CIA MOSCOW INFORMANT VANISHES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706870049-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2011
• Sequence Number: 49
• Publication Date: October 6, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

N
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706870049-4
ARTICLE ATEAUD
ON PAGE _._
WASHINGTON POST
6 October 1985
CIA Moscow Informant Vanishes
Source Says Disappearance May Be Related to Howard Case
By Patrick E. Tyler
wuhw4tm Pat Staff writer
5
A Central Intelligence Agency source in Moscow, de-
scribed by agency officials as "an asset" who has pro-
vided information to the United States in the past, has
disappeared during the last month, a source in the in-
telligence community said yesterday.
The source said the disappearance in Moscow may be
related to the breach of highly classified information by
a former CIA clandestine service officer, Edward Lee
Howard, 33, who fled his home in New Mexico two
weeks ago after he was identified as a Soviet spy by a
high-ranking KGB defector.
However, the source cautioned, "the [asset's] disap-
pearance is not necessarily linked to Howard. An awful
lot of things have happened in the last few months."
Referring to reports that a Soviet official working for
the CIA was presumed executed based on revelations
by Howard, the source said, "It's a long jump from 'dis-
appearance' to execution. It's not particularly unusual
not to hear from someone for a length of time."
The source said that because the CIA "asset" disap-
peared "in rough proximity" to the identification of
Howard as a Soviet agent, intelligence officials assume
there may be a connection.
A source familiar with CIA penetration of the Soviet
hierarchy said yesterday that Howard could have
known the names or identifying characteristics of So-
viet officials who provide information to the CIA. He
also would have been familiar with the "trade craft"
used to communicate with Soviet officials, the source
said, including clandestine "drops" and use of special
electronic equipment in Moscow.
The source said historically that the CIA had ac-
quired valuable assets in Moscow, it had never been
able to penetrate the ruling Politbutn ' s staff.
Howard was identified as a Soviet AL 'ht by Vitaly
Yurchenko, a high-ranking official of the KGB who de-
fected to the West in early August on a visit to Rome.
Yurchenko is said to be undergoing debriefing by the
CIA at an undisclosed location near Washington.
An FBI affidavit unsealed Friday in Albuquerque said
that after Howard was dismissed from the CIA in June
1983, he traveled to Austria 15 months later and met
with "senior officials" of the KGB and provided, in ex-
change for an undisclosed amount of money, classified
data about intelligence sources and methods. An intel-
ligence source said the meeting took place in Vienna.
During the same period, Howard met at another lo-
cation in Austria with two former colleagues who were
then employed by the CIA. Howard told the CIA offi-
cers that a year earlier, not long after his dismissal, he
had contemplated walking into the Soviet Embassy in
Washington to disclose U.S. intelligence secrets, but
had decided against it.
Howard was reportedly angry over his dismissal,
which occurred after he failed a polygraph examination.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706870049-4