Harold James Nicholson
Harold James Nicholson (born November 17, 1950) is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer who was twice convicted of spying for Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
For the British diplomat, author, and politician, see Harold Nicolson.
Harold James Nicholson
November 17, 1950[1]
Former Central Intelligence Agency officer
Released
3
Sentenced to 31 years and 7 months imprisonment; Released after 27 years
Nicholson's recruitment to the SVR appears to have occurred in the wake of a much-publicized arrest of the senior CIA officer and Moscow mole Aldrich Ames in February 1994 which, in the words of CIA veteran and author Tennent Bagley, had "exposed extraordinary slackness of CIA security procedures."[2]
Early life and education[edit]
Harold James "Jim" Nicholson was born on November 17, 1950, in Woodburn, Oregon. The son of a career Air Force officer, Nicholson found it difficult to make friends, due to his innate shyness and the constant relocation of his father's change in duty station. He attended Desert High School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, from grades nine through eleven. His family moved again, and he attended grade twelve at Novato High School in Marin County, California, graduating in 1969. That was the same year the high school had been known for a massive sit-in protest against the Vietnam War, but Nicholson refused to participate, partly because few friends had invited him to participate to begin with but also out of respect for his father.
While attending Oregon State University, he met fellow student Laura Sue Cooper (born April 1, 1955) in a fencing class. While they both were shy people who formed an attachment, they had different outlooks on life. She later admitted she was a half-hippie who had some countercultural leanings and concerns against US involvement overseas, whereas he was taking Reserve Officers Training Corps classes in an attempt to go into his father's line of work.[3] When Nicholson graduated OSU in 1973, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army. Cooper, who was younger, abandoned a possible return to school, in order to marry Nicholson.
Career and personal life[edit]
Nicholson was comfortable with Army life and performed well, as a captain and company commander in a U.S. Army intelligence unit. He served in the "Screaming Eagles", the Army's 101st Airborne Division. His training in cryptography enabled him to acquire a staff position in Army intelligence.[3]
His wife was unhappy with military life, and moving from post to post. After the birth of their first child, in 1978, Nicholson quit the Army and moved his family to Kansas City, Kansas, to work for Hallmark Cards. A year later, Nicholson was bored with this unchallenging new career.
Nicholson joined the CIA in October 1980, and entered a top-secret training program at Camp Peary, Virginia, and soon began to accept overseas postings and espionage assignments.[3]
In his career with the CIA, Nicholson was assigned duties throughout the world. He worked for the CIA as an operations officer specializing in intelligence operations against foreign intelligence services, including the intelligence services of the USSR and later, the Russian Federation. From 1982 to 1985, he worked for the CIA in Manila, where he had direct contacts with targeted Soviet officials; from 1985 to 1987 he worked for the CIA in Bangkok, from 1987 to 1989 in Tokyo.[4]
From 1990 to 1992, he was the CIA Chief of Station in Bucharest, Romania.[4] At this point, Nicholson's personal family problems and his workaholic lifestyle raised red flags, and ensuring security concerns. John R. Davis Jr., who was U.S. Ambassador to Romania during the last three months of Nicholson's tenure remembers that he "wasn't keen" on having Nicholson remain at the embassy. A few years later, after Nicholson had committed espionage and been discovered, Davis said: "He must have had severe psychological problems to do what he did, having spent all those years on the side of the angels, then suddenly to flip like that." Although senior Embassy officials say they reported warnings to the CIA, the cautionary warnings, if received, were not heeded, because Nicholson was moved to another important overseas position, in Malaysia.[3]
Despite Nicholson's career success, his personal life had suffered, as his constant reassignments weighed heavily on his wife and three children, eventually leading to a difficult divorce and a custody battle. Over a 23-year period, his family had moved 21 times. His workaholic habits meant that he skipped family vacations and was often away due to travel. The children were unhappy with the constant moves, from one foreign country to another, and their father's frequent absences. His wife was unhappy and embittered. Nicholson and Laura filed for a divorce in 1992, which was finalized in 1994. He was awarded custody of his three children, as the court-appointed guardian judged that their mother's continued anger at her husband negatively affected the children.[3]
The CIA was aware that such personal problems were typical, given that senior CIA officers often put careers first and family second. Divorces were common amongst officers in their mid-forties. Because of his troubled personal life, officials feared he might be a candidate for recruitment by foreign intelligence agencies. During two years of great personal distress, from 1992 to 1994, Nicholson was the Deputy Chief of Station/Operations Officer in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The post may have appeared as a sort of promotion, as this was a larger station than Bucharest, and a position where he met with and targeted recruitment of Russian intelligence officers. As his wife was no longer present, any personal turmoil was less apparent to his superiors, and he was free to continue his relationship with a Thai girlfriend, whom he wished to marry.[3] He began his espionage activities in June 1994.[5][4]
From 1994 to July 1996, Nicholson worked as an instructor at the classified CIA's Special Training Center at Camp Peary, Virginia (also known as "The Farm"), teaching CIA trainees intelligence tradecraft. In July 1996, he was assigned as a branch chief in the Counterterrorism Center, Directorate of Operations, at
CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. That position carried a pay grade of GS-15, his salary being approximately US$73,000.[4] It was discovered that the identities of trainees of the classes of 1994, 1995 and 1996 had been sold to the Russians, and many of these trainees were his own students.[6]