Community Matters Fall 2025 - Magazine - Page 10
THE SUMMIT
Residents Reflect on CIA Careers
The Summit now has three women in residence who had
clandestine careers. Hazel Harrison was recently joined by
Liz Leukroth and Barbara Dobos. These ladies worked at
the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for a total of over
90 years during the time of the Korean War, the Vietnam
War, and the Cold War. All worked parts of their careers at
CIA Headquarters Building in McLean, Virginia and other
times, they volunteered for assignments domestically or on
one or more of five continents.
Some of their assignments were as short as a few days
or as long as several years. All three worked in the
administrative field.
Sometimes, their responsibilities were broader when
stationed overseas. Regardless of the assignment, duties
included: preparation of reports either for superior officers
or to transmit back to Headquarters; serving as a finance
officer for the area in which they were assigned; providing
logistics support to the station by contracting for the
necessary administrative supplies; providing other tasks
as directed by the officer in charge such as organizing
events in support of VIP visits, or interface with other
government agencies.
Working at the CIA was definitely not a 9 - 5 job. Many
times, they might be required to work seven days a week
or to be on-call 24 hours a day. This was especially the case
when assigned overseas.
If assigned to dangerous or “hardship” posts, they normally
received additional financial compensation. Many times,
each experienced being called into the office to handle
details within their individual scope of expertise.
In addition, they might have to assume the responsibilities
of another officer to ensure the mission was accomplished.
It was always to their advantage to learn the duties of every
person assigned to their office.
In their positions, they were keenly aware of the
classification of documents, information, and areas
of intelligence. The three basic classifications were
“Confidential, Secret or Top Secret.”
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Barbara Dobos (Left),
Hazel Harrison (Middle),
Liz Leukroth (Right)
They were not allowed to discuss work outside of the work
place or even with spouses or roommates. This requirement
was known within their circle as “the need to know.”
For each of them, there were some long days, but many times
they might have a once-in-a-lifetime experience such as
meeting and shaking the hands of the sitting U.S. President,
seeing the Bob Hope Show in Vietnam while on the front
row, attending a dinner at a National Palace, going on a
safari in Africa, traveling on the USS Constitution, seeing the
Berlin Wall, or traveling in the Australian Outback.
They have lived in Africa, Europe, South America,
Asia, and Australia. Hazel, Liz and Barbara all agree that
working for the CIA allowed three gals from Virginia,
West Virginia, and Pennsylvania to have wonderful and
challenging careers that also gave them the opportunity to
see the world. Now, they are happy to call The Summit home.
