Former U.S. State official, wife, face Cuba spy charges

[Mika]

Source: Washington Post

A former U.S. State Department official and his wife have been arrested for spying for the Cuban government for nearly 30 years, the Justice Department said on Friday.

Walter Myers, 72, and his wife Gwendolyn Myers, 71, were charged with conspiracy to act as illegal agents of the Cuban government and with communicating classified information to the Cuban government, the Justice Department said.

They were also charged with wire fraud and acting as an illegal agent.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

[Mika]

1. Couple indicted on charges of spying for Cuba

Couple indicted on charges of spying for Cuba
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ikZVK...

A retired State Department worker with top secret security clearance and his wife have been indicted on charges of spying for Cuba.
The indictment handed down by the attorney general's office in Washington says Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, have been clandestine agents for Cuba for 30 years.
The indictment says the pair met with Cuban President Fidel Castro in Cuba in 1995, traveling through Mexico under false names. They allegedly made several other trips to Latin America and the Caribbean to meet with Cuban agents.
Kendall Myers worked at the State Department's Foreign Service Institute, where he specialized in European matters, before retiring in 2007. The indictment says in his last year of employment, Kendall Myers viewed more than 200 intelligence reports related to Cuba.

[ngant17]

5. And by their good, selfless work

many innocent lives may have been saved from US-sponsored terrorism over the course of these 3 decades against Cuba.

Sounds like these 2 Americans were motivated by the sheer disgust of US policy on Cuba, money had little to do with it.

[jberryhill]

6. If they were principled in pursuit of their humanitarian goals...

...they could certainly find other ways to promote those goals than by violating the trust of their office.

They are entitled to pursue whatever political agenda or ideas they like, but not in this manner.

There are no doubt persons employed by the United States with any variety of principles and sympathies - likely including many with which you would disagree. Federal employment is not some free-for-all in which carrying out one's duties lawfully is some sort of option subject to personal whim.

These people are criminals.

Given their access to US intelligence on Cuba, do you wonder for a moment how many people may have been killed or imprisoned as a result of the information they provided?

[AlphaCentauri]

7. that has to be proof in court

the question could be how many people could have die supporting the US in Cuba?
which might be illegal like it is in the US to spy for Cuba.

[jberryhill]

8. All that needs be proven in court...

...is that they passed information to Cuba which they did not have the lawful authority to pass.

I'm sorry, but I don't expect right-wingers in the Obama State Department to be pursuing their private foreign policy agendae either.

And, yes, people in other countries who violate those countries' laws by aiding US intelligence also occasionally get caught and are punished under the laws of those countries.

Presumably, you are one of the "release Jonathan Pollard" folks as well? Or is the law optional, depending on whose side the accused is on?

I don't care what side these folks were on, and I believe US policy toward Cuba has been wrong for decades. But that's not the point. The point is that US officials with access to classified information who pass that information to foreign agents should get life imprisonment - at least.

[AlphaCentauri]

9. I think they were passing information to undercover agents

that means there might not be proof that they passed info to the Cuban government but they indeed try.

[EFerrari]

14. The right wingers in the State Department are pursuing their own policy

as we saw from the negative statements of Obama's State Department handler in Tobago and as the latest plot on the life of Evo Morales also shows -- funded in part by USAID and tied to Human Rights Foundation, a fake front group with CIA connections. That was just last month.

I think you're vastly underestimating this situation.

[Judi Lynn]

15. When WEREN'T they pursuing their own agenda? Good point!

Too bad more people don't pay attention, isn't it?

[Mika]

16. Meanwhile the US gov is increasing funding for "dissident" activity in Cuba.

That means funding groups in Cuba who's intent is to overthrow the government of Cuba - doing harm to the people of Cuba.

Cuba has, at times, put the hammer down on some of these agents of the US when they crossed the line (like the recent discovery that many of the prominent Cuban "dissidents" have received funding from Luis Posada and other known Miami based anti Cuba terrorist organizations - funneled to them via diplomats and staffers at the US interests section in Havana).


