Janine Brookner, ousted CIA officer who challenged agency in court, dies at 80
Matt Schudel
For 20 years, Janine Brookner worked out of U.S. embassies around the world, attending diplomatic gatherings, meeting people and developing friendships. She was barely 5 feet tall, with an unlined face and gentle smile that made her look years younger than her actual age.
She was a single mother, accompanied by a young son on her international travels, and had a quiet, soft-spoken manner. She was not the kind of person, people often said, you would expect to be a spy.
Yet Ms. Brookner was among the most skilled and admired case officers in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations — the clandestine service that infiltrates foreign countries and recruits agents to provide secrets to the United States. She was among the few women to ascend the ranks of the department, until her career was derailed in the 1990s over what turned out to be false accusations of professional misconduct.