noted, secretaries and teletypes, among others participated in information gathering, moreover intelligence transference or delivery. Robertson wrote an article discussing the use and activity of labor spies during WWI.

During World War I, a new form of labor spying developed in addition to spying on unions and strikers and doing "efficiency work," namely, doing "propaganda work." As a result of the emergence of propaganda combined with increased interest in personnel management, labor spies became the employer's voice in the workplace, repeating arguments drawn from management literature and seeking to change how workers thought about their relationship with their employer (Robertson, 2013, p. 57).

These kinds of spies not only provided the voice for a group, but also served to fuel propaganda. Women played a vital part in labor spying because they were the ones often left to record sensitive information like letters and official documents that men would speak to them to write down. This form of unofficial spying helped the government and those propelling propaganda-fueled agendas to circulate during the war.

Cold War

When speaking of the Cold War, there are various eras related to the Cold War. The Cold War means a state of military and political tension after WWII among powers within the Western Bloc. The Western Bloc included Nato allies, the United States, and others. Both sides during the Cold War did not participate in any large-scale fights. However, there was support for regional wars in countries like Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Korea. The Cold War had five main eras thus far. They were from 1947-1953, from 1953-1962, from 1962-1979, from 1979, 1985, and from 1985-1991. Essentially 1947-1991 witnessed five phases of Cold War and in those differing times, various elements of female intelligence gathering.

A book by Daniel Horowitz details some events during the Cold War in which women played a part in espionage or HUMINT. Writers like Goldstein would describe plots of military leaders concerning preparation for a war against Soviets. "Referring to 'the smokescreen of the Canadian spy scare', she described the case of a clerk who defected to Canada, allegedly with information on Soviet espionage" (Horowitz, 1998, p. 116). Work like that of Ms. Goldstein helped show that women played an active role in information and intelligence gathering. "She went on to tell of the hatching of a 'conspiracy' that would deprive Americans of the benefits of the peaceful use of atomic energy and threaten world peace as well" (Horowitz, 1998, p. 116).

The work covered by Goldstein supplied instances of active female participants in the early phase of the Cold War in 1953. She and others like her, helped propel American female intelligence gathering into the spotlight although in general, female intelligence collectors were rarely discussed or officially recognized. Thanks to writers like Goldstein, the world has a brief look and record of women participants during this time in relation to intelligence collecting and transference. Another writer, Freidan, also participated in the early era of the Cold War through her writing.

In the late 1940's, specifically 1947, Freidan ridiculed HUAC tactics and methodology. Her writing showed her knowledge or assumed knowledge on possible problems she or her boyfriend, Bohm, would experience problems due to the Intel she gathered. It was Bohm's relationship or proximity to Steven Nelson and Oppenheimer and their participation in radical circles as well as atomic research that would create suspicion amongst authorities. Because Freidan became romantically involved with a man like Bohm, she had access to pertinent information concerning things of interest to the American government.

Freidan actually knew several people the congressional committees took interest in and had investigated. Some of the people like Aronson and Belfrage, were just a few examples to Freidan that were privy to information the government believed should belong to American hands. Situations often-involving classified information always had at least one woman attached to it. Whether it was a romantic connection or one from a non-military position, women became the links between secrets among men during the Cold War.

A book by Timmermann details some organizations during the Cold War era that collected intelligence. Organizations like the HVA (East German Foreign Intelligence) pursued training in intelligence gather from personal information sources. A key example of this is the Romeo operation. Here, men were trained to seduce women from the FRG and recruit them. "The HVA was famous for its excellent training to gather personal information sources, under which male agents were sent in order to seduce and recruit potentially important women" (Timmermann, 2013, p. 224). This bit of information not only supports women's role in intelligence gathering by HVA attempting to recruit women, but also how some organizations recognized the role of women in general when it came to war. Women are a big part of society. They make one-half of the world's population. To ignore their importance on any level, especially in what is perceived as a masculine initiative like intelligence gathering, reduces the idea of women and their importance in the world. Countries all over the world utilized women in unofficial ways to gather intelligence. HVA was one of those organizations. They saw the importance of having women in their organization even if the way they recruited them was somewhat odd.

