Keeping Lines Open
Howie Cohen ’79
headed the White House Communications Agency
By Kevin Gray
Photography by David W. Coulter
During a trip to China, Col. Howie Cohen ’79, then commander of the White House Communications Agency, was working out in the fitness facility of the hotel where the U.S. delegation was staying. He left his cell  phone, identification and credentials, and a towel on a workout bench while using a treadmill, then went to another room for some stretching. While there, he heard President Bush and his Secret Service detail enter.
Then he heard, “Cohen! Hey, Cohen!”
When Bush saw him, recalls Cohen, he said, “with that typical
George W. Bush smile on his face, ‘Hey, Cohen, you have a call,’ and handed me my phone, towel, and credentials.”
Cohen felt embarrassed that the President of the United States was answering his phone for him.
The phone, however, hadn’t rung. The president was joking—he just wanted to use the bench to work out.
“Whether you like him or not, President Bush has a great sense of humor,” says Cohen, who lives in Woodbridge, Va. “I just did not expect to be the brunt of one of his jokes.”
The White House Communications Agency handles voice and data communications support for the president, vice president, and others. During his three years there—including the final two as commander —Cohen had a hand in the workings of the government and the coordination among it, the military, and the public.
In 2005, Cohen was with President Bush at the G-8 Summit talks among the world’s leading industrial nations in Edinburgh, Scotland, when the news broke that terrorists had set off bombs in London.
“I literally watched the flurry of activity from the Security Council side to the White House staff side to make sure that people had the right information and access to the right kinds of communication systems so they could pass and share information, and ultimately make decisions,” Cohen recalls. “Being a part of that process was fascinating.”
He left his post as commander of the agency last year, and is retiring from the military after what will be a nearly 27-year career. His honors have included the Legion of Merit, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Achievement, the Army Achievement Medal, and the Joint Meritorious Unit Award.
Cohen says he owes a good measure of his success to his experience at Lafayette, where the English major was an ROTC cadet, played baseball, and was a brother in Phi Gamma Delta.
“Sports have always had an influence on me because they teach life lessons, such as the value of camaraderie, teamwork, and discipline,”
he says. “I learned those lessons as a young kid playing sports, and baseball eventually helped me get to Lafayette, where I found them again playing baseball and in the fraternity. I try to find camaraderie, teamwork, and discipline in everything I do. Eventually, I found them
in the Army as well.”
Cohen appreciated that Lafayette was small enough to keep students from getting “lost.”
“You get to know a lot of people. That offers a very diverse experience, and ultimately, that’s what led me to go into the military,” he notes.
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