There were still segregated communities in many parts of America when George E. Hocker, Jr. began his espionage training.Despite being the only Black person in a class of 75, Hocker overcame obstacles to become one of the first Black undercover agents of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the first to open a CIA station abroad, and the first to lead a branch within the Directorate of Operations.
Hocker’s work and that of other Black trailblazers in the agency were historically disregarded because the majority of CIA officials work in secret. Nonetheless, the organization honored Hocker with a recent exhibit at its headquarters museum that highlights his achievements.
As he writes his memoir, Hocker says he intends to use it to teach others the qualities of tenacity and resolve he gained from his experiences as a “Black spymaster.”
Hocker, the eldest of five children born in 1939, entered at Howard University in 1956 after being convinced to apply to the CIA by a close friend. Hocker, who was eighteen years old and lacked any significant professional experience, referenced his application with references from his parents’ religious friends. He became one of the few African-American officers on the police when he joined the Agency in 1957.
He discovered that his white coworkers were given preference for sponsorships and promotions a few years after he started working for the CIA. However, that didn’t stop him from going after his dream of working as a case officer after he developed an interest in it while observing data from the field and working as an analyst at Headquarters.
He hesitated to sign up for the spy training course because there were no Blacks there. “I had pretty much decided that this was not a place where I wanted to try to make a career,” he said to NBC News.