Gail Harris

Five-year-old Gail Harris watched a WWII themed movie called Wing and a Prayer starring Don Ameche. Mesmerized by a scene of the actor briefing Navy pilots before the climactic Battle of Midway scene, she decided that was what she’d do when she grew up. Unaware of the existence of a federal law which prohibited women from going into combat, one that would not be changed until 1994, she forged ahead with her dream. In 1973 Captain Gail Harris, United States Navy (Retired) broke a 200-year-old tradition becoming the first woman in Naval History to serve as an Intelligence Officer in a Navy combat job 20 years before federal laws changed making it a common occurrence. At her retirement in December 2001, she was the highest ranking African American female in the Navy.

Her 28-year career in intelligence included hands-on leadership during every major conflict from the Cold War to El Salvador to Desert Storm to Kosovo and at the forefront of one of the Department of Defense’s newest challenges, Cyber Warfare. Since her retirement she has worked in the Defense Industry as an Intelligence Subject Matter Expert, written blogs for the Foreign Policy Association, and hosted a weekly R&B radio show on KDUR. Her book, "A Woman’s War" was chosen as an Editor’s Pick for 2010 by the Foreign Policy Association.

Harris was a Senior Fellow George Washington Center For Cyber and Homeland Security (2015 – 2017 Class). Since September 2019, she has been studying music at Julliard.