MICHAEL ARTHUR MALONEY

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06903497
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: July 11, 2023
• Document Release Date: February 15, 2022
• Case Number: F-2015-02404

Approved for Release: 2022/01/13 C06903497
Michael Arthur Maloney
(22 March 1940-12 October 1965)
(Insert photo. Caption: "Mike Maloney,
Directorate of Plans (now the Directorate of Operations)
Operations Officer
GS-07
Of Michael A. Maloney�who died in a helicopter crash in the jungles of Laos while participating in
covert operations in 1965�attended Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, DC. He transferred to
St. Louis High in Honolulu when his family moved there in 1957. Mike was active in high school sports,
especially football and baseball, playing quarterback and center field. After graduating from high school in
1959, he briefly attended the University of Hawaii. Later that year, he returned to the US mainland and
enrolled at Fairfield University in the city of Fairfield, Connecticut.
A.61 Mike graduated from Fairfield University in 1962 with a BSS in Government. He had played
varsity baseball and intramural football at Fairfield and was a standout in both; he later played semi-pro
football in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Mike joined the CIA in January 1963 and was assigned to the Records
Integration Division in the Directorate of Plans (now known as the Directorate of Operations) as an
Intelligence Assistant.
Jegi Mike worked his way upward and by 1964 had become an Operations Officer. In October of
that year, he entered an intensive special operations training program.
0'1 In July 1965, Mike was assigned to the Far East Division's
Unit at CIA headquarters. His duties were to prepare studies, briefing papers, and other reports for use in
evaluating CIA paramilitary programs in Laos. Shortly thereafter he was assiinpd tn thp AnpncniR Vipntiann
Station, located at the Udorn Base across the border in Thailand. Mike's wife
accompanied him to Udom.
,(.8f US covert operations within Laos were expanding rapidly by the summer of 1965. In
September, Mike Maloney, a new arrival, was flown from Udom to Pakse, Laos. He had been assigned to
assist another paramilitary operations officer (and fellow second generation CIA professional), Mike Deuel.
Their main tasks were to conduct surveys of the region and make payroll disbursements at area villages.
Mike also was to be introduced to the tribal leaders with whom he would be working. Such trips were made
in a variety of aircraft that came from the Agency's proprietary air wing, Air America.
,481 On Sunday morning, 12 October 1965, Mike Maloney borded a helicopter to begin a day that
was to be filled with numerous stops in Laotian villages. By dusk, Mike and his team had not returned to the
base at Pakse. Late that afternoon, villagers had reported seeing a chopper go down in the jungle near a
place called Sarvane.
In heavy jungle it took Agency rescue teams nearly two days to locate and reach the crash site.
They found no survivors. Four men had died in the accident�Mike Maloney, his new friend Mike Deuel the
pilot, and a crew member. Michael A. Maloney was 25 . Mike and
S ptT
Approved for Release: 2022/01/13 C06903497