In this episode, retired agent Ellen Glasser reviews the criminal investigation of the Iran-Contra affair, the secret sale of U.S. arms to Iran and the illegal diversion of funds to Nicaraguan Contra rebels. The case was code-named “Operation Front Door.” Ellen investigated and testified about almost 6,000 messages that were deleted from John Poindexter’s and Oliver North’s computer files.
Poindexter and North were convicted at trial but were later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush, who had been vice president at the time of the scandal.
Ellen was featured on Showtime and Paramount+ documentary Episode 2 – 2018: Enemies: The President, Justice & the FBI, about the Iran-Contra Affair.
Special Agent (Retired)
Ellen Glasser
4/1982—2/2006
Ellen Glasser served in the FBI for 24 years. During her Bureau career, she was assigned to the Charlotte, San Diego, Washington Field, FBIHQ, Seattle, and Jacksonville offices, where she worked or supervised cases across all investigative program lines.
Her supervisory experiences were at FBI Headquarters, where she was a liaison to Congress and national spokesperson; and in the Seattle Division where she was Supervisory Senior Resident Agent (SSRA) in Tacoma and then a squad supervisor/violent crime program manager in Seattle. After a specialty transfer to Jacksonville, she was the inaugural coordinator of the North Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force after 9/11.
During Ellen’s career, significant cases included serving as one of the case agents for the Iran-Contra Investigation; working and/or supervising serial bank robbery investigations of the “Hollywood” gang (Listen to FBI Case File Review episode 404: Shawn Johnson and Steven Meyers – How to Rob a Bank, The Hollywood Bandit) and the Netflix film How to Rob a Bank; and the “Trenchcoat Robbers;” and working on other high-profile extortion, media leak, espionage, terrorism, kidnapping, and homicide cases. She received numerous commendations for her case work, and has been featured in books, podcasts, documentary TV shows, and films that include Ann Rule’s book The End of the Dream; the Discovery Channel’s Terror in Disguise episode on The FBI Files.
While in the FBI, Ellen’s most important job was being mother to her four children and two stepchildren, a distinction that earned her the title, “Agent Mom.” Many crazy stories about how she managed motherhood and her challenging career have yet to be told! Her children are all grown and now she enjoys her many grandchildren.
Ellen has been active in advocacy and community service. She was elected as the first female National President of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI. She later served as mayor of the City of Atlantic Beach from 2017 to 2022. Most recently, she helped found a nonprofit, the Beaches Homeless Coalition. She also serves on many boards in her community.
After retirement, Dr. Ellen Glasser, Ed.D., earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of North Florida (UNF) and taught a variety of courses for seven years in the UNF’s Criminology and Criminal Justice Department. Her dissertation, Voices of the First Women Leaders in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is a qualitative research study of female leadership in nontraditional occupations.
The following are links to news articles and case-related images about the Iran-Contra investigation:
New York Times – 3/16/1990: 5000 Files Erased From Poindexter’s Computer New York Times
UPI – 3/15/1990: Poindexter to FBI: North ‘up to something’
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