Richard G. Fecteau (born 1927) is an American

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

operative who was captured by the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

during a CIA-sponsored flight in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. News of the capture of Fecteau and John T. Downey reached the United States in November 1954, sparking a nearly two decade battle of wills between the U.S. and the PRC. Fecteau was released in December 1971. He later worked as an assistant athletic director at his alma mater,

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, retiring in 1989.

CIA career

He joined the

(CIA) soon after

and became one of two CIA Paramilitary Officers in

Special Activities Division The Special Activities Center (SAC) is the center of the United States Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to a 2015 reorganization. Within SAC there are at le ...

(the other was John T. Downey, a

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

graduate) who survived the shoot-down of their

Civil Air Transport Civil Air Transport (CAT) was a Nationalist Chinese airline, later owned by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), that supported the United States' covert operations throughout East and Southeast Asia. During the Cold War, missions consi ...

C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...

spy-collection mission over the

in November 1952. In December 1954 Radio Peking announced that Fecteau and Downey had been convicted of spying and were sentenced to 20 years and life imprisonment respectively. Due to improving U.S.-China relations, Fecteau and Mary Ann Harbert, who was captured on a yacht in Chinese waters near

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in April 1968, were released on 13 December 1971, crossing the land border into Hong Kong where they were received by U.S. consular officials. Harbert and Fecteau were flown by helicopter to

Kai Tak Airport Kai Tak Airport was an international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply K ...

and then boarded a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

aeromedical evacuation jet and flown to

Clark Air Base Clark Air Base is a Philippine Air Force base in Luzon, located west of Angeles City, and about northwest of Metro Manila. It was previously operated by the U.S. Air Force and, before that, the U.S. Army, from 1903 to 1991. The base cov ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and then on to McGuire Air Force Base. Harbert and Fecteau were taken to Valley Forge Military Hospital for medical evaluation. Fecteau was reported to be having difficulty adjusting to his release, being uncommunicative after having spent most of the preceding 19 years in solitary confinement. Throughout his captivity the U.S. had falsely denied that he was a CIA agent. On hearing news of his release, his ex-wife Margaret (who had divorced him in 1951) admitted that "the Chinese haven't been lying" about him being a CIA agent, but she recanted the statement the next day. However U.S. officials disclosed privately that they no longer denied the Chinese charges that he was a spy. In a press conference on 15 December he said that he had never given up hope of release, but had got so used to solitary confinement that he was unused to speaking, when asked if he was a CIA agent he replied "no comment." In an official statement made by

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. It is a ...

at the time of his release, the Chinese government said that while Fecteau was a CIA spy, given that he had admitted his crimes during trial and his behavior was not bad, in accordance with the proletarian policy of leniency he was being released prior to the end of his 20-year sentence. In 2013, the CIA awarded Fecteau the

Distinguished Intelligence Cross The Distinguished Intelligence Cross is the highest decoration awarded by the United States Central Intelligence Agency. It is given for "a voluntary act or acts of extraordinary heroism involving the acceptance of existing dangers with conspicu ...

. The CIA's ''

Studies in Intelligence ''Studies in Intelligence'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal on intelligence that is published by the Center for the Study of Intelligence, a group within the United States Central Intelligence Agency. It contains both classified and u ...

'', vol. 50, no. 4, 2006 included an article describing the mission, the capture, and, ultimately, the release of agents Downey and Fecteau. A related video documentary was placed on the CIA website.

References

External links

Two CIA Prisoners in China, 1952–73
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fecteau, Richard 1927 births Living people American people convicted of spying for the United States American people imprisoned in China CIA agents convicted of crimes Boston University Terriers football players People from Lynn, Massachusetts Foreign nationals imprisoned in the People's Republic of China Recipients of the Intelligence Medal of Merit