Kendall Myers

Last updated
Kendall Myers
WalterKMyersFixed.png
Myers' FBI mugshot, c. 2009
Born
Walter Kendall Myers

(1937-04-15) April 15, 1937 (age 87)
Washington, D.C.
Alma mater Johns Hopkins University (PhD)
Occupationformer FSI official
Criminal charges
Criminal penalty Life imprisonment without possibility of parole
Criminal statusIncarcerated at MCFP Springfield
Spouse
Gwendolyn Myers
​
(m. 1982)​
Espionage activity
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  USA
AllegianceFlag of Cuba.svg  Cuba
Service years1977–2009
CodenameAgent 202

Walter Kendall Myers (born April 15, 1937) [1] is a former U.S. State Department employee who, with his wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, was arrested and indicted on June 4, 2009, on charges of spying for Cuba for nearly 30 years. [2] [3] [4] He was convicted of espionage and sentenced to life imprisonment by a U.S. federal court in July 2010.

Contents

Background

Kendall Myers is the grandson of Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor and great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell. [5] He is also related to William Howard Taft through his father. He was educated at Mercersburg Academy, [6] a private preparatory boarding school in the borough of Mercersburg in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, followed by Brown University in the city of Providence, Rhode Island, from which he graduated, and earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. [5] In 1977 he began working for the U.S. State Department as a Contract Instructor at its Foreign Service Institute, [7] and for 20 years had been a part-time faculty member at Johns Hopkins' Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. [7] From 2000 until his retirement in October 2007, he worked as a European analyst in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR). Myers’ State Department service was primarily in domestic positions. His spouse, Gwendolyn Myers, was never employed by the U.S. Department of State. [4]

US–UK "special relationship" controversy

In November 2006, Myers created controversy by describing the "special relationship" between the United States and the United Kingdom as "one sided" and a "myth." [8] [9] He said that he was "ashamed" of the treatment of Prime Minister Tony Blair by US President George W. Bush. Then UK MP Denis MacShane responded, "After the Republican defeat in the midterm election, every little rat who feasted during the Bush years is now leaving the ship. I would respect this gentleman, who I have never heard of, if he had had the guts to make any of these points two or five years ago." [9]

The US State Department distanced itself from Myers' comments, stating, "He was speaking as an academic, not as a representative of the State Department." [9]

Espionage charge

On June 4, 2009, Myers and his wife were arrested and charged with acting as an illegal agent of and providing classified information to the Cuban government for nearly 30 years, as well as wire fraud. [10] [11] Authorities said the Myers' were caught by an FBI undercover operation and had been spying for Cuba for "nearly three decades." [12] Myers’ arrest was the culmination of a three-year joint FBI/Department of State Diplomatic Security Service investigation. Based on general information provided by the FBI, the Diplomatic Security Service conducted a comprehensive internal investigation that resulted in the identification of Myers as the probable Cuban agent, and ultimately led to his arrest. [4] The authorities also said that Myers usually relied on his memory or notes for information rather than stealing documents. [12] The couple allegedly used shortwave radio to communicate with Cuban intelligence and also were said to have met with Cuban agents in numerous locations both inside and outside the United States. [12] Myers told undercover agents that he had spent an evening with Fidel Castro in 1995. [12]

Alleged motive

It is alleged that the Myers' actions may not have been prompted by greed, but more by ideology. [11] According to a "law enforcement official," they were "true believers" in the Cuban system. [11] The United States federal affidavit quoted a diary entry by Kendall Myers as saying, "I can see nothing of value that has been lost by the revolution. The revolution has released enormous potential and liberated the Cuban spirit," [11] and referred to Fidel Castro as "one of the great political leaders of our time." [13] Other entries reference a comparison of health care in the United States and healthcare in Cuba, and "complacency about the poor" in the United States. [11]

Court case

The Myers' pleaded guilty on November 20, 2009, at a hearing before Judge Reggie Walton in a U.S. District Court. Myers, 72, pled guilty to a three-count criminal investigation charging him with conspiracy to commit espionage and two counts of wire fraud. His wife pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging her with conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information. As part of his plea agreement, Kendall Myers agreed to serve a life prison sentence and to cooperate fully with the United States government regarding any criminal activity and intelligence activity by him or others. As part of her plea agreement, Gwendolyn agreed to serve a sentence of between six and seven and a half years in prison and to cooperate fully with the government. [14] [15]

On July 16, 2010, Kendall Myers was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole, [16] and Gwendolyn was sentenced to a total of 81 months in prison. [17] Myers is currently incarcerated at MCFP Springfield in Colorado.

