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Edward Lee Howard facing off at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow So close to U.S. territory yet so far away |
Undercover with FBI Counterintelligence
June 1994, Washington D.C.
John H phoned me just past six p.m. next day, Wednesday, June 1st. "I'm here."
John
H shook his head. "We'd have no way
of knowing."
"Oh,
no," said John H in mock horror.
John H was alternately intrigued and amused.
The photographs, especially, riveted his attention: Howard and the manhole cover; Batamirov, Blake.
To a counterintelligence officer, it was a treasure trove.
"Here's what's happening," said John H. "Bob G (assistant U.S. Attorney) is flying in tonight. My boss Jim S is flying in tomorrow. The U.S. Attorney for New Mexico is here, too."
"Jeez,"
I said. "Sounds like a
convention."
I presented myself at John H’s room, 1406, at 9:30 next morning. Bob G arrived a few minutes later in blue slacks and a short-sleeve madras shirt.
These also showed a manhole cover, labeled in Howard's own handwriting with the codename (still classified) of the operation (still classified) to which the manhole cover was associated.
John H was gob-smacked.
"This is evidence," he said. "The codename, *****, is secret. He's written it here, sent it to you and even signed his initials."
Cote would make a great witness, he said, not least because he had been unwitting to what was really going on.
"That was pretty good," said Bob G. "You've put this writer in front of you as a shield."
Jim S had learned his lesson about meetings with me, had packed a pair of blue jeans, which he wore with a dark knit shirt, Timberland deck shoes, no socks.
"People
assume we know everything," said Bob G.
"If only they knew the truth.
We're too busy having meetings, fighting political battles."
John H phoned me at three o'clock the next day when the big pow-wow at Headquarters concluded.
Bob G’s pitch had been well received.
Bottom-line: The Big Cheese Family green-lighted our proposal for me to travel to Russia and meet Edward Lee Howard.
John H phoned me at three o'clock the next day when the big pow-wow at Headquarters concluded.
Bob G’s pitch had been well received.
Bottom-line: The Big Cheese Family green-lighted our proposal for me to travel to Russia and meet Edward Lee Howard.