THE CIA AGENT WHO SOLD OUT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605100045-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 45
• Publication Date: May 30, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/03 :CIA-RDP90-009658000605100045-4 ~
WASHINGTON POST
30 May 1986
The
CIA
ent W h
o Sold
Ou
t
Fired From A enc Ed
g y~ ward Howard Cave I'B! 6~/atchers the Slip
BY Walter Pincus agent last fall, when Howard and hi
s sources in Washington agreed.
Waaipugi~PaetStaf(Wnter WIfC, Mary, Who had also been "
Two Americans were identified trained to s He liked to live on the razor's
py in Moscow, were liv- - edge, said one of the Santa Fe pea
as traitors last year by Vitaly Yur- r"g rn Sarrta Fe, N.M. But Howard, pie who knew Howard best. He had
chenko, the mysterious Soviet in- usrrrg ~~ sPY-game ruse, convinced
telllgence officer who defected to the FB[ that he would cooperate a quick mind, could manipulate peo-
the West and later returned to the with it, investigation if given a cou_ pie and lie when necessary. He was
Soviet Union. The more notorious Ple of clays to collect his thou hrs. an outdoorsman, a gun dealer anti
EIe then fled, disguising his a 8a collector, a hard drinker with a nas-
of the two. Ronald W. Pelton, afar- Pe ty temper when he consumed too
mer technician at the National Se- Y. usin countersurveillance tech-
g much, a drug user, a man who liked
curity Agency, is being tried on .es- piques taught to him and his wife by to turn a quick dollar, and a wom-
pionage charges in Baltimore. the CIA. anizer. Many of these characteris-
The second, Edward L. Howard, Still using credit cards issued be-? tics were part of the "profile" of an
the first CIA agent known to have fore hedisappeared, Howard is now ideal CIA undercover agent and
been bought off by the Soviet at large, perhaps somewhere in thus help explain why the agency
Union, may have done as much Central America, according to in- hired him; they also were- the rea-
damage to the operations of U.S, te~igence sources and acquain- sons, in the end, why he was fired.
agents in Moscow as Pelton did to lances of the Howards in Santa Fe. Howard had looked forward to
U:S. high-technology interception Howard's case burst into public working for the CIA. The travel and
of Soviet- communications. But last fall, when hr/ d~ppem.~ But potential for excitement suited him.
Howard got away last fall-after the details of his story-which sug- He had graduated cum laude
embarrassing both the Central In- gest he did vastly more damage from the University of Texas, spent
teiliReace Agency and the Federal than previously indicated-heve not tWO y~~ ~'i~ the Peace Corps in
Bureau of Investigation and raising been told. They were reconstructed Colombia and then earned. a mas-
questions about their handling of from interviews and court records ters degree in business administca-
potential security leaks inside here and in New IYlexi~ Many lion at American University. E[e
American intelligence agencies. sources asked not to be quoted by then spent two years in Lima, Peru,
Howard, though a fresh recruit to name. Mary Howard refused to be with the Agency for International
the CIA, was briefed on the detail, interviewed. The CIA and the FBI Development. (Alp) planning and
of most, perhaps alt, of the secret declined to respond to specific ques.. developing loan projects.
