Illegal Agents of Cuba for Nearly 30 Years
Couple Allegedly Conspired to Provide Classified Information to Cuban
Government
A former State Department official and his wife have been arrested on
charges of serving as illegal agents of the Cuban government for nearly
30 years and conspiring to provide classified U.S. information to the
Cuban government.
The arrests were announced today by David Kris, Assistant Attorney
General for National Security; Channing D. Phillips, Acting U.S.
Attorney for the District of Columbia; Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant
Director for the FBI's Washington Field Office, and Ambassador Eric J.
Boswell, Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security.
An indictment and criminal complaint unsealed today in the District of
Columbia charge Walter Kendall Myers, 72, a.k.a. "Agent 202," and his
wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, 71, a.k.a. "Agent 123," and "Agent
E-634," with conspiracy to act as illegal agents of the Cuban government
and to communicate classified information to the Cuban government. Each
of the defendants is also charged with acting as an illegal agent of the
Cuban government and with wire fraud.
The Myers, both residents of Washington, D.C., were arrested yesterday
afternoon by FBI agents. They made their initial appearances today in
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Wire fraud carries a
maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while serving as an illegal
agent of a foreign government carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in
prison and conspiracy carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
"The clandestine activity alleged in the charging documents, which
spanned nearly three decades, is incredibly serious and should serve as
a warning to any others in the U.S. government who would betray
America's trust by serving as illegal agents of a foreign government. We
remain vigilant in protecting our nation's secrets and in bringing to
justice those who compromise them," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney
General for National Security. "These arrests are the culmination of an
outstanding counterespionage effort by many agents, analysts and
prosecutors who deserve special thanks for their extraordinary work."
"This case demonstrates the care we must take in protecting our nation's
valuable secrets, and shows the dedication and perseverance of the men
and women investigating this crime who never tired in finding those now
charged with betraying our country," said Acting U.S. Attorney Channing
D. Phillips.
"Intelligence services from around the globe continue to steal what
information they can from the United States," said Joseph Persichini,
Jr., Assistant Director for the FBI's Washington Field Office.
"Vigilance must be matched with patience to successfully bring their
agents to trial. I would particularly like to thank the men and women in
my office who worked on this case and who work on other espionage
investigations. They work without accolades; silently protecting the
safety and security of the United States and its citizens."
Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Eric J. Boswell
stated, "The U.S. Department of State is jointly investigating this
matter with the FBI, and will continue to aggressively pursue any and
all breaches of national security. The Department's Bureau of Diplomatic
Security works closely with its law enforcement colleagues in the FBI
and other agencies to uncover and prosecute any breath of security
within its ranks. Any compromise of classified information is a serious
threat to the security of our nation, and the State Department will
aggressively investigate any such activity to the fullest extent possible."
U.S. Government Employment:
According to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Kendall
Myers began his work at the State Department in 1977, initially serving
as a contract instructor at the Department's Foreign Service Institute
(FSI) in Arlington, Va. After living briefly in South Dakota, he
returned to Washington, D.C., and resumed employment as an instructor
with FSI. From 1988 to 1999, in addition to his FSI duties, he performed
periodic work for the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and
Research (INR).
Kendall Myers later began working full-time at the INR and, from July
2001 until his retirement in October 2007, he was a senior analyst for
Europe for INR, where he specialized in intelligence analysis on
European matters and had daily access to classified information through
computer databases and otherwise. He received a Top Secret security
clearance in 1985 and, in 1999, his clearance was upgraded to Top Secret
/ SCI.
Gwendolyn Myers moved to Washington, D.C., in 1980 and married Kendall
Myers in May 1982. She later obtained employment with a local bank as an
administrative analyst and later as a special assistant. Gwendolyn Myers
was never granted a security clearance by the U.S. government.
Recruitment:
According to the affidavit, Kendall Myers traveled to Cuba in December
1978 after receiving an invitation from an official who served at the
Cuban Mission to the United States in New York City. His guide while in
Cuba was an official with Cuba's Foreign Service Institute. This trip
provided the Cuban Intelligence Service (CuIS) with the opportunity to
assess or develop Myers as a Cuban agent, according to the affidavit.
Approximately six months after the trip, the Myers were visited in South
Dakota by the official from the Cuban Mission in New York and, according
to the affidavit, Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers agreed to serve as
clandestine agents of the Cuban government. Afterwards, the CuIS
directed Kendall Myers to pursue a job at either the State Department or
the CIA. Kendall Myers, accompanied by his wife, then returned to
Washington, D.C., where he resumed contract work at the State Department
and later obtained a State Department position that required a Top
Secret security clearance.
According to the affidavit, during this time frame, the CuIS often
communicated with its clandestine agents in the United States by
broadcasting encrypted radio messages from Cuba on shortwave radio
frequencies. Clandestine agents in the United States monitoring the
frequency on shortwave radio could decode the messages using a
decryption program provided by the CuIS. Such methods were employed by
defendants previously convicted of espionage on behalf of Cuba.
