Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times

CIA families face burdens like the military

When Central Intelligence Agency officials began publishing an unclassified, informational newsletter for families last year, they found it “gets tricky,” said Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, the Director of Central Intelligence.

The idea is to inform families about changes to programs such as insurance, relocation and other benefits. “But we have to publish it in a way so that it doesn’t reveal the affiliation of the newsletter with the CIA, so officers can actually bring it home,” said Hayden, who spoke Feb. 21 at the National Military Family Association’s Leadership Luncheon.

He drew parallels between the challenges of military families and families of CIA officers who are often serving next to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and other unnamed hot spots.

CIA families are important to the agency’s success just as military families are important to the Defense Department mission, he said. But Hayden said he has seen that CIA officers’ families carry some unique burdens.

Like military families, CIA families are bearing the brunt of the increased operational tempo since Sept. 11, 2001. But CIA families just can’t talk about it — at least, to most people.

The biggest challenge for CIA families “is the need for many of our officers and their families to shield the officer’s affiliation with the agency … to protect the reality that the officer is working undercover,” he said, adding that “family members play an incredibly important role” in that secrecy.

One issue families deal with is deciding when to tell their children that their parent works for the CIA, not for the State Department — when the child is responsible enough to protect that information.

The need for secrecy pervades every aspect of family life, he said. “Think of how often you’re asked what you do, or what does your spouse do, or your child do? The instinct is to proudly blurt out the achievements of that loved one. And how many times do you fill out forms that ask about your employer or your work or contact phone numbers? Think about the special challenges that presents to officers under cover.”

CIA families must have the mental discipline not to give information to people who are not entitled to know it, he said.

Military families may get support from their communities while the service member is deployed. When an Air Force squadron deploys, Hayden said, members and families from the other squadrons make sure the grass gets mowed, help get the kids to soccer practice and check in on the families.

But think of living in northern Virginia, he said, where most of the population is not allowed to know that the CIA officer is deployed, or what he is doing.

Just as military commanders often bring families in to show them what service members do, the CIA has special days for its families, giving them clearance to spend the day in tours at headquarters — except for secret areas. Welcome receptions also are held quarterly for new employees and their spouses or domestic partners.

CIA officials know their officers’ children have special concerns, too, and try to make sure their needs are met in overseas areas where there are no Defense Department schools. At one location, they helped established an American curriculum in a school.

He said CIA officials are working to build more networks and more support services for families. “This is mission-essential work. We do this because it makes us more effective,” he said.