Thomas Howes (hostage)
Thomas Randolph Howes is an American Northrop Grumman employee who was captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and was held hostage from February 13, 2003 to July 2, 2008. He was rescued in Operation Jaque, along with the two other American contractors, Ingrid Betancourt, and eleven Colombian security personnel. On March 12, 2009, Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves were each awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom. Mission in Colombia Thomas Howes was part of a team of a dozen or so pilots and technicians overseen by the U.S. Southern Command. Their operation was dubbed Southcom Reconnaissance System, and Northrop Grumman held the $8.6 million contract for the work. As the program became increasingly successful, several former pilots and others familiar with the program said civilian managers pushed flight crews farther over the jungles, often at night and sometimes 300 miles from their base. Their mission expanded, too, fr ...
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