Sheffield Edwards
{{Short description|First director of security for the CIA}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| office1 = 1st Chief of Inspection and Security at the Central Intelligence Agency
| termstart1 = Establishment of CIA
| termend1 = 1963
| appointer1 = Hoyt Vandenberg
| branch = *United States Army Air Forces
| awards = Bronze Star Medal
Legion of Merit
Distinguished Intelligence Medal
| birth_date = 12 June 1902
| birth_place = San Francisco
| battles = *World War II
| death_place = Leesburg, Virginia
| death_date = 15 July 1975 (aged 73)
| rank = Colonel
| office = Assistant Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Group
| term_start = 1946
| term_end = Disestablishment of CIG
| serviceyears = 1923–1946
| successor1 = Howard J. Osborn
| image = File:Sheffield Edwards.png
}}
Sheffield "Shef" Edwards was the first director of the Office of Security at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the principal architect of security programs at the agency.{{Cite web |title=Northern Virginia Sun 17 July 1975 — Virginia Chronicle: Digital Newspaper Archive |url=https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=NVS19750717.1.2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------- |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=virginiachronicle.com}} Edwards was directly involved in several assassination attempts against Fidel Castro. He was also one of the grand designers of Project BLUEBIRD.{{Cite web |title=Chief, Inspection and Security Staff, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to Director of Central Intelligence, “Project Bluebird,” Top Secret, April 5, 1950, 12 pp. {{!}} National Security Archive |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/32717-document-02-chief-inspection-and-security-staff-us-central-intelligence-agency |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=nsarchive.gwu.edu}}{{Cite web |title=CIA Behavior Control Experiments Focus of New Scholarly Collection {{!}} National Security Archive |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/dnsa-intelligence/2024-12-23/cia-behavior-control-experiments-focus-new-scholarly |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=nsarchive.gwu.edu}}
Life
Edwards was born 12 June 1902, in San Francisco.
In 1923, Edwards graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point.{{Cite web |title=INTERVIEW WITH COLONEL SHEFFIELD EDWARDS |url=https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=31961#relPageId=2 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=www.maryferrell.org}}{{Cite web |title=Sheffield Edwards |url=https://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient/recipient-97513/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=Hall of Valor: Medal of Honor, Silver Star, U.S. Military Awards |language=en-US}}
During World War II, Edwards worked for the United States Army Air Forces, as chief of staff of the 8th Air Support Command, transferred to become the chief of staff for the 9th Fighter Command, and later the Executive Officer of the Command Air Section of the I British Corps.
It should also be noted that Edwards was the principal architect of the 9th Fighter Command in 1943, an act which earned him the Bronze Star Medal.{{Cite book |last=CIA Reading Room |url=https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80r01731r001300060147-4 |title=CIA Reading Room cia-rdp80r01731r001300060147-4: CITATION, (THE BRONZE STAR MEDAL - COLONEL SHEFFIELD EDWARDS) |date=1948-06-15 |language=english}}
Later during the war, Edwards was transferred a command position in the G3 Headquarters of the 12th Army Group.
After the war, Edwards joined the Central Intelligence Group (CIG). When the CIG was merged into the CIA with the passage of the National Security Act of 1947, Edwards became the CIA's first director of security under Hoyt Vandenberg, managing the Office of Security. Edwards worked in this role from the establishment of the CIA, until his retirement in 1963.
During Senate investigations into the operations of the CIA, Edwards was revealed to be one of two men who planned several failed assassination attempts of Fidel Castro, the other man being Richard Bissell.{{Cite web |title=The United States President's Commission on CIA Activities within the United States (Rockefeller Commission), "Summary of Facts: Investigation of CIA Involvement in Plans to Assassinate Foreign Leaders," June 5, 1975. {{!}} National Security Archive |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/21512-document-19 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=nsarchive.gwu.edu}} During Phase I of that operation, which called to use the Mafia to smuggle Botulinum toxin in pill form into Cuba, and feed them to Castro. Edwards infamously tested the pills on some Guinea pigs to see if they worked. Edwards and Bissell also devised other ways to assassinate Castro, all of which failed.{{Cite web |title=Page:Family jewels of the Central Intelligence Agency.pdf/12 - Wikisource, the free online library |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Family_jewels_of_the_Central_Intelligence_Agency.pdf/12 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=en.wikisource.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=McIntosh |first=Matthew |date=2020-10-06 |title=A History of the American Mafia |url=https://brewminate.com/a-history-of-the-american-mafia/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=Brewminate: A Bold Blend of News and Ideas |language=en-US}}
Edwards and William King Harvey allegedly hired Sam Giancana and John Roselli for a contract hit on Castro, but the CIA soon learned that the two men were being investigated by the office of Robert F. Kennedy.{{Cite book |last=CIA Reading Room |url=https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000300510134-8 |title=CIA Reading Room cia-rdp88-01315r000300510134-8: MAFIA THREATENED TO DISCLOSE PLOT BY CIA TO KILL CASTRO, AIDE SAYS |date=1975-05-22 |language=english}} Kennedy, when informed by the CIA, said: "The next time you deal with the Mafia, come to me first."
Under Edwards, the Office of Security also engaged in mole hunts to find traitors and suspected Communists. Allen Dulles and Lawrence R. Houston, while publicly denying Senator Joseph McCarthy any access to CIA employees, also tasked Edwards with the responsibility of investigating the names that McCarthy had demanded access to.{{Cite web |title=Sheffield Edwards |url=https://www.tpaak.com/sheffield-edwards |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=TPAAK |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Sheffield Edwards |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKedwardsS.htm |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=Spartacus Educational |language=en}}
From 1963 to 1970, Edwards was the President of "Sheffield Edwards Security and Management Consultants," in Washington, D.C..