CIA SPY GAVE CLUES OF INTENT TO AGENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100710036-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 27, 2011
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: October 21, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/04/27: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100710036-6
x,12 1CLE APPEARED
ON PAGE _L:2-
CIA spy
gave clues
of intent
to agents
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The CIA mishandled both the hir-
ing and firing of Edward L. Howard,
a former employee suspected of sell-
ing the Soviet Union top secret infor-
mation- on CIA operations in
Moscow, an intelligence official says.
Fugitive and former CIA oper-
ative Howard had trained for a Mos-
cow assignment and learned some of
the agency's most sensitive secrets
before he was fired in June 1983
after failing two lie detector tests,
the official said.
The intelligence official, who
spoke on the condition he not be
identified, called the affair "a secu-
rity scandal of major proportions."
He said the CIA had failed to take
steps to put Howard under surveil-
lance even after he told two CIA offi-
cers in Austria he had considered
getting even for his dismissal by
revealing details of the CIA's Mos-
cow operations.
During a 1984 trip to Austria,
Howard gave the Soviet intelligence
service, the KGB, information that
led to the arrest of a CIA agent in the
Soviet avionics industry, according
to federal officials.
Howard met "two current
employees of the CIA' four days later
and told them he had considered
spying for the Soviets in Wlsahington,
according to court documents.
An administration official said
Howard's meeting with the CIA offi-
cers was not reported to the FBI, but
CIA officials contend "appropriate
action was taken." Under federal pri-
vacy laws, the CIA cannot monitor
Americans who express "fantasies"
about spying, a CIA official said.
"We were obviously very con-
cerned about him at the time 11984] "
the official said. "He was not
neglected nor ignored." Published
WASHINGTON TIMES
21 October 1985
reports have said the CIA hired a
psychiatrist for Howard after he left
the agency to work as a financial
analyst in New Mexico.
Howard has since fled the United
States and is believed to be in Mos-
cow.
Howard's treachery was dis-
closed by Soviet defector Vitaly
Yurchenko, a senior KGB officer.
Senate Select Committee on Intel-
ligence spokesman Dave Holiday
said the committee is investigating
both the CIA's hiring of Howard and
charges that the FBI was not alerted
to Howard's statement that he had
considered espionage against the
United States.
Under CIA guidelines, all con-
tacts with Americans suspected of
espionage must be reported to the
FBI. The FBI maintains a liaison
office at the CIA's headquarters in
Langley, Va., to handle such cases.
Mr. Holiday said that during ini-
tial committee briefings on the How-
ard case, no mention was made of
the CIA's contact with Howard in
Austria.
Regarding the CIA's hiring of
Howard, "one of the questions that
we have wanted to know all along is
what was the result of the first [poly-
graph test];' Mr. Holiday said in an
interview. "If he had problems on
the second one, did he develop them
in that 21/2-year period or was it
detected in the beginning;' he asked?
A CIA official said Howard would
not have been hired by the agency if
he had failed polygraph testing.
But another administration offi-
cial said Howard failed one of two
polygraph tests when he was hired
by the CIA in January 1981.
Although he passed a loyalty test, a
test about his personal lifestyle indi-
cated illegal drug use. He was told to
"clean up his act" and began training
within the CIA's clandestine oper-.
ations division, the official said. Two
and a half years later, Howard again
failed a lie detector test, which
showed continued drug use and also
theft of agency funds, the official
said.
Rather than transfer Howard out
of clandestine services, the agency
summarily dismissed him, he said.
The CIA's handling of the Howard
case has focused attention on
Deputy CIA Director John N.
McMahon, the agency's executive
director at the time Howard was
hired in January 1983.
According to an intelligence offi-
cial, Mr. McMahon vetoed an over-
seas counterspy program, which
might have helped agents spot How-
ard before he contacted the KGB in
Austria.
The program also might have
detected another suspected Soviet
spy, John Walker, who allegedly met
frequently with KGB officials in
Vienna, and might have prevented
CIA clerk Sharon Scranage from
passing secrets to a Ghanaian intel-
ligence agent, the official said.
Scranage pleaded guilty last month,
and Mr. Walker is awaiting trial in
Baltimore.
In 1978 Mr. McMahon was pro-
moted by former CIA director Stans-
field Tuner to deputy director for
operations - the section that han-
dles clandestine operations -
although records show his exper-
ience was limited to technical and
electronic intelligence collection.
Conservative critics have charged
that Mr. McMahon's control over
CIA policies eclipses that of CIA
Director William Casey.
CIA spokesman George Lauder
would not say what role Mr.
McMahon played in bringing How-
ard into the agency. But he said
"John McMahon had absolutely
nothing to do with Howard's depar-
ture from the agency."
After Howard's disappearance
last month in New Mexico, the CIA's
chief of security, William Kotopish,
was transferred from his post, an
administration official said. He
described the new CIA security
chief as a "manager" with no secu-
rity background who had been rec-
ommended by Mr. McMahon. He
declined to reveal his name.
Mr. Lauder confirmed that a new
security chief has been appointed
but said the selection had been made
by Mr. Casey.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/04/27: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100710036-6