Richard C. Howland

Richard Cabot Howland (b. 11 April 1934, New York) served as an American career diplomat and intelligence officer since 1960, and was on rotation in Phnom Penh from 1961 to 1963, when he was involved in the Thai-Cambodia negotiations related to the Preah Vihear temple and the outlining of the international border. 

An alumnus of Georgetown and Yale Universities, he served as Foreign Affairs analyst at Bureau of Intelligence and Research of the State Department (1969−1971), Chief of the political section of the American Embassy, Vientiane, Laos (1971−1974), American Consul at Surabaya, Indonesia (1974−1976), Inspector of Foreign Service (1977−1979), Personnel Officer in labor relations at State Department (1979−1981) and Country Director for Thailand from 1981 to 1983.

As a covert CIA officer, Richard C. Howland reported in 1970 a balance of the anti-communist crackdown in Indonesia, stating that about 105,000 people were killed during the ​‘counter-insurgency’ campaign in Indonesia. After serving at the American Embassy, Jakarta, Indonesia (1983−1987), he was the US Ambassador to the Republic of Suriname from 1988 to 1990, when he retired from the diplomatic service.

In a classified report about the 30 Sept. 1965 anti-government demonstrations in Indonesia [​“The Lessons of the September 30 Affair”], Howland wrote

In Washington things tend to become unreal. Human beings are sometimes viewed as little more than names passing in the stream of paper. unrelated to their past and future. Far from the scene, we are often prone to see Asia impersonally as a cosmic chessboard, where the great powers can conduct their broader strategies without much regard for the pawns. But the pawns too are people, and the human factor is always the key, as it was on the morning of October 1, 1965 in Indonesia. To be truly viable, all strategic theories based on sophisticated geopolitical ideas must also take into account the prospect of those sudden, unexpected acts of human courage and decision which, precisely because they were not a part of preconceived plans, alter and illuminate political affairs.