The Liberation of Marguerite Harrison
America's First Female Foreign Intelligence Agent
Today marks an important milestone in the history of U.S. foreign intelligence. On Feb. 21, 1920, Marguerite Harrison, the nation’s first female foreign intelligence officer, arrived in Moscow to take up her mission for the U.S. Military Intelligence Division. Posing as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun and the Associated Press, she set about gathering …
The day after she reached Moscow, the Foreign Office informed Marguerite Harrison she would be allowed to stay in the city for two weeks. She radioed the Associated Press to report her arrival. Over the next several days interviewed a number of Bolshevik officials, including Felix Dzerzhinsky, the dreaded head of the Cheka. At the …
