Real-life spy story
Former Oregon Stater, convicted and pardoned of spying in Russia, visits campus

By Patricia Filip

Ed Pope returned to his alma mater this fall and was introduced to the crowd of football fans at Reser Stadium prior to kickoff.

On Dec. 14, Edmond Pope and his wife are having what he likes to call "a get-out-of-jail party."

"Actually, it’s a birthday party for me to celebrate the first year of my new lease on life," said Pope, who was freed from prison in Russia on Dec. 14 last year. "If they had kept me in prison, there’s no doubt in my mind I would have died."

Pope, the first American since Francis Gary Powers to be convicted of espionage in Russia, spent 253 days in prison before being pardoned and released.

He returned to his alma mater on a crisp, cold day this November and was introduced to a crowd of Beaver and Husky fans as he stepped onto the field at Reser Stadium. It was a far cry from the previous November, when he stood in a barred defendant’s cage in a Moscow courtroom.

Pope was in Oregon to see family, take in a Beaver football game, and promote a book he has co-authored about his arrest, trial and imprisonment. The release of the book, Torpedoed, has generated a flurry of publicity and kept Pope busy with book signings, interviews and appearances on network television shows.

Pope graduated from the Naval Reserve Officer Training Program at OSU in 1969. He joined the Navy, quickly rising through the intelligence ranks to specialize in high tech and undersea warfare.

After retiring as a captain, he started a company that partnered with Russian scientists to develop commercial applications for declassified Russian military technologies. He was arrested on April 3, 2000, after his 27th visit to Russia on civilian business.

Officially, Pope was charged with stealing classified Russian military information, specifically technical information about the propulsion system of a Russian torpedo.

He claims he was set up and that newly elected Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted a "show trial."
"A warrant was drawn for my arrest two days after Putin was elected," Pope said. "They wanted a show trial to illustrate Westerners are spying there and bringing evil to their society.
"Since my release I have obtained documents that absolutely prove all the technical information I was given was unclassified from open sources and in fact was obtained right here in the United States by the Soviets in the 1960s and 1970s."

He said that Putin has brought former Soviet hard-liners back into power and has set the country backwards in terms of freedom and human rights.

A pardon commission had been established under Mikhail Gorbachev, Pope said.

"During his first year in office, Putin followed the recommendation of the pardon commission and issued 12,500 pardons. However, since I was pardoned on Dec. 14 last year, not a single person has been pardoned. This is just one factor that demonstrates how they are rolling back the human rights clock in Russia."

Pope’s pardon came after his wife, Cheri, as well as friends and colleagues lobbied American officials for help in freeing him. He said that Congressmen John Peterson and Kurt Weldon of Pennsylvania and Greg Walden of Oregon fought especially hard for his release.

Pope dedicated Torpedoed to Cheri. Although the book was finished prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks, he was able to add an additional dedication just before publication to acknowledge the staff in his former Pentagon intelligence office and a former neighbor, who were killed in the attack.

Pope said his story pales in comparison with the tragedy and war now facing the nation. But, he draws a connection.

"I’ve been asked, what I think now that Russia is our ally," he said. "I think that Russia must and should be an ally, but is not a friend. We must be allies with Russia in this war on terrorism because the Russians have a lot to offer. But we can’t trust them completely. They’re in this because they have something to gain, not because they like us."
In terms of security, Pope said that Russia, with its stockpiles of nuclear weapons and chemical and biological materials, was "wide open" and a very dangerous and unstable place. "Money will buy anything in that country," he said.

During his 253 days of imprisonment, Pope said he was not physically beaten but was psychologically tortured. He had limited contact with family, suffered a physical breakdown and believes he was drugged.

"Despite it all," he said, "I feel lucky I am free, in reasonably good health and back in the country I love."