According to the affidavit, the Myers have an operable shortwave radio
in their apartment and they told an FBI source that they have used it to
receive messages from the CuIS.
Undercover Operation:
According to the affidavit, in April 2009, the FBI launched an
undercover operation to convince the couple that they had been contacted
by a Cuban intelligence officer and to ascertain the scope of their
activities for the CuIS. On April 15, 2009, an undercover FBI source
posing as a Cuban intelligence officer approached Kendall Myers in
Washington, D.C., stating that he had been sent to contact Myers by a
named CuIS official in order to obtain information. The FBI source also
congratulated Kendall Myers on his birthday and offered him a cigar.
Myers agreed to meet the source later that day at a nearby hotel and
volunteered to bring his wife along to the meeting.
During the meeting later that day, the couple agreed to meet the source
again and to provide information on U.S. government personnel with
responsibility for Latin America. According to the affidavit, the couple
also made a series of statements about their past activities on behalf
of the CuIS, including acknowledging having received coded messages from
the CuIS via shortwave radio, meeting CuIS officials in Mexico, and
being alert to surveillance. "We have been very cautious, careful with
our moves and, uh, trying to be alert to any surveillance," Kendall
Myers allegedly told the FBI source.
In subsequent meetings with the FBI source, the Myers allegedly agreed
to provide information on the April 17-19, 2009 Summit of the Americas
in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as to use specified code words, signals
and encryption programs to transmit information via email during future
interactions with the source. They also asked the source to "send
special greetings…and hugs" to certain CuIS officials.
In addition, the couple allegedly made further statements to the source
about their past activities for the CuIS. According to the affidavit,
the defendants discussed how they were first recruited by the CuIS and
how codes had been used for each of them in messages, including "123"
for Gwendolyn Myers and "202" for Kendall Myers. The Myers also stated
that they had traveled to meet Cuban agents in Mexico, Trinidad and
Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Jamaica, New York City and other
locations.
The Myers also discussed how they had passed information to CuIS agents,
with both agreeing that the most secure way was "hand-to-hand."
According to the affidavit, Gwendolyn Myers said her favorite way of
passing information to CuIS agents involved the changing of shopping
carts in a grocery store because it was "easy enough to do."
According to the affidavit, Kendall Myers told the source that he
typically removed information from the State Department by memory or by
taking notes, although he did occasionally take some documents home. "I
was always pretty careful. I, I didn't usually take documents out," he
said. According to the affidavit, he also acknowledged delivering
information to the CuIS that was classified beyond the "Secret" level.
He further stated that he had received "lots of medals" from the Cuban
government and that he and his wife had met and spent an evening with
Fidel Castro in 1995.
Additional Evidence:
According to the affidavit, the FBI collects high frequency messages
broadcast by the CuIS to its agents and has identified messages that it
has determined were broadcast to a handler of Kendall and Gwendolyn
Myers. Furthermore, the FBI has confirmed trips by the couple to Mexico,
Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Jamaica that
correspond to statements made by the defendants. In addition, the FBI
has identified emails to the couple in 2008 and 2009 from a suspected
representative of the CuIS in Mexico who was allegedly requesting that
the couple travel to Mexico.
The affidavit further indicates that an analysis of Kendall Myers'
classified State Department work computer hard drive revealed that, from
August 22, 2006, until his retirement on Oct. 31, 2007, he viewed more
than 200 sensitive or classified intelligence reports concerning the
subject of Cuba, while employed as an INR senior analyst for Europe. Of
these reports concerning Cuba, the majority was classified and marked
Secret or Top Secret, the affidavit alleges. An FBI review of Kendall
Myers' State Department security files further revealed numerous false
statements by him to conceal the couple's clandestine activities on
behalf of the CuIS, the affidavit further alleges.
According to the affidavit, neither Kendall Myers nor Gwendolyn Myers
ever provided notification to the Attorney General that either of them
was acting as an agent of a foreign government, as required by law.
Finally, the affidavit alleges that Kendall Myers engaged in a scheme to
defraud the State Department and the United States by means of false
pretenses and caused the U.S. government to lose property, specifically
money in the form of salary payments. By not disclosing his clandestine
activity on behalf of the CuIS and by making false statements to the
State Department about his status, Kendall Myers allegedly defrauded the
State Department whenever he received his government salary. Gwendolyn
Myers is also criminally liable for this alleged wire fraud scheme.
This investigation was conducted jointly by the FBI's Washington Field
Office, and the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The
prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Harvey,
from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, and Senior
Trial Attorney Clifford I. Rones, from the Counterespionage Section of
the Justice Department's National Security Division.
The public is reminded that criminal complaints and indictments contain
mere allegations and are not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed
innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Documento: Comunicado del Departamento de Justicia de EE UU (en inglés)
- Noticias - Cuba - cubaencuentro.com (6 June 2009)
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