Harris became the first black woman to work in military intelligence when she joined the U.S. Navy in 1973. She has worked in every major conflict, from the cold war to the more recent challenges of cyberwar, but her particular battlefield has been sexism and racism in the military. She recalls her early desire to join the military despite the decidedly antimilitary mood of the nation because of the Vietnam War. An early mentor, when she was at the University of Denver School of International Studies, was Josef Korbel, Madeline Albright’s father. When she joined the navy, there were few women, and they were mostly confined to nursing or administrative work. When opportunities did open up, she had to guard against being treated as a token or being bullied in the male-dominated culture. Harris rightly sees the lessons of stamina and determination learned from her personal and professional life as applying more broadly to women beyond the military.
