The 2012 Legacy Banquet

Alumnus of the Year Jennifer (Matthews) Anderson ’86 On December 30, 2009, Jennifer (Matthews) Anderson was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. She and six other CIA operatives were waiting for a Jordanian doctor, who they believed had infiltrated al-Qaeda’s upper ranks. As he exited the car, he detonated a vest laden with explosives and all seven CIA operatives were killed. She was the chief of the base in Afghanistan at the time of the attack and was considered a leading expert on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. A friend and CIA colleague gave a eulogy at her memorial service saying, “Jennifer’s contribution to the war on terror cannot be overstated. Jennifer was a pioneer in counter-terrorist targeting, which means she identified terrorists, located them, and then devised operations to disrupt them before they could attack.” After graduating from Cedarville in 1986, Jennifer obtained an M.S. fromMiami University in political science and international relations. Jen and Gary Anderson were married shortly thereafter in May 1987 and moved to Geneva, Switzerland, in the fall of 1993 where she obtained another master’s degree in international relations from the Graduate Institute, Geneva. They returned to the U.S. in 1995, and Jen began to work for a small group studying Islamic Terrorists at the Agency under Mike Scheuer in the Counter Terrorism Center (CTC). This group helped to understand and identify Islamic terrorists, such as bin Laden, who was unknown at the time. The group was active but small prior to 9/11. Her workload increased in the days following 9/11 as the CTC expanded. At the start of 2005, Jen took an assignment as the CTC Operations Chief at the U.S. Embassy in London. By this time, Jen and Gary had three children, and the family was able to live in London with her. They enjoyed life in the U.K., though the time was not always easy. In the summer of 2009, the family left the U.K. and returned to Virginia where Jen trained for her new job as the base chief in Khost, Afghanistan. She left in September 2009, and she probably enjoyed this job more than any other, according to Gary, even though she was far away from her family. Gary’s favorite memory of Jennifer happened before they were dating. From his car, he spotted her in downtown Cedarville during frigid weather filming with a VHS camera for a class assignment. He was impressed even more so later when he learned she was there at least an hour after he saw her. That tenacity, sparked by her determination and perseverance, became a trademark he admired for the years they had together. Gary believes that both he and Jen experienced learning at Cedarville that prepared them for life. They believed that Cedarville taught them to impact the world for Christ by striving to make society better by working effectively, wisely, and confronting evil wherever God placed them.