Edwin P. Wilson
| Edwin P. Wilson | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Edwin Paul Wilson |
| Born |
May 3, 1928 Nampa, Idaho, U.S. |
| Died | September 10, 2012 (aged 84) Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |  United States Marine Corps |
| Years of service | 1953–1956 |
| Battles/wars | Korean War |
| Other work | For the Central Intelligence Agency |
Edwin Paul Wilson (May 3, 1928 – September 10, 2012) was a former CIA and U.S. Naval Intelligence officer who was convicted in 1983 of illegally selling weapons to Libya. It was later found that the United States Department of Justice and the CIA had covered up evidence in the case. Wilson's convictions were overturned in 2003 and he was freed the following year.
Edwin P. Wilson was born to a poor farming family in Nampa, Idaho in 1928. Six foot five inches tall, charming, rugged and a consummate networker, he first worked as a merchant seaman. In 1953, Wilson earned a psychology degree from the University of Portland. That same year, Wilson joined the Marines and fought in the last days of the Korean War. He was said to have been impressive during his military service and, when he was discharged in 1956 for a knee injury, went to work for the Central Intelligence Agency.
Wilson's first assignments were for the Office of Security; this included a stint in 1956 guarding U-2 spy planes in Turkey. In 1960, the Agency sent him to Cornell University for graduate studies in Labor Relations. He put this and his knowledge of psychology to use in the Agency's International Organizations Division (IOD) tackling communism in trade unions around the world. Wilson was involved in attempts to destabilize European labour unions, for example, by using methods as diverse as involving Corsican mobsters and using plagues of cockroaches.
However, Wilson's most valuable time for the CIA was in Special Operations Division (SOD) setting up front companies like Maritime Consulting Associates (1964) and Consultants International (1965), which were used to covertly ship supplies around the world. For example, cargoes included disassembled boats sent to central Africa where they were welded together on the shores of Lake Tanganyika and used to intercept Soviet arms being ferried across the lake to rebels in the Congo; arms to Angola; crowd-control gear to Chile, Brazil and Venezuela; all kinds of equipment for intelligence-gathering facilities in Iran; supplies for a group of dissident army officers planning a coup in Indonesia; and barges sent to Vietnam. As director of these firms, which were conducted as legitimate businesses, Wilson began to amass a lot of money, but as a contractor, not an employee. He invested in property around the world. In 1971, after 15 years with the CIA, events that have been disputed ended Wilson's official career there. He nevertheless received a year's pay and acquired ownership of some of his front companies.
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