Inside the C.I.A., She Became a Spy for Planet Earth

Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) spy, Linda Zall, was put in charge of a new program called Medea. Prior work that Dr. Zall had done made her perfect for the job. She obtained her PH.D. at Cornell and majored in civil and environmental engineering. A mentor of hers helped her get a job at Earth Surveillance Corporation. This experience allowed her to get skills in retrieving imagery from satellites and developing them. She started working for the C.I.A. when Vice President Al Gore requested to start researching, and hopefully answer environmental enigmas. Concerns about the earth’s ecosystem started to be more concerning when the imagery from the ice of the poles was getting smaller and smaller.

The program, Medea, was established in 1992 and this work was created for environmental sleuthing. Dr. Zall was put in charge of 70 scientists who looked over the apprehended data. Medea members used satellites to take pictures of different environments to gather information on the poles, mapping, and area reconnaissance.

Dr. Zall’s work contributed to so many discoveries during her time at the C.I.A. She directly aided in creating the first map of the seafloor worldwide, including physics features like valleys and volcanic plates. Also, she collected data to find concerning areas of environmental misfortunes and enhanced reconnaissance images to be able to gather more information.

However, the program was disbanded soon after Dr. Zall retired in 2013. Without her, the program lacked in performance. Though she is not a part of Medea anymore, it led to answering a lot of mysteries about the environment and hopes the work will still be continued for the future.

Read the Full Article at the New York Times: Inside the C.I.A, She Became a Spy for Planet Earth