What happens when multiple CIA agents start disappearing, or begin getting arrested as exposed American spies overseas? Who takes the blame for these egregious actions? In 1985 that blame was placed on former CIA agent Edward Lee Howard. The former agent was accused of one the most criminal acts that could be done against one’s country by incriminating the agents that were sent abroad. Although Howard denied the charges, without undisputable evidence there was no way of knowing if he was telling the truth, and would be prosecuted because of it. When Howard realized there was no way out of the dreadful future set out before him by the FBI, he decided that the best thing he could do for himself was runaway to Russia. There he became the first …show more content…
spy to successfully escape prosecution from the U.S. government. Edward Lee Howard had a modest beginning. He was born in Albuquerque New Mexico in 1951 to, Kenneth Howard, an Air Force missile guiding specialist. Due to his military upbringing, Edward Lee Howard lived in multiple places such as Germany, England, and Texas during his upbringing. He attended the University of Texas, and graduated with honors in 1972.
Shortly after graduating while in his early twenties he spent time serving in the Peace Corps in Columbia, and admittedly was known to partake in drugs during this time in his life. At the age of twenty-two he met his wife, Mary Cedarleaf, who was also serving in the Peace Corps. By the time he was turned twenty-five, he earned his Master’s in Business at American University, which provided the leverage he needed to get to his next position in the workforce. After college he went to work for United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Lima, Peru for a couple of years. He then returned to the United States to do environmental work in Chicago for Ecology and Environment Inc. In 1980 he applied for a job in the CIA and effectively changed his life forever. Howard’s began his training with the CIA in 1980 due to many positive attributes he was already accustomed to. According to, David Wise, in the Congressional Record, “To the C.I.A., Howard had apparently looked like an ideal recruit. He had a graduate degree, work experience, and both he and his wife were accustomed to living overseas.” It also stated, “Howard was fluent in Spanish and German, a smooth, well-spoken man who collected guns and knew
how to use them.” Howard was given the position of Deputy Director for Operations (DDO) in the CIA, and sent for training at “The Farm.” The CIA did all its intelligence, surveillance, and source obtaining training at “The Farm,” to prepare their recruits for their future careers in the field. After the completion of his training Howard relocated to Vienna, Virginia with his wife, and began his work with the CIA. In 1981 Mary Howard also gained employment with the CIA as well, but as she put it, “I wasn't a case officer like Ed, I was more a secretary. I worked for the D.D.O.” Although in a lower level position, Mary was also put through CIA training of her own to prepare her for whatever they deemed necessary. Having couples work together at the agency made it easier to relocate personnel without seeming as suspicious, and since Mary had such a similar background with her husband, she was easily hired. While in the agency Howard made close bonds with William G. Bosch, an older veteran of the CIA, and immediately bonded over similar work experience in South America, and these close ties helped propel his career to new heights. After a short period of time, Howard was recommended to the Soviet European (S.E.) Division for a two-year term. The S.E. division was seen as the best position in the agency to have, especially for a newcomer such as Howard. There was little hesitation to Howard’s acceptation to the position among the executives in the agency, since newcomers were used as fresh faces make it difficult to gain intelligence on them as opposed to an experienced case officer. In preparation for his upcoming departure, Howard and his wife received their final specialized training for their positions in Moscow, began acquiring information about the agents and missions happening in the area, and studying the Russian culture. Finally he took a secondary polygraph right before he was set to relocate. That’s when everything went wrong. Howard’s secondary polygraph revealed signs of deception in regards to drugs and petty theft. And although those that knew him best insisted that he did not use any drugs, a full investigation on the matter was underway. According to the former Deputy Inspector, General Carroll Hauver, ”Howard, when confronted after the polygraph test, admitted using drugs, stealing from vending machines and taking money from a woman's purse aboard an airliner.” After these discoveries were made, the CIA decided that could no longer send Howard to Moscow, nor have him in the agency. After only a short three years in the CIA Howard was fired and forced to find a new home for his family. Howard moved back to New Mexico and began work as an economic analyst at the Legislative Finance Committee. This new job, however, did not get rid of the anger Howard had for the agency, and he began to drink heavily because of it. Howard was truly tested when sent on a business trip to D.C. for an economics conference. With a mind full of intelligence secrets and plenty of pent up resentment towards the CIA, Howard contemplated going into the Soviet Embassy and revealing everything he knew to them. In the end he decided against it, and chose not to compromise the CIA’s intelligence. In 1984 the Howard’s decided to take a vacation to Switzerland and Austria, which become a major point in the case against Howard. In 1985 the CIA was experiencing major loses of their field agents, and it was starting to look like there was a mole leaking secrets to the KGB. Vitaly Yurchenko, a KGB agent that defected to the United States had many years of experience and service in Soviet intelligence. Yurchenko described the trip Howard took to Austria as a meeting with a KGB agent. As a result, the FBI began heavy surveillance of Howard, and gained a warrant to tap his home phone. While investigating, the FBI found Howards former CIA co-worker William G. Bosch. After being interrogated for four days, Bosch admitted that Howard did tell him about selling the CIA’s secrets the KGB while in Europe, and even making Bosch a part of his plans. However, while the FBI was interrogating Bosch, Howard was planning his great escape. Late September of 1985 Howard walked up to one of the FBI’s surveillance agents to let them know that he was willing to talk to them, his only request was that he could have a day to get his lawyer lined up. After returning Howard put his plan in action. Howard and his wife went to dinner that evening, and on the way home decided to put their training acquired while in the CIA to use. Howard found the blind spot in their surveillance and escaped out the car. Mary placed a dummy in his place so it seemed as though Howard was still in the car. Once home, Mary used a recording Howard left and called a number that was set to go to voicemail, to make it seem as though Howard was in the house. That evening Howard flew to New York, then to Helsinki. Once in Helsinki, Howard sought refuge at the Soviet Embassy, and received it. In 2002 Howard passed away in Russia. To this day there is no concrete evidence proving that Howard turned the captured spies into the KGB. It is also speculated that the blame was placed on Howard to take the heat off of other double agents such as, Aldrich Ames. This chain of events was seen as an embarrassment on the CIA’s behalf, causing major internal restructuring of recruiting and training of agents.
While he was in the gang he dropped out of school. In the gang he got in a lot of trouble. He got arrested for the first time in 1957 after a gang fight. From then on he got arrested a lot in 1958 he was Convicted of burglary and given probation. In 1959 arrested for the first time as an adult for unlawful assembly in a raid at a gambling location.
I hope I have answered the question “What was his personal life like?” good in here and would like to summarize by saying that he was able to overcome all odds to become a famous inventor that even had a movie made by him. I would also like to say that He made many, many products that we still use all from simple plants like peanuts in summary to the answer of the question “What did he actually do?”. He also had many hobbies that ended up in helping many people (“What did he like to do when he wasn’t working?”). I have found that this man that I knew nothing about before the report is one of the few real life people I know of that overcame so many things in his life that almost no one even knows
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At the time, the area Howard lived in was going through a racist change. His mother told
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‘Foreign policy in Edward’s reign was an ignominious failure’ assess the validity of this view?
drafted to Vietnam) was brought in to speak at Howard, something so unique at the
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