Some of the KGB workers during the Cold War were women. Timmermann explains, "At any given time, there were dozens of phones, offices, and apartments being bugged and this battalion of KGB workers- most of them women- recorded and transcribed the conversations" (Timmermann, 2013, p. 78). Women worked behind the scenes in these situations recording all the sensitive information. They, much like in other fields, performed the tedious tasks that men did not wish to perform and so gave to women. Because of this, the women working for the KGB, had access to plethora of information from diplomats and other important officials and representatives that men often did not know of until they were briefed. If the women recording such information decided to turn it over to countries like Russia, the Russian government would have access to a number of people that they could control with incriminating information (Dower, 2010).

Dower also explains through his book that espionage often involved strategy that included both men and women. The use of honey traps (Adams, 2014) for instance, involved sexual situations that provided access to information that would never be possible without the use of women. Women did play and continue to play an important part in intelligence gathering especially in the form of HUMINT. Although WWI had an organization that officially, recognized female intelligence gathering and represented an era of the "female spy," the Cold War also had various aspects of participation from women even though their roles were more background roles than prominent ones.

Herman & Hughes explain the many operations between intelligence organizations like the KGB depended on information from telegrams and so forth in order to gather the necessary structure to develop strategy and base their frameworks off (Herman & Hughes, 2013). The West and the East during the Cold War held a lot of fear and anticipation. This was especially the case in the fifties and sixties when the American government became afraid of nuclear warfare. In these instances, women served as the method of which to deliver and transfer information much like the way women worked during WWI.

During the Cold War, Americans and Soviets also fought over women's interests as propaganda emerged displaying American women as idle and the shared identity of the Soviets. "Henry Loomis, Director of the Office of Research and Intelligence at the U.S. Informatin Agency, stressed to a meeting organized by Parson in April 1957, 'The mutual interest of women is being increasingly exploited by the Communists to serve their own means" (Laville, 2002, p. 179).

Men to swerve opinion and generate propaganda essentially used women as playing chips. However, some women actively participated in the American government during the Cold War eras like Rose Parson who supported programs meant to increase intelligence gathering.

"It was important to remember that when this started it was a real emergency and there was a great need for this kind of program. WE knew it would be impossible to raise money. We tend to forget now that it was a patriotic thing" (Laville, 2002, p. 184). Even though women were often marginalized in the intelligence gathering networks and organizations, they were very often the ones supporting and gathering funds for these organizations. They took low salaries, typically volunteered their services free, and decided to pursue fundraising to help these programs and organizations continue. They did so out of love for their country and desire to serve the government.

American Female Intelligence Officers

In modern times, women have served as intelligence officers thanks to the background work of women in both WWI and the Cold War eras. Former U.S. naval officer Gail Harris, author of a book detailing her own life, talks about her experience as the first female Intelligence Officer back in 1973, in a Navy aviation squadron. She is also one of highest ranking African-American female officers in the U.S. Navy and late became an instructor in 1979 at the Armed Forced Intelligence Training Center, located in Colorado in the Lowry Air Force Base. Among her many accomplishments she also became the first African-American and female officer to lead the Intelligence Department in Rota, Spain for Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron. She taught, led, and served for gathering intelligence and she is a wonderful example of how important women are and can be for intelligence gathering.

According to Harris, intelligence gathering is not just a science, but also an art form. "I believe intelligence is an art that involves the use and understanding of a multitude of sources, tools, and methodologies" (Harris, 2010, p. 260). Men sometimes operate best when it comes to doing single tasks. Women are known for multitasking. Perhaps this is why women have done so well when they did get an opportunity, in HUMINT. Women understand more the inner workings of social interactions. They possess the ability to blend into conversations and gain information through casual means. Harris and her book show just how important the mind of a woman is when it comes to intelligence gathering. Men have their strengths, but so do women.

