LESLIANNE SHEDD <SANITIZED> - 23 NOVEMBER 1996

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06767459
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: July 25, 2019
• Case Number: F-2017-01475

Approved for Release: 2019/06/21 C06767459
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(Insert photo Leslianne Shedd)
Directorate of Operations
Operations Officer
GS-11
Leslianne Shedd
- 23 November 1996
J8 j Leslianne Shedd, a CIA operations officer serving in was killed on 23 November
1996 when her hijacked Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed in the Indian Ocean near the Comoro Islands.
A.S1 Leslianne Shedd began working at the Central Intelligence Agency in February 1991
extensive training in operations and completed the Career Training (CT) Program
in 1992. Her CT training included an interim assignment in the Operations Directorate's
Africa Division where she was responsible for operational support
She received
Her first assignment was at Headquarters in the Operations Directorate's
Africa Division, w*e she served as the desk officer
prepared outgoing correspondence
By the spring of 1993 she had also completed six months of French
language training
�21 In July 1993, Leslianne began a two-year tour as a GS-09 operations officer
As a first-tour officer she impressed her colleagues and managers with her
imaginative developmental work, including risky but successful recruitment efforts
. Shi
All of this added up to a highly successful first tour.
(eirj Leslianne's second overseas tour was in the summer of 1995, where she
served as a GS-10 operations officer. This was one of Africa Division's most active\
she (and her co-workers) had to
operate with a heightened sense of personal and operational security. They faced serious threats from
internal opposition groups. Leslianne appeared undaunted by all this.
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I She was promoted to GS-11 in August 1995. By all accounts, her
tour was very successful. It included significant success in developing and recruiting agents,
some of whom provided critical information'
,(2) Following her death, highlighted her fun-loving spirit,
and brilliant use of precise, pointed language in cables. The Chief of Africa Division praised Leslianne's
courageous efforts against terrorist targets in Africa. He also noted that she was slated to pursue a Master's
degree in international finance so that she could track terrorist funding.
,(,21 Leslianne Shedd was killed on 23 November 1996. She was a passenger on a hijacked Ethiopian
Airlines plane that crashed in the Indian Ocean near the Comoro Islands. Flight 961 was about to take off
from Addis Ababa when several apparently intoxicated Ethiopians boarded the plane and demanded that it
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be flown to Australia. The hijackers ignored the pilot's repeated claim that the plane needed to refuel.
Several hours later, during an emergency-landing attempt at Moroni, the capital of the Comoro Islands, the
plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean near a beach resort.
(U) That ill-fated flight was the first leg of what was to have been a Thanksgiving holiday in East Africa for
Leslianne Shedd and several friends. About an hour into the flight, a hijacking was announced. Leslianne
and her companions were seated in the economy class section toward the rear of the aircraft; the terrorists
tended to concentrate near the cockpit. As a result, the group got no more than a brief glimpse of the
hijackers.
(U) No panic occurred; everyone remained calm. About three hours later the pilot announced that he was
about to attempt a crash landing in the Indian Ocean and that passengers should put on their life preservers.
The plane headed toward the water at 150 mph. Leslianne did not panic. From her window seat, she
assisted her friends sitting beside her. She then spotted an elderly Ethiopian woman fumbling with her life
jacket. Leslianne unbuckled her own seatbelt stood up and helped the woman. She then sat down and
tried to calm her seatmate Just before the
plane hit the water, Leslianne turned to her friend and said, "it's going to be okay it's going to be
okay. We're in the safest part of the plane. The best part of the plane. It'll be okay."
(U) who survived the crash, could only remember being under what she estimated as some 20 feet
of water. The next thing she recalls is being on the surface, with no sign of Leslianne. made it to
shore, but because of head trauma, was nearly unconscious for two days.'
1.8) Leslianne Shedd was survived by her mother, father, sister, and brother. She was 28 years old.
Leslianne was posthumously awarded the Agency's Exceptional Service medallion. 2
1 (S) The story of Leslianne's actions during the hiiackina and plane crash were the result of a telephone call
from a hospital in Port Louis between and an Agency officer.
2(S) For additional perspectives on Leslianne Shedd's life please refer to What's News at CIA, December
10, 1996,
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Approved for Release: 2019/06/21 C06767459