VICTIM FORMER CIA SPY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970041-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 41
• Publication Date: February 15, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970041-8
STAT
Police are-searching
for hit-and-run driver:-'
By Randy Haglhara
Times Tribune staff -
REDWOOD CITY -- The Palo
Alto man who was struck and killed
by a hit-and-run motorist early Sat-
urday morning was a former Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency spy who
had been involved. in "some very
famous CIA cases,"' the Times.Trib-
une has learned.
Edward Ellis Smith, 6q, was car
rying a briefcase filled with notes
on the CIA and the Russian KGB
when he was struck by a white
sports car shortly after midnight;
Redwood City police said. ; ;
.Traffic Sgt Dick Morton said Sat-
urday afternoon that the former
spy's death was being handled as a
felony hit-and-run accident, but left
open the possiblity that it may be
investigated later as a homicide-
Smith, who had-worked{as an In-
telligence officer for .the Army,
State Department and the CIA, ap-i
parently was returning from a din-
ner engagement in San Franclscoi
when he-was struck-by a"white-
Cbevro)et Corvette in.aweii-jlghted
crosswalk at-Ei`Camind?Real-and;,
James
The driver- of.,the; car,.desctibedj
by witnesses as 'a* young white male'.
with-light-colored hair,-drove-away?
without stopping. ~.
Traffic officers said the impact
of the collision was so great that -
Smith.,was knocked out of one shoe`.,
and a sock as he was thrown over
the top of the car.
PALO ALTO PENINSULA TIMES TRIBUNE (CA~
15 February 1982
Dressed in a beige trench coat,
Smith was pronounced dead at the
scene. He had received severe leg
and head Injuries, police said. -
Officers worked through the
night and most of Saturday trying
to piece together the events leading
up to the apparent accident- .
Smith, who one acqualotence
said did not own a car, probably
took: a train from San Francisco
and disembarked at the. Redwood
City depot. Police speculated that
he perhaps was on his.way.to meet
someone when he was killed.
? One unidentified Redwood City
motorist told police he was driving
south on El Camino Real when he
was passed by a white Corvette
traveling in the same direction.
-"The Vette whizzed by him at a
high rate of speed, ran a red light
and struck Mr. Smith, who ap-
parently was crossing In a marked
crosswalk on a green light," Morton
said.
Another witness, who was
stopped at the intersection, said
Smith had just walked past her car
-when she saw a "white streak and=
heard a thud," Morton said. -
Officer Paul Jensen and reserve
Officer Rick. Nieto were about a
block away on James-Avenue writ-
ing- out a traffic citation when
Smith was struck. ; :.
Morten said the two officers re-
pored hearing the screech of a
car's brakes, ?:then:the sound of
Smith's body being hit, and ran.
down the street In time to see
papers fluttering to the ground."-
The intersection- Immediately
was. sealed. off to preserve any evi-
dence. Police found about 1.30 feet
-of skid marks and. white. paint
chips.
Morton,-who was later called to
the scene; said he'quickly glanced
through the papers that half spilled
onto the roadway from Smith's
briefcase.
"I turned to-one of the -officers
.and said, 'There's-some papers
here that, if nothing else, are very
interesting, " he said.
- He said most of- the papers ap.
-peared to be, handwritten. notes
-from. a yellow, pad, with references
' to the CIA'and KGB-He said he did-
-see a page of one ''official-looking
document". t h a t bore Smith's sigaa-
: turf
. "My first impression was that he
was some kind of author," Morton
said.
The papers were turned over to
the San Mateo-County coroner's of-
fice along with the rest of Smith's
possessions, he said.
"We are pursuing this as a felony
?hit-and-run fatality -- until I get
evidence to the contrary," said
Morton. "All we can do Is wait and
see."
Smith was described Saturday as
an "awfully nice man," though one
neighbor later described him I
terms that befit a spy.
He had lived alone for about
'three years at 101 Alma St., a high
rise condominium complex, one
- nextdoor neighbor said.
"I know darn little about him.
He's a neighbor, but one you rarely
see," said Edgar McDowell.
"There'd be days on end when I
didn't see him," McDowell said.
,"He's just one of those persons that
you don't know very much about"
Smith was most recently em-
ployed by Smith Bellingham Inter
national, Inc., a San Francisco bro-
His employer, David Smith, no
relation, said in a telephone Inter-
view that the longtime Palo Alto
resident had worked for the gov-
? ernment_ as an intelligence officer
for more than 20 years before re-;
"He was involved in?som'e very-'
said.
:ward Ellis Smith had traveled
Ing in the U S: Embassy Ins Moscow..
as the State Department's first full-
time security chief In-the mid-
'1950s. He previously had served at
tary and economics attache:.,
A CIA spokesman in McClean; i'
At-
, on Smith's death, or previous em--.
ployment_ -
,. Smith, who wrote a book on Josef
Stalin In 1967, frequently contribut
mainly_about Soviet affairs,..:
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970041-8