First woman to become FBI special agent visits Jacksonville for Women's History Month

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The FBI’s first female special agent is visiting Jacksonville this week in honor of Women’s History Month.

Susan Roley Malone grew up in Quantico, Virginia, with a dream to become an FBI agent, even though women weren’t allowed in at the time.

She met the legendary J. Edgar Hoover, and later applied to join the FBI, graduating from the academy in 1972.

Her career included investigations into extortion and bank robberies and even the Patty Hearst case.

Malone said when she experienced pushback from colleagues, she would tell them she was an FBI agent first and a woman second.

“You rolled with the punch” Roley Malone said. “You worked on courage, honor and commitment. That was my motto and to know that you could be the very best and to go forward to do the good things that I had an opportunity to do in my career for America.”

She also worked on cases that involved assassination attempts on President Gerald Ford.

“When you’re the first and a pioneer, you get push back from some people,” Roley Malone said, “but others held out their hands, shared their talents, and assisted in my journey of serving my country as a special agent in the FBI. I will forever cherish them and hope to inspire others like they did me. I look forward to sharing my story with young women and men in Jacksonville and encouraging them to explore a career in law enforcement.”

Malone encourages young women to explore careers in the FBI. You can learning more about the agency’s recruiting efforts here.