Tracy Walder
Benefitting Girl Security
Tracy Walder left behind a childhood of bullying and headed to USC where she studied history and held leadership positions in her sorority. When a recruiter from the CIA invited her for an interview her junior year, the "up-for-anything" bubbly blond jumped at the opportunity. Little did she know a year later, she would be placed in the counter-terrorism center in the weapons of mass destruction unit and regularly attending meetings with President Bush in the 9/11 war room. She departed for the middle east and by the age of 25 had already learned how to tail people, interrogate suicide bombers and gather life saving intelligence, all while witnessing death and destruction up close. Her career continued to take her to unexpected places where she was challenged at every level. Her message to girls everywhere: don't try to change who you are to fit what you think the job wants you to be.
Wise Words
“At that point in time, there were only four of us working on the program, and President Bush would be in there, and senators would be in there. George Tenet, who was the head of the CIA at the time, would be in there almost all the time.”
“He brought us Thanksgiving dinner in there. A lot of times, we would sleep in there. So, it was just a very different situation than this, if you will, 9:00 to 5:00 kind of job.”
“All of a sudden, alarms just started going off and a suicide bomber right outside of our compound had blown himself up, and they were bringing in local casualties, and the just lined them all up next to me, and I remember trying to get out of the bed because I just wanted to help, and they strapped me back down.”
“I think for me I recognize that there’s privilege that comes with my whiteness, and being in this Middle Eastern country, I always tried to be respectful. Cover my head. Wear long-sleeve clothes or wear a burka or wear an abaya. You always try to be respectful of the country you’re in. So in this particular country, I had covered my head, but I was in a souk, which is an open-air market. People were hanging off the trees, trying to get a look at me, staring at me, following me, taking pictures of me, and I actually... it was the first time I realized how it must feel to be different and to being not the majority. At the time, it was uncomfortable, but I’m really glad that I felt that way for the time that I did.”
“I think what I realized the most were that Muslims and Jews actually have a lot in common.”
“The CIA is an intelligence-gathering organization. They do not place people in handcuffs. They don’t bring people to trial. They’re simply there to gather intelligence whereas the FBI is a law enforcement organization. They are there to try and convict people who’ve committed crimes mostly across state lines. So they’re two very different organizations.”
“If you don’t like something, do what you can to try to change it. Be part of the solution.”
“I’m a feminist, and love gender equality, but at the same time, we have to recognize that our brains are wired differently, and I do think that’s a good thing, and I think that’s something that is very conducive to solving some of our greatest foreign policy challenges.”
“Don’t try to change to be this package that you think whatever the job is wants you to be.”