Reaction

United States

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered a damage assessment be done to investigate the extent of harm done to US security. [13] In addition, Clinton directed the State Department to conduct a comprehensive damage assessment in coordination with the intelligence community in line with established damages protocols and regulations. [4]

Cuba

I can't help but admire their disinterested and courageous conduct on behalf of Cuba. Those who in one form or another have helped to protect the Cuban people from the terrorist plans and assassination plots organised by various U.S. administrations have done so at the initiative of their own conscience and are deserving, in my judgment, of all the honours in the world.

—  Fidel Castro, days after the Myers couple's arrest [18]

Upon hearing the news of Myers' arrest, Castro stated that the case read like "an espionage comic strip." [18] The former Cuban dictator declined to say whether the Myers couple really had passed secrets to the Cuban government, but added that they deserved praise if they did. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Espionage Act of 1917</span> United States federal law

The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code but is now found under Title 18. Specifically, it is 18 U.S.C. ch. 37.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuban Five</span> Group of Cuban intelligence officers who were arrested and imprisoned in Miami by U.S. authorities

The Cuban Five, also known as the Miami Five, are five Cuban intelligence officers who were arrested in September 1998 and later convicted in Miami of conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, acting as an agent of a foreign government, and other illegal activities in the United States. The Five were in the United States to observe and infiltrate the Cuban-American groups Alpha 66, the F4 Commandos, the Cuban American National Foundation, and Brothers to the Rescue. They were part of La Red Avispa composed of at least 27 Cuban spies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor</span> First full-time editor of National Geographic (1875–1966)

Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, was the first full-time editor of the National Geographic magazine (1899–1954). Grosvenor is credited with having consolidated the nascent magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luis Posada Carriles</span> Cuban terrorist and CIA agent

Luis Clemente Posada Carriles was a Cuban exile militant and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent. He was considered a terrorist by the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Government of Cuba, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huber Matos</span> Cuban military leader and dissident activist

Huber Matos Benítez was a Cuban military leader, political dissident, activist, and writer. He opposed the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista from its inception in 1952 and fought alongside Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and other members of the 26th of July Movement to overthrow it. Following the success of the Cuban Revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, he criticized the regime's shift in favor of Marxist principles and ties to the Popular Socialist Party (PSP). Convicted of treason and sedition by the revolutionary government, he spent 20 years in prison (1959–1979) before being released in 1979. He then divided his time between Miami, Florida, and Costa Rica while continuing to protest the policies of the Cuban government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ana Montes</span> American intelligence analyst and spy (born 1957)

Ana Belén Montes is a former American senior analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency in the United States who spied on behalf of the Cuban government for 17 years.

The Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal involved Lawrence Franklin, a former United States Department of Defense employee, passing classified documents regarding United States policy towards Iran to Israel. Franklin pleaded guilty to several espionage-related charges and was sentenced in January 2006 to nearly 13 years of prison, which was later reduced to ten months' house arrest. Franklin passed information to American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy director Steven Rosen and AIPAC senior Iran analyst Keith Weissman, who were fired by AIPAC. They were then indicted for illegally conspiring to gather and disclose classified national security information to Israel. However, prosecutors later dropped all charges against them without any plea bargain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manuel Rocha</span> American diplomat and Cuban spy (born 1950)

Victor Manuel Rocha is a former American diplomat, Cuban spy, and the former United States Ambassador to Bolivia. Rocha was arrested by federal officials in December 2023 and admitted to acting as an illegal agent of Cuba in April 2024. He was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guillermo Hernández-Cartaya</span>

Guillermo Hernández-Cartaya was a Cuban banker born sometime in 1932 ; he spent 20 years as a banker in Cuba.

Operation Backfire is a multi-agency criminal investigation, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), into destructive acts in the name of animal rights and environmental causes in the United States described as eco-terrorism by the FBI. The operation resulted in convictions and imprisonment of a number of people, many of whom were members of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noshir Gowadia</span> Former aerospace engineer and convicted spy incarcerated in a US federal prison

Noshir Sheriarji Gowadia is a former design engineer and convicted spy for several countries. He was arrested in 2005 and later convicted on industrial espionage-related federal charges.

This page is a timeline of published security lapses in the United States government. These lapses are frequently referenced in congressional and non-governmental oversight. This article does not attempt to capture security vulnerabilities.

