Douglas Mackiernan
First CIA officer killed in the line of duty.
Douglas Seymour Mackiernan (April 25, 1913 – April 29, 1950) was an American intelligence officer and spy who became the first officer of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to be killed in the line of duty. He was born in Mexico City, Mexico, to a father who had been a whaler and explorer, and was the oldest of five brothers. Mackiernan learned English, Spanish, French, and German as a child, and his family later moved to Stoughton, Massachusetts, where he and his brothers became amateur radio operators.
Quick Facts
- Birth Date
- 1913-04-25
- Birth Place
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Death Date
- 1950-04-29
- Death Place
- Changtang, Tibet, China
- Death Cause
- Gunshot wounds
- Occupation
- Spy and Diplomat at the Central Intelligence Agency
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Mackiernan served as a major in the US Army Air Corps during World War II, first as a cryptanalysis officer in Washington, DC, then as a meteorological officer in Alaska and, from November 1943 to the end of the war, in Tiwha (now Ürümqi), Xinjiang Province. After the war, he missed the adventure and applied to the State Department for a consular clerk position in China, where he was recruited for espionage. He worked as a Paramilitary Officer in the CIA's Special Activities Division, with a cover as Vice-Consul at the US consulate in Ürümqi. His scientific background was employed in collecting atomic intelligence about the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb, tested at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan.
Reader's Guide
Mackiernan's death marked a significant moment in CIA history, as he was the first officer operating under diplomatic cover to be killed. Because the CIA had not yet established procedures about pensions, his wife and children were denied a CIA pension; in 1950, Peggy Mackiernan received a smaller pension from the State Department. It was only in 2000 that the first star on the CIA's Wall of Honor was acknowledged to belong to Mackiernan in a secret memorial ceremony, with his family present at CIA headquarters. His final mission involved a journey through Tibet to India after the closure of the Ürümqi consulate, during which he was shot dead by Tibetan border guards. The US government had failed to request permission from the Tibetan government in time, and the guards had standing orders to shoot all foreigners attempting to enter Tibet. Mackiernan's activities collecting atomic intelligence were classified until 2002, and first revealed by Thomas Laird, confirmed by the CIA in 2008.
Did You Know?
- Mackiernan and his brothers became amateur radio operators while working at their father's filling station in Stoughton, Massachusetts.
- He was shot dead by Tibetan border guards after crossing the Chang Tang of Tibet, dressed as a Kazakh.
- His wife and children were denied a CIA pension because the agency had not yet established procedures for such cases.
- Mackiernan's log, with additions by Frank Bessac after his death, was declassified in the 1990s, but some alleged the document had been heavily doctored.
More in Amateur Radio People, Part 2 1-24
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