operations of the CIA's Moscow lions, The Soviet division of the C[A
station in preparation for his assign- Although the story resembles has long considered itself an elite
ment to the Soviet capital as a hare- something concocted by Len Dei- group within the operations direc-
dler of agents-in-place. But before ghtoD or John Ie Came, it is not fit- torate of agency. To do contact
he took up his assignment, the C[A tiQn. Howard tom ro
reluctantly concluded on the basis U,S. agents and espionajge tekch 8 rk Yr neededcsomeone who car l l
a enc
of a polygraph test that Howard piques that toalc years to establish. Pass as a new Foreign Service of-
`:? could not be trusted with that sen- His; c~Se represeA~y one of the mast
sitive job. A subsequent investiga- serious failures of U.S. counterin- freer without an obvious past con-
! lion turned up previous drug use, telligence. CIA and FBI sources nection to C[A. Howard's biography
E drinking, womanizing and a history criticized each other foe Howard's fd~ed th g nrcl? was aware that F[ow-
of deception that The a y
persuaded CIA escape, and FBI agents in New and had a history of drug use when
officials to take the unusual step of Mexico have been re ri
firing Howard from the agency. their handling of the capsee~d~ for graduathng fromathe Untversityttof
Within ayear-and despite the Howard's troubles also may be Texas in 1972, Howard is reportccl
Ct~1 officials' conviction that they symptomatic of a continuing prob- to have told C[A officials that he
hacl hint rrnciec control-Etoward lem. Some intelligence sources be- used drugs during his two years irr
began to sell the secrets he knew to lieve that other individuals, brought Cali, Colombia, with the Peace
the S~>viet Union, apparently caul- into the CIA with similar biogra- Corps, He also told them that he
ing the arrest in Moscow of a Soviet phies and attributes, may. also turn
engineer who had been providing out to be "bad apples," as one Continued as a recreational user
inforrtration to the United States source ut it, while at AID. Howard promised the
(he is presumed dead), and severely Former friends of Howard and- C1A that he hadgencyped by the time
clisntpting U.S. espionage opera- intelligence sources discount recent he joined the Y .Howard, like many
lions in the Soviet capital, rumors that Howard traveled to the lJcl end Mfr
Tipl~ecl to E{award's betrayal long Soviet Union and committed sui- ?ther couples, both took C[A train-
after the fact by Yurchenko, the tide. "That's not in his character, urg to prepare Yo both studied the
[~ BI moved on the former C[?A one Santa Fe friend said recently; srgnn'ent? wage and together took
Russian Ian
surveillance and countersurveil-
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 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/03 :CIA-RDP90-009658000605100045-4 ~,
19hce courses so they could wont and parked his- car outside the
with each other on their new as- house of the'CTt~'afffctil"ni'c1~a' The fofi0~g Mt~nday, when he
signment
~ return
d
e
to work with a bandage ~
' of the Soviet division, and
['he Howards were to be a team sho Bar alto a his face, Howard pulled
in Mascow, a practice the CIA often fate twasmbemg dechid d, Howa~ most friendly co-workersn nto his
follows. Mary Howard did better in told CIA officials in 1984, he stood office and asked him for the name of
some subjects than her husbaed, outside the Soviet Embassy ~ a laavyer. Howard explained that he
which riled him. Hoafttd, however, Washington and toyed with the idea had done secret work for "the com-
led the class in countersurveillance, of going in. He did call a secret So- parry'. lxtt did not explain that
the techniques practiced to be cer, viet telephone number and asked to meant the CIA and 'the friend did
twin ~ieither he nor his.partner were speak to a KGB agent, but liar u not know this term. The colleague
being followed and in the ability to? before anyone came on the line 8 p recommended an attorney.
plan an escape, if that were needee~:-, After its investigation, the CIA Howards assault case was han_
Unce selected for Moscow, iioreh., personnel office recommended an died unusually, according to his.
and was taught how' "U.S. agents unusal step: separating Howard friends. After long negotiations in-
operate there, and was given some from the agency, Few people are volving letters and other represen-
icientifying data, but not the names, fired from the CIA, but it is one cations from both New Meavco {e~-
of the iadhriduat agents with whom agency Nhose director is ]ega~y islators and unidentified Washing ;;
he would dent.. Unlike most CIA di- authorized to dismiss empJdyey ton officials, Howard in April 1984-
visions, which narrowly compart- who are denied the right to appeal, pleaded guilty to a
mcntalixe what someone is told, the to and K, Sgravated .bat-
Howard reportedly was stunned ~' , ~- sentenced to five.
