Laura Vale

Laura Vale is a conspiracy theorist mentioned in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Later, in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, she works as a reporter for Picus in Prague.

Biography
In 2026, Vale has an apartment on the first floor of the Downtown apartments near Earl's Court, Detroit. Vale appears to be an avid conspiracy theorist. There are e-mails on her computer on topics such as the NSA's global surveillance program (codenamed ECHELON), and smear campaigns involving the future US president, Philip Riley Mead.

Vale has sent e-mails to Timothy Stephens, a staff member of the National Security Agency asking about information on its ECHELON program. These requests are met with hostility, however, and an official harassment complaint is filed against her. She also sent a web address to a family member named Penny Vale, that apparently "presents the true facts behind all the lies". However, Penny is not convinced by these unfounded assertions, stating that she finds the press more trustworthy than "a few paranoid kooks living in their parents' basement".

By 2028, Vale is a reporter for Picus and is stationed in Prague, where she stays at the Libuše Apartments (in apartment no. 94). In an e-mail found on her computer in the apartment, she expresses interest in investigating a tip of a "screwup" at Palisade Property Bank.

Trivia

 * Amusingly, although Vale's belief in conspiracy theories in Deus Ex: Human Revolution is disregarded by others, she in fact turns out to be correct in some respects. For instance, it is known that ECHELON is used by the United Nations to spy on global communications, with its most sophisticated incarnation being ECHELON IV or Daedalus, Icarus and later the combined Helios.
 * In cut content for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Vale plays a role in the events concerning SM05: Samizdat. According to a pocket secretary, Vale was the one who tipped Samizdat to go after the computer of the Palisade CEO in order to dig up dirt on Picus. In-game, Adam Jensen is able to complete this task by finding the Drinking Water Analysis Results during SM05: Samizdat. In another cut message, Vale states that she was fired by Picus after she came across "some information about Picus and their smoke and mirrors show," and tells her sister to wait on a "big story" that will be published soon. This "big story" may have been referring to a cut Samizdat article on the Picus evidence that also appears in the game files. In the released game, however, Vale's role in these events is not mentioned.