“His responsibilities in El Salvador involved keeping tabs on U.S. AID money to the Salvadoran government.”

The Life and Death of an Intelligence Man

March 26 2025 — Richard D. Krobock was killed along four other people during a helicopter crash in El Salvador on March 26, 1987. The CIA was unable to identify the cause of the crash. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.”

John F. Kennedy

Early life — Rick Krobock was born in Trenton, New Jersey, on December 5, 1955. He was the youngest of three brothers. His father had graduated from West Point Military Academy. In 1963, his parents separated and his mother relocated in Scituate, Massachusetts.

Education — Krobock struggled in school. Nevertheless, in 1974, he graduated from Scituate High School. In the fall, he enrolled at the University of Massachusetts, but dropped out after a semester and worked at a gas station.

Life in the Military — In June 1975, Krobock entered the US Military Academy at West Point as a cadet. On Saturday nights, many of his classmates opted for strategy board games, but he preferred to spend the evening at Eisenhower Hall to drink beers.

He graduated from West Point in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and in History.

On active duty, he attended Army Ranger, Aviation, Airborne, and Armor Schools. He received advanced training in Military Intelligence and served in South Korea, West Germany, and the United Kingdom. He gained his pilots wings in 1981.

While in the military, Krobock was dismayed by the low quality of most soldiers under his command. And he began to look for a new life. In 1985, his request for a transfer to Army Intelligence was denied.

Life at CIA — In October 1986, while stationed at Fort Ord in California, he opted to join the Agency after nearly eight years of service in the US Army.

Final Mission — In the early morning hours of March 26, 1987, he was the radio communications officer onboard a helicopter. The helicopter was on standby to provide search-and-rescue services for an Agency operation.

As it was returning to the base the helicopter crashed, killing all aboard. Officially, the cause of the crash remains a mystery.

Cause of the Crash — Although no cause was given for the accident, Colonel (ret) Kevin Higgins visited the crash site that same night. According to Higgins, Korbock’s aircraft was flying across an open field when it struck a treetop. “It was the only tree, about 20 feet tall, in the field,” Higgins observed.

Last Wishes — In accordance with his wishes, his friends organized a party awash in beers and memories. “He made the CIA a good point on our part. You never hear anything good about it any more.”

Memorial Wall and Book of Honor — Krobock is remembered by a star on the Memorial Wall, and his name xas inscribed in the Book of Honor.

Krobock was posthumously awarded the Agency’s Intelligence Star in recognition of his Agency service and sacrifice.

TIMELINE

Whenever the CIA has a problem, the Memorial Wall is always a solution… The first annual Memorial Ceremony was held in May 1987, 13 years after the creation of the Memorial Wall. The timing was significant, as the CIA was approaching its 40th anniversary, and another major scandal — the Iran-Contra Affair — was beginning to surface.

On October 2 1986, the Washington Post published an extraordinary story written by legendary journalist Bob Woodward: “Gadhafi Target of Secret U.S. Deception Plan”. Under orders from the White House, the US Intelligence Community was planting false information in the US media. As a result of this scandal, the use of the word ‘disinformation’ became mainstream in the English language.

On November 3 1986, the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa exposed the Iran–Contra scandal. Senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. They hoped, thereby, to fund the Contras in Nicaragua while at the same time negotiating the release of several U.S. hostages. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the government had been prohibited by Congress. This affair is usually regarded as one of the most important scandals in US modern history.

The two operations were in fact two branches of a single policy. If the delivery of weapons to Iran was the “Carrot” part of the plan suggested in the 1985 “Fuller MEMORANDUM“, the disinformation regarding “Libyan terrorism” was the “Stick”.

CIA Stars and Helicopters Crashes

Travel accident is the most likely cause of death among CIA officers honored by a star on the Memorial Wall.

On August 20, 1965, CIA paramilitary officers Edward Johnson (STAR 17) and Louis O’Jibway (STAR 18) were killed when their helicopter crashed into the Mekong River.

Contributing factors included an inoperative windshield wiper and the malfunctioning of both the aircraft’s automatic stabilization equipment and its minimum altitude warning light. This situation was hardly surprising, as the CIA (along with Air America and Bird \& Sons) relied on surplus poorly maintained equipment from the armed forces.

On October 12, 1965, an Air America Sikorsky UH-34 helicopter crashed during takeoff from a pad near Saravane (now Salavan), Laos, resulting in the deaths of the pilot, Capt. Richard H. Liebert, the co-pilot, Franklin D. Smith, and CIA officers Mike Deuel (STAR 19) and Michael A. Maloney (STAR 20).

Following this second crash, Philip Blaufarb, the CIA chief of station in Vientiane, made a formal request for better helicopters. His request was denied.

REFERENCES

Heroes: Richard Daniel Krobock – CIA Website

The Life and Death of an Intelligence Man – CIA Website

WASHINGTON, March 31 (AP) -An American employee of the Central Intelligence Agency was killed last week in the crash of a Salvadoran military helicopter in El Salvador, the State Department said Monday.

Neither the department nor the C.I.A. disclosed the man’s identity, but a Massachusetts newspaper, The Quincy Patriot Ledger, reported on Monday that a former area resident, Richard D. Krobock, 31 years old, had died last week in a helicopter crash in El Salvador.

The victim’s father, Dr. John R. Krobock of Sacramento, Calif., was quoted as saying he had been informed of his son’s death, but he provided no details of the incident. Dr. Krobock said he knew nothing about his son’s work in Central America.

A State Department spokesman, Greg Lagana, said on Monday that, ”An employee of the C.I.A. assigned to the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador was killed March 26 when a Salvadoran military helicopter in which he was a passenger crashed five kilometers north of the town of Chinameca” in San Miguel Province.

CIA EMPLOYE DIES IN EL SALVADOR, March 31 1987 (AP) — State Department spokesman Greg Lagana said that a CIA employee was also aboard. “We have nothing on the cause of the crash,” he added. “But it is highly unlikely that any hostile fire was involved. We do not believe there were any guerrillas in the area at the time.”

“IntelToday’s meticulous research is especially significant in areas where there are few — or no — comprehensive sources available. By making this information accessible and preserving these stories, IntelToday is not only educating the readers but also honoring the memory of those commemorated on the CIA Memorial Wall. It’s an admirable contribution to public knowledge and historical understanding.”

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(January 13, 2025)