Adelaide Hawkins

Adelaide Hawkins (née Mulheran) (March 6, 1914- July 10, 2008) was a cryptologist at the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. Beginning in December 1941, she managed the agency’s message center in Washington DC, specializing in secret codes, or ciphers. She helped train spies working behind enemy lines in communications. She went on to work with the CIA. She was a member of the “petticoat panel,” an effort by the CIA in 1953 to “to study the problems of professional and clerical advancement to determine…whether they believe there is any discrimination as such against women for advancing professionally.”