The US's Cuba standoff remains. Status quo rules. Campaign coffers filling up fast.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Paying people to do what is illegal in this country. Nice work if you can get it.

As many of us already know the loudest of those Cuban "dissidents" have direct ties to the terrorist community in the Miami hardliner "exile" reactionary group, too.

[New Dawn]

28. Exactly! I highly doubt these two ever spied for Cuba.

This is probably just some right-wing frame-up to derail any moves toward détente with Cuba.

[ngant17]

10. "die supporting the US in Cuba" ??

There are no death squads in Cuba. No one has ever been killed or died for "supporting the US in Cuba".

I have been to Havana twice, as an American citizen, and I had absolutely no fear of retaliation by the Cuban government simply because I was a US citizen.

[Mika]

13. They'll be sentenced as unregistered foreign agents. Like the US paid "dissidents" in jail in Cuba.

Note: keeping other recent US gov "conspiracy" prosecutions in mind (like the Miami 7 al Queda terra-ists, who were quite obviously set-up by the US gov but yet convicted of "conspiracy"), let's wait and see the evidence and defense - as presented in trail, not in the media.

So far though, it seems that US agencies were onto these folks for a long long time. Doubtful that they passed any actual intelligence on to the Cubans (IF they did at all), more like false flag information to see how/if the Cuban government responded. So, the 'endangering the US accusations' are trumped up media hype, intended to taint public opinion and a possible jury pool, imo.

A trial in Miami, maybe?

---

[ProudDad]

34. Probably no one...

"how many people may have been killed or imprisoned as a result of the information they provided?"

Probably no one.

Meanwhile, how about these patriots and political prisoners of the USAmerikan Empire?!

http://www.thecuban5.org/

[cali]

18. what garbage.

there is no indication that they saved any lives and for all you know they cost lives.

[Mika]

19. Except that the US and US based terra organization have the track record.

Cuba isn't engaged in overt nor covert operations to change the system of government in the US.

The US IS involved with/ overtly and covertly funding operations to overthrow the government of Cuba, and, the US gov is also not enforcing the US's Neutrality Act regarding the Miami based exile terrorist groups - some that receive US taxpayer dollars.

Right or wrong, Cuba at least has a rational defense, a rational reason, for a defense against US and US based aggression/terrorism.

[roody]

30. Whose lives have been lost? Supposedly, we are not at war with

Cuba. I've been to Havanan twice and felt very safe and free.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. A bit more on this here:

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.

<snip>

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.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world/dc-couple-spi...

[AlphaCentauri]

3. Mean while our CIA agents spy "legally" undisturbed in other countries

protecting terrorist and despots.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/06/02/200...



Former Cuban-Born CIA Operative Dies At Age 92
http://cbs4.com/local/bernard.barker.death.2.1033273.ht...

[Mudoria]

4. With luck they'll spend the rest of there lives in solitary..

[EFerrari]

11. Yeah. They could have gotten us nuked or invaded by Cuba!

[Judi Lynn]

12. It would break my heart if we all had to start singing "Babalu"

instead of the national anthem, and have to wear those ruffles on our sleeves.


We are so lucky so far a country which spends less in one YEAR on defense than we spend in TWELVE HOURS hasn't invaded us, YET.

[Psephos]

24. It's a straw argument that this is about Cuba threatening the US militarily

So why do you make it?

All countries spy. All countries try to prevent being spied upon. Most people look at a fellow citizen who spies for another country as a traitor. If that isn't traitorous behavior then the word has no meaning.

Anyone who spies should be prepared to undergo the consequences, or they shouldn't spy. That's part of the deal.

Meanwhile, the position that the US (or any other country) should take a so-what/casual attitude to spying and internal security falls somewhere between naive and traitorous itself. There's a reason that stool pigeons, turncoats, and apostates are reviled around the world. Loyalty to one's tribe is a fundamental human trait. It's in our genes because those who lacked it were at a strong survival disadvantage compared to those who did.

