Howard Winfield Cox

Howard Winfield Cox died peacefully on July 28, 2025, in Frederick, Maryland. A highly regarded federal attorney, investigator, educator and author, Howard was 75. His cause of death was a rare genetic disease, myelofibrosis.

At the start of his wide-ranging 40-year career in the federal government, Howard pursued fraud, waste and abuse cases tied to government contracts and services. As a young staff counsel on the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, he helped co-author the Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act. Approved in 1986, the Act was pivotal in identifying and preventing federal contractor and service provider fraud and waste.

Howard served as a criminal investigator, prosecutor and intelligence officer across a broad array of federal offices. He retired from the Central Intelligence Agency as the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations where he supervised criminal, civil and administrative investigations. He earned the CIA Intelligence Medal of Merit in recognition of his work.

Earlier, at the Department of Justice, he served as Assistant Deputy Chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. His leadership in criminal prosecutions of federal hacking and identity theft cases earned him the Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award. Howard also served as a manager, attorney and criminal investigator at Offices of Inspectors General at the US Postal Service, the Department of Defense and the General Services Administration.

A U.S. Army Captain veteran, Howard served as a trial attorney in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. He earned a BA from Seton Hall University and a JD from Georgetown University Law Center.

Howard shared his years of expertise and experience with those rising in the field. As an adjunct professor at George Washington University, he taught computer forensics. While at the Graduate School USA and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, he taught courses related to procurement fraud, and electronic search and seizure.

Howard made the most of his retirement, traveling the world with his wife Sharon and using his investigative skills to research and write his well-received book American Traitor (Georgetown University Press). Fascinated by the modern-day parallels, Howard tells the story of how our Founding Father politicians protected the notorious General James Wilkinson from answering for decades of corruption and espionage.

A warm and witty man, Howard was famous among friends for his hilarious Christmas cards.

Howard was a loving husband to Sharon; father to Matthew (Emily Cox-Martin), Patrick (Lindsay), Jimmy (Kayla Tahti); and a beloved Pop-Pop to Abby, Hazel and Chelsea Cox.

Services will be private.