Former State Department Official Sentenced to Life in Prison for Nearly 30-Year Espionage Conspiracy

“Others like the Myers who are presently betraying the trust that this country has placed in them should know that they are not safe from prosecution regardless of how careful they think they are being. As with Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers, they will be caught and brought to justice.”---FBI (7-16-10)

The FBI (7-16-10) reports:

Walter Kendall Myers, a former State Department official, and his wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and 81 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in a nearly 30-year conspiracy to provide highly-classified U.S. national defense information to the Republic of Cuba. [See full text.]

The New York Times (7-16-10) reports:

Mr. Myers told the judge that he and his wife had not been motivated by money or by opposition to the United States. “Our overriding objective was to help the Cuban people defend their revolution,” he said. “We share the ideals and dreams of the Cuban revolution.”

United States District Judge Reggie B. Walton said that the couple had betrayed their country, and that they not only showed no remorse but even seemed proud of what they had done.

“If you believed in the revolution,” he told the couple in a packed courtroom, “you should have defected.”

Mr. Myers, known as Agent 202, and his wife, known as Agent 123, were recruited in the late 1970s while he worked for the State Department.

He later rose to senior analyst on European intelligence with “top secret” clearance and access to scores of classified documents, which he passed to the Cuban government.

The prosecutor, Michael Harvey, said that the couple received medals from Cuba and flew there in 1995 for a private meeting with Fidel Castro.

“He is a traitor,” Mr. Harvey said of Mr. Myers. “He betrayed his State Department colleagues and our nation.” [Full text.]