Eibl-Eibsfeldt's book Love and Hate remains the reference work for those who wish to understand why in-group/out-group behavior lies at the root of human political and military interaction. A must-read.

[ProudDad]

35. That's Right!

We have to get our terms straight!

Here in the USAmerikan Empire, anyone who aids or abets any other group, country, organization or movement that's at all "Left leaning" is called a "SPY"!!!

Here in the USAmerikan Empire, anyone who aids or abets any other group, country, organization or movement that's right-wing, authoritarian or destructive of human rights and supportive of rapacious, corporate capitalism is called "the Administration".

Ok, got it...

[Vogon_Glory]

20. The Myers Couple: Prosecute 'Em

Regardless of the Myerses' private feelings concerning the post-1959 Cuban regime, they willingly chose to work as clandestine agents for a foreign government. They willingly chose to work as clandestine agents for the Cuban government for DECADES. It doesn't matter if the Myerses chose to spy for idealism as opposed to greed (the Walker brothers) for egotism (Robert Hansen), or a muddle of greed, naivete, and ignorance (the Falcon and the Snowman case). Nor does it matter if the current Cuban government is less odious than apartheid-era South Africa, the Pinochet dictatorship, or present-day Saudi Arabia, Belarus, or Tajikistan. As far as I'm concerned, they violated their trust and deserve to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

[newspeak]

21. and I suppose that goes for those who were

spying for Israel, right? You do remember the "art students" and the alleged "movers" who attempted to get on a military base and the one caught in Wolfowitz's office? Oh wait, some of those spies were merely deported back to Israel. All who are caught spying on the US should be prosecuted.

[Vogon_Glory]

25. Prosecution: a Kingston Trio Response

My own views concerning spies who get caught is that they should either be prosecuted and/or deported. I don't really care if they were working for the Israelis or were working for the (corrupt, repressive) Palestinian Authority.

To paraphrase one of those one-off lines from the Kingston Trio's "Rioting in Africa"--I don't like ANYBODY very much.

[Mika]

26. Where would you deport US citizens to?

they should either be prosecuted and/or deported.

To where? Gitmo?

[Vogon_Glory]

27. Since the Myerses Are Obviously US Citizens...

Since the Myerses are obviously US citizens, they should be prosecuted and hopefully be sent to US federal prisons. Ditto with other US citizens convicted of spying for foreign powers.

That's a rather strange question regarding a fairly self-explanatory comment. It's not like you have anything to worry about.

[Mika]

32. Just asking about what you posted

".. they should either be prosecuted and/or deported."

Was just wondering 'bout the actual words in your post.

Glad you cleared that up because what you posted in post #25 sounded harebrained.

[ProudDad]

36. So goes the FBI induced (probably fabricated) allegation (n/t)

[lanlady]

22. spying for another country is WRONG

It's illegal and immoral. I don't care how much some members of this Board love Cuba or love Israel, there can be no ifs, ands, or buts. Because guess what? Not only is it wrong to betray the public trust, but the actions result in other people being thrown into prison and/or executed, and their families disgraced.

The Castro lovers on this Board are just too much! Good grief!!! He's a goddamn dictator. Wake up!

[Mika]

23. So the US should shut down all spy ops, right?

The US pours millions of dollars every year into clandestine ops against Cuba, using Cubans.

I seem to remember the howls of support here on DU for the jailed US paid "dissidents' in Cuba who engage in a full range operations against Cuba. A bit hypocritical, yes?

[Mudoria]

29. Too bad they don't execute traitors these days...

[roody]

31. You want Cheney executed?

[ProudDad]

37. Piss on ALL Flags!

Nationalism is the enemy of the People of the Earth.

All nations are Granfaloons...

[ProudDad]

33. Piss on ALL Flags! (n/t)