Ex-State Dept. employee arrested for spying for Cuba

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By Ben Conery

UPDATED:

A former State Department official and his wife have been arrested on charges of serving as illegal agents of the Cuban government and conspiring to provide classified U.S. information to the Cuban government.

An indictment and criminal complaint against Walter Kendall Myers, 72, and his wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, 71, was unsealed Friday. Each also was charged with wire fraud.

The couple reside in the District and were arrested Thursday afternoon by FBI agents.

"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," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

According to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Mr. Myers began his work at the State Department in 1977, initially serving as a contract instructor at the Department's Foreign Service Institute (FSI). After living briefly in South Dakota, he returned to the District 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 Departments Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR).

Mr. 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.

Mrs. Myers moved to the District in 1980 and married Mr. Myers in May 1982. She later obtained employment with a local bank as an administrative analyst and later as a special assistant. Mrs. Myers was never granted a security clearance by the U.S. government.