November 24, 1:09 AMFBI ExaminerVirginia McCabe
A former State Department official and his wife have pleaded guilty to
federal charges for spying for the government of Cuba.
At a hearing before Judge Reggie B. Walton, defendant Walter Kendall
Myers, 72, aka "Agent 202," pleaded guilty to a three-count criminal
information charging him with conspiracy to commit espionage and two
counts of wire fraud.
His wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, 71, aka "Agent 123," and "Agent
E-634," pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging her
with conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information,
according to the FBI.
As part of his plea agreement, Kendall Myers has agreed to serve a life
prison sentence and to cooperate fully with the United States regarding
any criminal activity and intelligence activity by him or others.
As part of her plea agreement, Gwendolyn Myers has agreed to serve a
sentence of between six and seven and a half years in prison and to
cooperate fully with the United States.
Both defendants have agreed to the entry of a monetary judgment against
them in the amount of $1,735,054. The assets that will be forfeited to
the government towards satisfaction of that judgment include: an
apartment in Washington, D.C., a 37-foot sailing yacht, a vehicle, and
various bank and investment accounts.
"For the past 30 years, this couple betrayed America's trust by covertly
providing classified national defense information to the Cuban
government. Today, they are being held accountable for their actions.
These guilty pleas should serve notice that 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.
"Today's guilty plea and impending sentence close the book on this
couple's contemptuous betrayal of our nation," said Acting U.S. Attorney
Channing Phillips. "Thanks to a well-planned and executed
counterintelligence investigation that included unprecedented
cooperation among multiple U.S. agencies, the Myers's serious
transgressions of compromising our nation's classified secrets will now
be appropriately addressed with significant prison sentences. Others who
would think to compromise and jeopardize our nation's security should be
forewarned."
"I want to thank the dedicated career investigators from the FBI and
other members of the intelligence community who worked tirelessly to
identify these spies. Espionage injures the country and these pleas
today show the FBI will not rest in its effort to protect America," said
Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director for the FBI's Washington
Field Office.
Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Eric J. Boswell
stated, "Today's guilty pleas are the culmination of an inter-agency
effort to detect and aggressively pursue a serious breach in national
security. The U.S. Department of State is committed to protecting our
nation's secrets and bringing to justice those who betray America's
trust. The Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security will continue to
work closely with its law enforcement colleagues in the FBI and other
agencies to uncover and prosecute those involved in espionage activities."
Background
Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers, residents of Washington, D.C., were
arrested on criminal complaints on June 4, 2009. The following day, they
were indicted in the District of Columbia for conspiracy to act as
illegal agents of the Cuban government and to communicate classified
information to the Cuban government. They were also charged with acting
as illegal agents of the Cuban government and with wire fraud.
Kendall Myers began working at the State Department in 1977 as a
contract instructor at the Department's Foreign Service Institute (FSI)
in Arlington, Va. After living briefly with Gwendolyn 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
work for the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research
(INR). He later worked full-time at the INR and, from July 2001 until
his retirement in October 2007, was a senior intelligence analyst for
Europe in INR where he specialized 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
In December 1978, while an employee of the State Department's FSI,
Kendall Myers traveled to Cuba after being invited by a Cuban government
official who had made a presentation at FSI. That Cuban official was an
intelligence officer for the Cuban Intelligence Service (CuIS). This
trip provided CuIS with the opportunity to assess or develop Myers as a
Cuban agent. Myers kept a diary of his two-week trip to Cuba in which he
explicitly declared his affinity for Fidel Castro and the Cuban
government. The diary was recovered by the FBI in the investigation.
In 1979, Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers were visited in South Dakota by the
same Cuban intelligence officer who had invited Kendall Myers to Cuba.
During the visit, the Cuban intelligence officer recruited both of them
to be clandestine agents for Cuba, a role in which they served for the
next 30 years. Their recruitment by CuIS as "paired" agents is
consistent with CuIS's past practice in the United States. Afterwards,
CuIS directed Kendall Myers to pursue a job at the State Department or
the CIA to gain access to classified information. Kendall Myers,
accompanied by his wife, returned to Washington, D.C., where he pursued
a position at the State Department.
During the time frame in which Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers were serving
as clandestine agents for Cuba, 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 CuIS.
Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers communicated with CuIS by this method. The
shortwave radio they used to receive clandestine communications was
purchased with money provided by CuIS. The shortwave radio was later
recovered by the FBI.
Undercover Operation
According to the court documents, in April 2009, the FBI launched an
undercover operation against the pair. Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers met
four times with an undercover FBI source, on April 15th, 16th, and 30th,
and on June 4, 2009. The meetings were all video- and audio-taped.
During the meetings, Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers made a series of
statements about their past activities on behalf of CuIS, including how
they used code names and how they had transmitted information to their
CuIS handlers through personal meetings, "dead drops," "hand-to-hand"
passes, and in at least one case, the exchange of shopping carts in a
grocery store. The couple also stated that they had traveled to meet
Cuban agents in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador,
Argentina, and other locations.
When asked by the undercover FBI agent if he had ever transmitted
information to CuIS that was classified higher than Secret, Kendall
Myers replied, "oh yeah…oh yeah." He said he typically removed
information from the State Department by memory or by taking notes,
although he did take some classified documents home. Gwendolyn Myers
admitted she would process the classified documents at home for delivery
to their CuIS handlers. In the final meeting with the FBI source,
Kendall Myers disclosed Top Secret national defense information related
to sources and methods of gathering intelligence. He also admitted that
he had previously disclosed the information to CuIS.
Corroboration
The admissions by Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers were corroborated by other
evidence collected in the investigation. The FBI seized a shortwave
radio in their apartment and confirmed overseas trips by the couple that
corresponded to statements they made. The FBI also identified encrypted
shortwave radio messages between CuIS and a handler for the couple that
were broadcast in 1996 and 1997.
Furthermore, an analysis of Kendall Myers' State Department computer
revealed that, from August 22, 2006, until his retirement on Oct. 31,
2007, he viewed more than 200 intelligence reports concerning the
subject of Cuba. Of these reports concerning Cuba, the majority was
classified and marked Secret or Top Secret. The FBI also located
handwritten notes by Kendall Myers reflecting the gathering and
retention of Top Secret information which he intended to provide the
CuIS, but never did.
Finally, since at least 1983 and until 2007, Kendall Myers made repeated
false statements to government investigators responsible for conducting
background investigations which determined his continued suitability for
a Top Secret security clearance. By not disclosing his and his wife's
clandestine activity on behalf of CuIS and by making false statements to
the State Department about their status as clandestine Cuban agents, he
defrauded the United States whenever he received his government salary.
Based on these false representations and promises, Kendall Myers
obtained at least $1,735,054 in salary from the U.S. government for the
benefit of him and his wife.
American spying for Cuba gets life in federal prison, wife gets six (24
November 2009)
http://www.examiner.com/x-25653-FBI-Examiner~y2009m11d24-American-spying-for-Cuba-gets-life-in-federal-prison-wife-gets-six
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