Christina Hillsberg with Paige Browning

Arts & Culture

If you were asked to imagine an agent with the CIA, you wouldn’t necessarily picture a woman. While it is true that men comprise the majority of the Central Intelligence Agency, there have been plenty of women throughout history who have also worked here in one of the highest levels of government. Not only were these women protecting the U.S. from foreign enemies, but they also had to contend with gender discrimination from within.

In Agents of Change: The Women Who Transformed the CIA, author and former CIA intelligence officer Christina Hillsberg explores the lives of women who made sacrifices and risked their safety for an organization that was both dangerous and male-dominated. From the barrier breakers of the 1960s to the frontlines of today, Hillsberg interviews female CIA officers from both past and present — many of whom have never spoken publicly. Each chapter explores a different decade and the issues that affected women during that era. Agents of Change discusses topics ranging from trailblazers pushing against James Bond tropes and workplace inequity to the current climate, a decades-long reckoning with sexual harassment and assault.

Hillsberg highlights those who worked and are working behind the scenes (a byproduct of both occupation and identity), chronicling the agency in new way and paying tribute to some groundbreakers who changed history.

Share this Save on Linkedin Share this Share by email