Harris' book service as support for the notion that women are important in HUMINT military operations. For a woman to teach, provide excellent service, and show her experience to others in the form of a book, it allows the world to see the impact of women's actions not just in the world of intelligence gathering, but also for the military. "I have provided intelligence support in two wars and many crises. There was much in place I could use, and many of the analytical techniques used for analysis still worked, but there was nothing in place that worked for 100% of the requirements of each situation" (Harris, 2010, p. 260). Women do not have to exist simply within the setting of offices working as typists and secretaries. They can and do exist successfully as military officials and instructors. Harris provided service to the United States during the 70's and 80's Cold War eras and did so excellently.

Taking a page from the UK, the present status of the UK has active participation from both females and males when it comes to intelligence gathering. "The Joint Support Group (JSG) is an elite group within the Army Intelligence Corps. The JSG's role is to recruit and run agents, often by turning existing members of a terrorist organization into double agents" (Eliteukforces.info, 2015). The organization recognizes the importance of including women in military operations. "The JSG recruits operatives, both male and female from all branches of the military. Maximum recruitment age is 42" (Eliteukforces.info, 2015). They do so in order to achieve positive results like collaboration with UKSF and U.S. Special Operations forces. They offer these organizations valuable HUMINT as well as results like the assassination of the leader of Iraq's al-Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Without the help of the men and women of JSG, U.S. Special Operations forces would not have had the success they had in bombing the insurgency in Iraq. The double agents of JSG provide essential locations of key people of interest and locations. These men and women risk their lives in order to give the upper hand to the Western forces. The website provides an excellent and effective way to see direct participation by women and acknowledgement of women in the field of intelligence gathering.

Women should be a more prominent part of intelligence gathering, especially in current HUMINT operations in Afghanistan. As Flynn, Pottinger & Batchelor note, "Based on discussions with hundreds of people inside and outside the intelligence community, it recommends sweeping changes to the way the intelligence community thinks about itself -- from a focus on the enemy to a focus on the people of Afghanistan" (Flynn, Pottinger & Batchelor, 2010, p.1). Focusing on the people of Afghanistan takes more involvement from just men. Women may provide a faster and easier way of communicating and relating to the people of Afghanistan that otherwise would not exist with men. Men with guns appear aggressive and unapproachable compared to women. This article helps show the need for change in intelligence gathering, specifically HUMINT. Perhaps that change should involve inclusion of more women soldiers and military officers.

Women appear to have not many roles in the military. Although Harris shows what women can achieve in the military, she is a rare instance. "…women are marginal members in the military because they are caught between the two worlds of female and military and encounter a status dilemma. Their ascribed status conflicts with their achieved status, thus creating confusion of social identity because society defines soldiering as a male vocation" (Dunivin, 1991, p. 97). If the future of literature is to include notable women unlike those mythical spies like Mati Hara; the military of the United States and of any country, need to include women not just for sexual strategies (like honey traps, or to record everything like during the earlier years of the KGB), but to also "truly" participate and be recognized for, their skills and efforts.

Women are indispensable and valuable to any military operation. They have shown in the past their devotion the cause and provided the means for growth and proliferation for any intelligence gathering organization. Integration of women into "men dominated" fields however, is difficult. "It suggests that the simultaneous processes of progression and retrogression regarding women's integration are operating in the work environment as well as in the society at large" (Shadmi, 1993, p. 23). Shadmi points to the struggle of women in the Israeli police force. Shadmi explains that although integration occurs, it does so at a slow pace. Women remain lacking enough recognition for their efforts, especially in intelligence gathering even in the police force. If they cannot progress in the police force, what is the future look like for women in the military?

