Cremated.RIP. Death of 'spy who got away' ends Cold War chapter BY MARGARET COKER Cox News Service ZHUKOVKA, Russia - The two-story brick house complete with garage and painted wooden fence has all the trappings of a typical American suburban home. But the occupant for the last 15 years was not a typical American. Edward Howard, 50, the only CIA official to defect to the Soviet Union, lived in this small community about 10 miles north of Moscow. When his body was found early July 12 laying face up in the garden outside the house, an embarrassing chapter of U.S. Cold War espionage came to a close. Yet the life he built in Moscow, which included a cozy relationship with his family and freedom to travel, raises questions about why U.S. law enforcement agencies couldn't bring one of their most wanted fugitives to justice after he defected in 1985. Described as a drunken fool by former colleagues and a traitor by U.S. intelligence officials, the New Mexico native always maintained his innocence, saying in a 1995 memoir: ``I never gave information that could hurt America or Americans.'' Neither the CIA nor the FBI would comment on Howard's case. According to Russian sources, however, the ''spy who got away'' traveled repeatedly to the United States after his defection without being detected by the CIA or FBI. 'SMUGGLED' TO U.S. Victor Andrianov, who retired in 1992 as the deputy head of foreign intelligence, recalled in an interview last week how the KGB ''smuggled'' Howard back to the United States, via Canada, in the late 1980s. ''He wanted to see with his own eyes that his wife and kid were alright,'' Andrianov said. ``It was extremely risky . . . but we owed it to him.'' Indeed, former KGB officials who knew Howard say he traveled widely during his last 17 years. Trips to Nicaragua, Hungary and Switzerland provided U.S. officials ample opportunity to ask for his arrest and extradition. But apparently this was never done, even though the information Howard allegedly sold the Kremlin reportedly resulted in the execution of a Soviet citizen working for the CIA and the dismantling of the U.S. spy network in the Soviet Union. The history of Howard's case reads like a John le Carre thriller. Hired by the CIA in 1980, Howard was training for a posting in Moscow when he was fired in 1983 for lying about drinking, drug use and theft. Soon afterward, Howard got a new job with the New Mexico Legislature, but ran into trouble with the law. Although under probation for a misdemeanor conviction and prohibited from leaving the state, Howard left New Mexico three times: once to attend a conference in Washington, then to visit Italy and Austria with his wife Mary and then one quick trip alone to Vienna. It was the 1984 trip to Austria that piqued the FBI's curiosity -- they allege this is the time when Howard sold secrets to the KGB for $6,000. ELUDES TAIL On Sept. 20, 1985, FBI agents interviewed Howard and put him under surveillance. With his wife's help, he eluded the tail and fled the country on Sept. 21 on a flight bound for Helsinki. From Finland, Howard was smuggled into the Soviet Union with KGB help, according to Howard's former handler, Vladimir Kryuchkov, and given political asylum in Moscow on Aug. 7, 1986. Howard admitted in his 1995 memoirs Safe House that he identified for the KGB photographs of people he had worked with and described general CIA procedures for recruiting agents. But this was the extent of his interaction with the Soviets, he said. Russian versions of Howard's importance vary wildly. The Federal Security Bureau, the successor organization to the KGB, refused to comment on the allegation that Howard's information resulted in the death of Adolf Tolkachev, a Soviet scientist researching stealth aircraft technology in the 1980s. Andrianov said Howard was crucial in unmasking CIA moles, including Tolkachev. ''Howard helped clarify the then-CIA list of residents in Moscow, the covers the U.S. spies used. He told us that the CIA was widely using Hollywood-style masks to leave the embassy building unidentified when going on operative assignments,'' Andrianov told the Moscow daily Komsomolskaya Pravda. ``Edward revealed to us the features of a valuable U.S. agent. We identified the agent as Soviet scientist Adolf Tolkachev.'' AMES TRUE SOURCE Yet other former KGB contacts, who insisted on anonymity, say Howard's colleague convicted spy Aldrich Ames was a far more important source. They said the CIA mistakenly blamed Howard for information sold by Ames. The KGB exploited this confusion, they said, using Howard as a smoke screen to hide Ames, who when he was finally caught 10 years after Howard's defection, was considered the most dangerous traitor in modern U.S. history. Howard's wife, a former CIA secretary, was never prosecuted for helping her husband flee the United States. She and Howard's son, Lee, traveled at least once a year to Russia to visit Howard. The family also reunited on Howard's trips abroad, according to Russian intelligence agents responsible for guarding Howard. COLLECT REMAINS Mary and Lee came to Moscow to collect Howard's remains after a cremation ceremony in July attended by former KGB pals. For those who attempted to apprehend Howard, the news of his death ended an unsuccessful and complex chase. John Hudenko spent half of his 31-year career with the FBI in New Mexico on Howard's trail. He traded faxes with Howard, tracked his movements and even met him in Sweden, where Howard lived for a year after his KGB protector, Kryuchkov, was jailed in 1991 following a failed coup aimed at overthrowing Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Yet Hudenko said he was never able to catch Howard in a misstep that could lead to him being brought to prosecution in U.S. courts. In a July interview with the Associated Press, during which he was told of Howard's death, Hudenko expressed no disappointment. ''Justice was served,'' Hudenko said. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/3885352.htm