Mike Spann was a Central Intelligence Agency officer assigned to the Counterterrorism Center and the first American killed in combat in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks. He was killed in the Qala-i-Jangi prison uprising of approximately November 25, 2001. John Kiriakou, who worked roughly ten feet from him in the CTC bullpen, describes him as “a good guy. Nice guy. Good family man.”[1][2]
Death
Spann and a small number of other CIA and military personnel were interrogating recently captured Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners — including the American John Walker Lindh — at a fortress in northern Afghanistan when the prisoners revolted. Spann and his colleagues were rapidly overwhelmed. “They ended up just opening fire on these guys and they ran out of bullets. And then he was stomped to death. That’s how he died. They stomped him to death.”[1][2][3]
The first to fall (Arlington tour)
John Kiriakou worked ten feet from Mike Spann in the Counterterrorism Center bullpen. On the morning of September 11, the director of the CTC stood on a desk and told the room: “Today we are at war. We’re all going to have to play our part, and not all of us are going to make it home. If you don’t want to fight that fight, leave now and no one will think less of you.” Nobody left. Spann was among the first to deploy to Afghanistan.[4][5]
Spann was killed during a prisoner uprising at a makeshift prison in an abandoned fort in northern Afghanistan, where the CIA was holding hundreds of al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees. When the prisoners broke out and charged him, he emptied his weapon before being beaten to death. His children were small at the time. He has a star on the CIA’s Wall of Honor.[5][6]
See also
- Qala-i-Jangi uprising
- Counterterrorism Center
- Bill Buckley
- John Walker Lindh