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.

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Mike was reported to be the first casualty in the fort battle, late Sunday morning. He was an ex-Marine, who went down fighting, shot to death.

David, the other CIA operative, has survived.

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

U.S. says CIA officer killed in Afghanistan shot, not beaten

By Tabassum Zakaria
Friday November 30, 5:47 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A CIA officer killed during a violent prison uprising in northern Afghanistan was shot to death, not beaten, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

The CIA has confirmed that Johnny Micheal Spann, known as "Mike," died during a revolt at a fortress near Mazar-i-Sharif where pro-Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners were being held.

Asked about rumors that Spann was beaten to death, a CIA spokesman said: "This is wrong."

The CIA believes Spann, 32, died on Sunday, the first day of the uprising when prisoners snatched weapons from their Northern Alliance captors and a bloody battle ensued.

Spann's body could not be recovered until the rioting was quelled by U.S. airstrikes and Northern Alliance ground warfare. His family was notified of his death late on Tuesday.

Another CIA officer working with Spann managed to escape alive from the riot, a U.S. intelligence official told Reuters earlier this week.

While an autopsy had not yet been conducted, U.S. officials knowledgeable of the circumstances surrounding his death said Spann died after being shot.

"It appears that he died as a result of gunshot wounds," a U.S. official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Spann did not speak local Afghan languages but was present at the interrogation of the pro-Taliban prisoners by the Northern Alliance, one official said.

Asked whether it was the interrogations that sparked the prison uprising, the official said, "there is no evidence of that."

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Richard Shelby, who was briefed on the circumstances of Spann's death, said: "It was obviously a situation where the prisoners planned the revolt after being brought into custody and were going to kill as many people there as they could."

Spann went down fighting, Shelby said. "What we've been told is that he acquitted himself very professionally and very well in the firefight," he said.

"He was a trained Marine, he was a CIA officer and when they were attacked he defended himself and the people around him to the best of his ability," Shelby said.