Tracy Walder: Sorority Girl to Spook

Tracy Walder began as a student at the University of Southern California who served as the vice president of her sorority and had a dream of becoming a history teacher. However, watching an interview of Osama Bin Laden issue a fatwa from a cave fostered an interest that led her to meeting with a CIA recruiter at a university job fair.

Weeks later, she was at Langley receiving a polygraph test. Shortly after she graduated college and the day before 9/11, Walder began working at the Vault, a counterterrorism unit within the agency. The next day, the Vault was the only unit that did not evacuate federal buildings.

Watching the towers fall on TV, she said: “I was not scared. No panic. I'm not a big panicker. If you let your emotions completely overcome you, you can make a very, very bad mistake that could have worldwide consequences. So any fear, any panic, sadness, guilt, it's okay to have those feelings, but you have to put them away when you're at work.”

Following the attacks, Tracy Walder spent her 20s working 12-13 hour shifts collecting the intelligence necessary to locate Osama Bin Laden. 

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After working at the Vault, Walder segwayed into the CIA’s weapons of mass destruction program. Prior to joining the agency, she had never left California. Her career took her on assignments to Afghanistan, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Morocco, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, and England.

After her work at the CIA, she joined the FBI where she worked Chinese counterintelligence. After retiring from the federal government, she married and had a child. She now works as a professor and sits on the board of directors at Girl Security, an organization aimed at mentoring disadvantaged girls interested in a career in national security.