Soviet division had a practice of the decision and bitter about the Years pr?bagon with the under--
opening up more areas of informs- way he was treated, standin8 that he would undergo
tion to its newcomers as a sort of In late May 1983, Howard went PsYchtatnc treatment.
initiation into this "holiest of ho- to Santa Fe. He answered a. help.. In ~~? Howard had to peg;
lies"-the most selective part of wanted ad for a job in the Legiala- ~~~ done to the car by the but
the C[A s operations directorate, five Finance Commktee (LFC) of let and $7,500?to one of the victims,
Because making discreet con- the New Mexico state legislature. to settle a civ9 euit-
tacts is extremely difficult in a which needed someone with an eco- CIA ?~~ 1
tightly controlled city such as IVios- ~~ of the ~~.
nomics background to project fu- almast~ immediately after Howard's
cow, the CIA, helped by the f B[, lure state revenues, arn~~ a~~ng ttr sources, ,~
had spent years carefully working Howard told Curtis Porter of the though no reference appears is?~
out special procedures for them. LFC that he was leaving the For- court records, the ag~oy trade
Contacts with Soviet citizens were sign Service because he had de- some representations to the ' '
sharply limited to the most impor- clined to take an assignment in the handlin rt '~'~:
taut sources. Most Soviet citizens g ~- ?
with whom the C[A had arelation- Soviet Union, no lace, he said, for H?ward, aH to friends,'
ship were only seen when they had him and his wife to raise their new- had little trouble paying die $?,SQQ;?
a chance to get out of the Soviet born son. Porter said recently that and, is the words of ots~ "ah~yt
he neither asked Howazd for ref- had enough ~eY for his style of~
Union. ~ erences nor checked his curriculatn life."
After Howards training was vitae. He believed Howard was ~ ~ ~~ y fall of_.
ended, he was given a polygraph summer or earl
test. E[oward tailed on "deception," suited for the job, and he liked his 1984, the Howards went to Europe,,;
open personality. g friends. According tq~
according to one source, reportedl accordin to
attempting to hide troubles in his According to co-workers, How? an FBI affidavit filed in U.S. District
} and was bright and quickly took to COQ ~~ Oct?ber, Howard was in
~ marriage and other minor matters. his job. He initially told no one of his St. Anton, Austria, on Sept, 20;"
The Soviet division of C[A then CIA back r 1984.
decided not to take a chance, given g g ?~~ ~ soon had Before leaving on this first Eu-'
Howard's earlier drug problems, aired the trust of the New Mexico
Howard was passed back to person- legislators for whom he worked, ropean trip, Howard showed one
nel, which was to fad another po- Within a few months that was to. friend a catalogue of Rolex watches
sition in the agency for him. come ~ handy. w~ asked which he thought
Howard's activities around Wash-
ington while he was is training and
found that he had a serious drinking
problem, and even on one occasion
stole some money out of a woman's
purse that had been left on the air-
plane seat next to him. When con-
fronted, Howard re,~ortedly said he~
did it for the thrill rather than the
money,
Howard was devastated by the
loss of his Moscow assignment, ac-
cording to intelligence sources.
Once, sources said, he got drunk
an azgument with his wife, Howard """""? msptayed a new Rolex, .
got drunk in a local baz and picked a sO~ gold kruggerands and Soviet':
fight with three men who he had c'gars. One friend said the watch
folkrwed home in his ~ was worth $1,500, and recalled that
course of the altercation, Howard Howard told him at the time "a.
pushed a un throw h a window and friend in Europe helped me get it."
g g In October 1984, on a basin
waved it at one of the men. How? ess,.
ard's hand was shoved and he pulled trip to Boston with his LFC boss,,
the trigger, shooting a bullet up porter, Howard had a few drinks
through the roof of the car, picked before dinner and became boister-
up shortly afterward b a _ ous, offending others at the table: `
man, Howard was booked onpthree He excused himself to go up to the'
counts of assault with a deadly room he was sharing with porter. , ,
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~rnen? rorter amved an hour lat- neighbor said. J
er, the room was a mess. Howard In early summer, 1985, Howard Mexico legisl