In response to message posted by Steven_Russell:

During the Qala-i-Jhangi fort prison revolt, Sunday night, Day 50, a CIA operative named "Mike" was "disarmed", wounded, reported missing, and possibly KIA.

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In memorium. Johnny Michael ``Mike'' Spann, age 32. The CIA's 79th mortality in the line of duty.

No word yet on the status "David", the other CIA operative at the fort, seen on video during the battle, and who bravely went back in to try to rescue Mike. So presumably David has survived, and is back under cover.

http://www.afghanradio.com/news/2001/nov...

CIA Officer Killed in Afghan Prisoner Uprising

By Tabassum Zakaria
Wednesday November 28 2:11 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA confirmed on Wednesday that one of its agents was killed during a bloody prisoner uprising at a fortress near the northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif to become the first known American combat death in Afghanistan.

Johnny Micheal ``Mike'' Spann, 32, an officer with the CIA's clandestine service the Directorate of Operations, ``was where he wanted to be: on the front lines serving his country,'' CIA Director George Tenet said in a statement.

The CIA would not comment on what Spann's mission was in the fortress, but as an intelligence officer he was likely involved in interrogating the prisoners for information on the Taliban and al Qaeda.

``Mike was in the fortress of Mazar-i-Sharif, where Taliban prisoners were being held and questioned,'' Tenet said.

``Their prison uprising -- which had murder as its goal -- claimed many lives, among them that of a very brave American, whose body was recovered just hours ago,'' he said.

FORMER MARINE

Spann, a former Marine, was the first confirmed American combat death. Five U.S. soldiers were injured by a stray U.S. bomb during the three-day battle at the fort.

Television footage showed the bodies of al Qaeda fighters sprawled in trenches and littering the courtyards of the massive fortress after the revolt.

A Northern Alliance commander said probably all the 600 prisoners, including Pakistanis, Arabs and Chechens, and more than 40 alliance fighters were killed in the fighting.

Spann, who joined CIA in June 1999, was almost certain to be memorialized with a star on the wall at CIA headquarters that commemorates employees of the spy agency who died in the line of duty.

The flag in front of the Central Intelligence Agency's Langley, Virginia, headquarters flew at half staff in remembrance of Spann, whom Tenet called ``an American hero.''

``Quiet, serious, and absolutely unflappable, Mike's stoicism concealed a dry sense of humor and a heart of gold,'' Tenet said.

``His brand of leadership was founded not on words, but on deeds -- deeds performed in conditions of hazard and hardship,'' he said.

Spann is survived by his wife Shannon Spann, an infant son, two young daughters, two sisters and his parents Johnny and Gail Spann of Winfield, Alabama, where he grew up.