David Sheldon Boone is a former U.S. Army signals analyst who worked for the National Security Agency (NSA) and was convicted of espionage-related charges in 1999 related to his sale of secret documents to the Soviet Union from 1988 to 1991. Boone's case was an example of a late Cold War U.S. government security breach.

Guillermo "Bill" Gaede is an Argentine engineer and programmer who is best known for Cold War industrial spying conducted while he worked at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel Corporation (Intel). While at AMD, he provided the Cuban government with technical information from the semiconductor industry which the Cubans passed on to the Soviet bloc, primarily to the Soviet Union and East Germany. In 1992, Gaede turned himself over to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which placed him in contact with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI began working with Gaede in a counter-espionage operation intended to penetrate Cuban intelligence using his contacts on the island. During this time Gaede obtained work at Intel Corp. in Chandler, Arizona. Intel Security discovered the nature of his activities at AMD and terminated him, but not before Gaede filmed Intel's state-of-the-art Pentium process from home.

Mohamad Anas Haitham Soueid is a Syrian-born naturalized United States citizen and a resident of Leesburg, Virginia who was indicted on espionage-related charges by federal prosecutors in October 2011. Soueid, 47 years old, is accused of passing information about Syrian American protesters in the United States to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who are thought to have arrested and tortured numerous Syrian political refugees' family members and associates living in Syria.

Rolando Sarraff Trujillo is a Cuban intelligence officer who was convicted for espionage for the United States Central Intelligence Agency.

Shahid Imran Awan is a Pakistani-American information technology worker. From 2004 to 2017, he worked as a shared employee for Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo was a Cuban exile living in Miami. An associate of Luis Posada Carriles, he was convicted of attempting to kidnap a Cuban consul in Mexico in 1976, for which he served 27 months in prison. He was also convicted of attempting to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro in Panama in 2000, and was jailed until 2004 when he was pardoned by outgoing Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso.

Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins is an American convicted spy for Russia and a former military officer in the U.S. Army's Special Forces. In August 2020, he was arrested and charged with conspiracy to provide classified defense information to Russian intelligence services. Debbins pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit espionage on November 18, 2020.

References

  1. ↑ "Treason from within" Archived 2014-12-17 at the Wayback Machine by Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive
  2. ↑ "Couple indicted on charges of spying for Cuba". NBC News. June 5, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  3. ↑ Cuban Spies Arrested "Arrest of Walter Kendall Myers" . Retrieved 2012-05-17.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Arrest of Walter Kendall Myers" . Retrieved 2012-05-17.
  5. 1 2 Jason Ryan; Theresa Cook; Lisa Chinn (June 5, 2009). "Couple Accused of Spying for Cuba". abcnews.go.com. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  6. ↑ Mary Beth Sheridan and Del Quentin Wilber (June 7, 2009). "D.C. Couple's Disdain for U.S. Policies May Have Led to Alleged Spying for Cuba". The Washington Post . Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  7. 1 2 Del Quentin Wilber; Mary Beth Sheridan (June 6, 2009). "State Dept. Retiree Accused of Spying". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  8. ↑ Toby Harnden (June 5, 2009). "Ex-US State official Kendall Myers and wife Gwendolyn charged with spying for Cuba". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  9. 1 2 3 Tom Baldwin; Philip Webster (November 30, 2006). "US State Department official – relationship is one-sided". timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  10. ↑ Myers' indictment
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ex-State official, wife accused of spying for Cuba". CNN.com. June 5, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "D.C. Couple Is Indicted on Charges of Spying for Cuba". washingtonpost.com. June 5, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  13. 1 2 "Retired U.S. State Official, Wife Indicted on Charges of Spying for Cuba". foxnews.com. June 5, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  14. ↑ Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations for 2012: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, First Session. U.S. Government Printing Office. 2011. ISBN   978-0-16-088646-1.
  15. ↑ "Former State Department Official and Wife Plead Guilty in 30-Year Espionage Conspiracy". U.S. Department of Justice. 20 November 2009.
  16. ↑ "Former State Department Official Sentenced to Life in Prison for Nearly 30-year Espionage Conspiracy, Wife of Official Sentenced to Nearly Seven Years in Prison for Her Role". U.S. Department of Justice. 16 July 2010.
  17. ↑ Yost, Pete (16 July 2010). "In Cuban spy case, man gets life, wife 5 years". MSNBC. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  18. 1 2 3 Alleged Cuban Spies Given Praise From Castro by The Huffington Post, June 8, 2009
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.