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Howard Phillips Hart (born as Howard Lester Phillips Jr.; October 16, 1940 – April 30, 2017) was an American
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
officer. He worked as the CIA chief of station in Islamabad, Pakistan from May 1981 until 1984. He was succeeded by William Piekney in the summer of 1984. He died on April 30, 2017.


Early life

Hart was born Howard Lester Phillips Jr. on 16 October 1940 in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, the only son of Eleanor Laidley and Howard Lester Phillips. Within months of his birth the family traveled to Manila, Philippines where Howard Sr. was an engineer with a U.S. firm. When the Japanese invaded Manila early in World War II, the family was interned first at the
University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (also known as UST and officially as the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila) is a private, Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Spanish friar Migu ...
in Manila, then moved to Los Banos. On 26 February 1945, The
11th Airborne Division The 11th Airborne Division ("Arctic Angels") is a United States Army airborne formation, first activated on 25 February 1943, during World War II. Consisting of one parachute and two glider infantry regiments, with supporting troops, the di ...
jumped in behind Japanese lines and extricated the 2000+ internees under fire. They took them to Manila and onward to the United States. Following their return to the United States, Eleanor and Howard Sr. divorced and Eleanor married Joseph Chittendon Hart. Joseph Hart was a banker with
Citi Bank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City Ba ...
and following an assignment in
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commerc ...
, India they returned to Manila in 1950. Hart attended Kent School and graduated from Brent School in the Philippines in 1958. He attended
Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologic ...
, where he was in
Chi Psi Chi Psi () is a fraternity consisting of active chapters (known as "Alphas") at 33 American colleges and universities. The mission of Chi Psi is to create and maintain an enduring society which encourages the sharing of traditions and values, res ...
fraternity, and the University of Arizona, and has both
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
(Honors) and
M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...
degrees in
Oriental Studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studi ...
and Political Science. His languages include Urdu,
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, and
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.


Career

Hart joined the CIA after finishing
graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and struc ...
at the University of Arizona in 1965. He spent two years at
Camp Peary Camp Peary is an approximately 9,000 acre U.S. military reservation in York County near Williamsburg, Virginia. Officially referred to as an Armed Forces Experimental Training Activity (AFETA) under the authority of the Department of Defense, ...
in Virginia, attending "the standard two-year course for ... aspiring case officers." He joined the Directorate of Operations after graduation.Coll 55 A career Near East Division officer, Hart's overseas postings included five years in India; two years as a Chief of Station (COS) in the Persian Gulf; a three-year posting in Iran, before, during and after the Iranian Revolution (where he was Chief of Station after the Shah fell and the American Embassy was overrun by Khomeini elements); three years as COS Pakistan during the Soviet–Afghan War; and COS, Germany in the period leading up to the collapse of Communism. In 1978 Hart began working the streets of Tehran. His reports that, contrary to over 15 years of CIA estimates,
the Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
's rule was far from stable or secure were suppressed by more senior personnel within the CIA. He was captured a few days after the Shah's fall by an armed group of supporters of
Ayatollah Ayatollah ( ; fa, آیت‌الله, āyatollāh) is an honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy in Iran and Iraq that came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Etymology The title is originally derived from Arabic word pr ...
Ruhollah Khomeini, and escaped summary execution by appealing to a mullah, who agreed that the Koran did not sanction such punishment. Immediately following his return from Iran in the fall of 1979 he was assigned to the Pentagon's "Iran Rescue Mission Joint Task Force" as the senior intelligence advisor to the Task Force commander. Hart established and managed an extraordinary CIA-in-country support structure for the ill-fated Iran Rescue Mission in 1980, and accompanied the mission on deployment. Hart jump-started the CIA's efforts to equip the Afghan resistance with weapons and supplies to allow them to mount an effective campaign during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Hart was a weapons collector with a "passion for weapons and paramilitary tactics," making him a natural choice for the Islamabad post. In 2010 Hart published a book called: ''Intelligence Thoughts: Afghanistan and Iran.''Hart, Howard P. ''Intelligence Thoughts: Developments in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan''. U.S.: Lulu.com, 2010. Print. In 2015 Hart published ''A Life for a Life: A Memoir: My Career in Espionage Working for the Central Intelligence Agency'' .


See also

*
Michael Pillsbury Michael Paul Pillsbury (born February 8, 1945) is an author, and former public official in the United States. He has been the Director of the Center on Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. since 2014. Before Hudson, he he ...


Notes


References

*Coll, Steve. ''Ghost Wars : The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001''. New York: Penguin, 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Howard 1940 births 2017 deaths American spies Colby College alumni Kent School alumni People of the Central Intelligence Agency People from St. Louis University of Arizona alumni Recipients of the Intelligence Star American expatriates in Pakistan