Women serving in the military, specifically the U.S. military often leave before accomplishing a high rank. In a 1993 study, the authors analyzed reasons why women left the military. Although they had similar reasons to men. Their additional reasons for leaving included sensitive topics like sexual harassment. "In addition, the female officers gave the following as reasons for leaving: gender discrimination, sexual harassment, joint domicile problem and child care" (Steinberg, Harris & Scarville, 1993). Women have to deal with staying at home to serve their traditional responsibilities of childcare and housecleaning.

Even when trends shifted towards continuing careers in non-traditional roles, these were often directed towards healthcare. "At the same time, the distribution of women across occupations reveals a shift out of traditional, administrative fields into health care positions that have been historically filled by men" (Kaspar, 1995). Kaspar explains the shift did not go to military operations focused on things like intelligence and tactics, but rather to healthcare. These positions are safer for women who often have to maintain a household and provides additional safety from dangerous situations like kidnapping and torture that intelligence-gathering agents may face.

Furthermore, other studies highlight women lack female role models to look up to and inspire them to continue their work in male dominated positions like the Navy.

The most surprising finding of the study was that 19 of 21 women interviewed said they planned to leave the Navy and that there was nothing the Navy could do to make them stay. Other findings indicated that many female naval aviators/NFOs struggle with the decision of whether to continue a career in naval aviation or resign due to their desire to have a husband and children, and female naval aviators/NFOs have no positive female role models (Keegan, 1999).

Gaps in Literature

There is very little evidence of women during the WWI era and the Cold War eras participating officially in HUMINT operations. Although most existed in background and unofficial capacities, few were actually recognized and awarded for their service. Performing this literature review revealed how difficult it was to find suitable sources of information concerning female HUMINT gathering. Most of the notable figures were considered traitorous, mythological spies. People like Mati Hara were fictionalized and marginalized. The ones that did manage to leave a lasting and unblemished impact barely had but a few sentences written on them.

What was noted was the apparent trend of single or widowed women participating in intelligence gathering. It seems when women are not obligated to fulfill the role of mother or wife, they have the time to dedicate to these types of endeavors. More information on the current successful women in the military when it comes to intelligence gathering would have greatly benefitted this literature review. The only suitable example was Harris who showed the potential greatness of women in human intelligence gathering.

Another interesting gap was labor spying. Labor spies existed during WWI and perhaps even during the Cold War eras, however few literature shows female involvement. An article by Hyde shows the ineffectiveness of labor spying and perhaps provides some indication of the lack of effectiveness during the later parts of the Cold War era. "Hyde finds in his case study of the Quincy Mining Company that spies were seldom useful in providing important labor intelligence. Instead, they inadvertently provided top management with valuable information about underground working conditions and the performance of foremen and petty bosses" (Hyde, 1986, p. 1). Knowing whether women played a role in this level of spying would have painted a better picture of the diversity of HUMINT gathering.

WWI showed the benefits of labor spying through propaganda work as mentioned in the WWI section. "Propaganda work also required labor spies to develop sufficiently intimate friendships with employees, so that they would listen to the spies' arguments. Propaganda work was thus more tied to ideas about management and economic circumstances" (Robertson, 2013, p. 57). Female secretaries and teletypes may have played an invaluable role here in intelligence gathering, especially because of the need to develop intimate friendships. However, no notable female figures were ever found. Nothing more was even found in recent times. With the exception again of Harris, very few female role models existed in the military, much less concerning HUMINT gathering.

Still, some interesting literature sources painted a better portrait for females in the military. Not in the U.S. But in other countries, specifically countries in Latin America. "…women generally did not reach the top levels of organizational leadership, although women served as militarily trained combatants, urban commandos, radio operators, intelligence gatherers, purveyors of supplies and infrastructure, propagandists, and medical teams" (Gonzalez-Perez, 2008, p. 21). These women helped organize unions, neighborhoods, students groups and provided medical care, food, refuge, intelligence, and even homemade weaponry for combatants. Perhaps this can help display the abilities of women in intelligence gathering as well as their capacities outside their expected role in the military. They do not just have to take medical care positions. They can belong as propagandists and trained combatants within the military organization.