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Aldrich Ames was not the first CIA officer to sell secrets to the Russians. That dubious honour went to Edward Lee Howard, a drug-taking, heavy-drinking adventurer who, despite his suspicious background, was accepted by the CIA and trained to occupy an important position in Moscow, even though Howard had admitted to a CIA colleague that he had contemplated selling US secrets to the Soviets.
Howard joined the CIA in 1981 and in his application had admitted that he was a "moderate" drinker and he had confided that he had occasionally used drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, Quaaludes and even LSD. None of this disquieting information caused his rejection by the agency, which concluded that his education, overseas experience, and expertise with firearms made him a good candidate. He was eventually trained for special duty with the CIA's Soviet/East European (SE) division which ran all of the agency's espionage operations in the Soviet Union and the Eastern block. Howard was about to be assigned to a position in Moscow, one of the most sensitive assignments the CIA could make. He was thoroughly briefed on most of the important agent contacts the CIA had in Moscow, as well as important espionage operations the CIA was then conducting elsewhere behind the Iron Curtain. A short time before Howard was to be sent to Moscow, CIA officials became more concerned with his drinking problems. He was ordered to take a polygraph test that revealed Howard was still using drugs, following this he resigned. A Soviet defector, Yurchenko, sometime later claimed that a CIA agent who bore the KGB code name "Robert" had met with Soviet officials in Austria in late 1984 and had turned over secrets in return for large sums of cash. Yurchenko did not know "Robert" personally, but he did know that this agent had been specially trained for a post in Moscow but had been suddenly 'removed' before being sent to Russia.
The CIA quickly realized that "Robert" could be none other than Edward Lee Howard. Yurchenko's information dovetailed with recent CIA setbacks in Moscow. The chief of station there had been sending in disturbing reports that many of the agency's operations had been "blown." In one recent incident, CIA officer Paul M. Stombaugh Jr., who had diplomatic cover, had been expelled from the Soviet Union for conducting espionage. Six weeks later, one of Stombaugh's agents, Adolf G.Tolkachey, a defence researcher, was arrested and later executed for treason. Other CIA agents fell victim to the KGB, all exposed by the traitorous Howard. The CIA reaction was one of silence. Although Howard still lived in Santa Fe, working as an economic analyst for the New Mexico State Hospital, the CIA decided not to inform the FBI. On August 7th 1985 however, CIA officials finally decided to come clean and informed the FBI that it had identified "Robert" as Edward Lee Howard. Howard may have been warned by the KGB as by then he was on a flight to Denmark. He later travelled about Europe, went to Helsinki, then back to Canada, South America, then again to Europe. Six months after he had fled the United States, he walked into the Soviet Embassy in Budapest, Hungary to be greeted warmly by his KGB caseworkers. He was flown on to Moscow where he was to be given an apartment, a country retreat, work as a consultant and a comfortable salary. |
