State Department Counterintelligence: Leaks, Spies, and Lies
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As the middle-aged man mounted the steps to the stage, I concluded that only his announced employment with the NSA was true and that his faux beard, toupee, and pseudonym were merely props to protect his real identity. When officially honoring superior performance in protecting the nation’s security—even inside a secure facility, located on restricted grounds, with invited guests only—the IC sometimes demanded extraordinary anonymity. Tenet continued by awarding several National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medals and one Intelligence Community Seal Medallion.
It is unfortunate the public is not allowed to witness or share in this ceremony honoring the successes of our intelligence officers in the same public spirit as we do with our soldiers who are awarded medals for bravery and service. I believe that the American public would be very proud of their public servants who must, by the very nature of the job, work in secrecy and obscurity.
Tenet’s final act was to present the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citations that are bestowed on “a unit or group of individuals whose accomplishments were of a clearly superior nature and of significant benefit to the Intelligence Community.” The standard protocol for this award was different from the previous ones in that, as Tenet read the citation, a designated representative proceeded to the lectern and shook the director’s hand while accepting the award on behalf of the others who remained standing in the audience. It was now our turn to be recognized. Tenet began the seventh group citation by stating,“Operation Sacred Ibis is awarded a National Intelligence Meritorious in recognition of its collective superior performance from June 1999 through February 2000. Throughout this period, the superb cooperation between the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security resulted in the successful conclusion of a joint technical counterintelligence operation. This effort, which will serve as a case study of how future technical operations should be executed, was the ultimate search for the proverbial ‘needle in the haystack.’ However, one of the great successes of the operation was not the discovery of the audio device in the chair rail at the main headquarters of the Department of State—”
With the mention of the State Department and a technical penetration in the same sentence, there were several groans and guffaws from the audience as well as some rueful head-shaking. The image of SVR officers traipsing undetected on the seventh floor of the HST and stealthily installing a “bug” inside a restricted conference room was the ultimate proof that the Black Dragons simply didn’t take security matters seriously. The old quip about the State Department being “the only ship that leaks at the top” crossed my mind.
As we stood at attention and enjoyed the moment, John and I gave each other a sideways glance, knowing full-well that other significant security lapses had plagued the IC over the years. And it wasn’t always the State Department who suffered intelligence defeats although we had experienced more than our fair share, due largely to lax security standards, lack of enforcement, and failure to hold employees personally accountable for their indiscretions. One thoroughly confounding incident occurred when the CIA inadvertently sent a shipping container loaded with classified papers to a foreign port, and it went undetected for months. That event, dubbed “Conex of documents” by those of us involved, required my presence on the Hill to testify in a closed meeting before a Congressional committee. That situation and many others had mercifully remained out of the press, unlike the State Department bugging incident.
Tenet continued, “—but the discovery instead showed how far the spirit of teamwork can unite officers from different backgrounds and cultures who are dedicated to a common cause.
“The unselfish and extremely valuable contributions made to the national security of the United States by the members of Operation Sacred Ibis reflect credit upon their respective agencies and the Intelligence Community.”
Polite and perfunctory applause followed Tenet’s comments as FBI agent Andy, the designated Sacred Ibis recipient, walked to the stage to accept the award. Director Tenet shook his hand, and as the young FBI agent left the podium, the Sacred Ibis team took their seats.
Thirteen years later, the FBI continues to pursue leads in the Sacred Ibis case as it tries to determine if the SVR had help from the inside.
Sacred Ibis wasn’t the high point of my career, but it certainly was the most satisfying. I would continue working with the FBI and CIA for the next three years in joint investigations to identify and neutralize foreign intelligence agencies trying to compromise and recruit State Department officers.
As I approached my fiftieth birthday in late 2002, I reminded Peter Bergin, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for DS, that I had always promised myself I would retire in the month I turned fifty. He had often heard me state, sometimes in not so eloquent or subtle terms, that I would retire at fifty years of age regardless of professional or personal circumstances. Peter knew there were no incentives to offer, either grade promotions or assignments of greater responsibilities or fanciful promises of great career possibilities, that would change my mind. To his credit, he did not try to dissuade me for one second, and I appreciated the respect he always afforded me. Peter left DS in 2003 to assume the position of senior director with Pepsico.
Why the urgency to go? My daughter Chloe was ten years old at the time, and my wife was a partner at a major international law firm with a demanding six-day-plus work week that included both domestic and foreign travel. Chloe, who had an au pair to take care of her since we returned from Paris in 1995, now needed a parent full time when she was not in school. My wife needed a partner to be more home oriented. Now was the time for me to be a father and spouse. This was the promise I had made during our Catholic pre-marriage classes in 1989.
In September 2002, I surrendered my special agent credentials, boxed up my personal items, and walked out of the counterintelligence office where I had worked for the past seven-plus years. As I left the department, NSB clandestine intelligence officer Isabelle Cheng had just recently arrived in Washington, DC, and was about to be introduced to Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Donald Keyser. At the same time, INR analyst Kendall Myers was preparing secretly to fly to South America to meet his Cuban handlers.
By 2003, not without some hesitation, I returned as a part-time DS/CI contractor at the request of senior DS officials. For the next seven years, I still dropped Chloe off at school every day and left DS/CI in time to pick her up.
Acknowledgments
I have been fortunate to have the guidance, support, and camaraderie of many fine people throughout my career and the writing of this book.
Lance Putney, the late Dave Roberts, the late Clark Dittmer, Genta Hawkins-Holmes, George Larson, Gordon Harvey, the late John Kwaitkowski, Gary Caldwell, Burley Fuselier Jr., William Armor, Peter Gallant, Thomas McKeever, Peter Bergin, Nanette Kreiger, John Tello, David Carpenter, Patrick Donovan, and Barry Moore were excellent bosses or DS seniors with supervisory responsibility for me. Many of them were key mentors, teaching me investigative and other skills and helping temper my sometimes excessive exuberance about my cases or frustrations with the bureaucracy. They always were willing to hear me out, respected my judgment, and supported me in making the tough calls.
My fellow DS agents and colleagues—Giovanna Cavalier, Jane Colon, the late Mike Considine, John Fitzsimmons, Bob Franks, Paul Gaffney, Steve Jenkins, Andy Koropeckyj, Tom Lalley, the late Joan Lombardi, Chris Lyons, Mark McMahan, Hal Orbits, Mike Posillico, Bill Stowell, Barbara Shields, Dick Tatum, and Kevin Warrener—and FBI colleagues—Kate Alleman, Lauren Anderson, Tim Bereznay, Tony Buckmeier, Sheila Horan, Brett Kamarsic, Greg Leylegian, R.J. Porath, Matt Rader, Donna Mauer, Don Sullivan, and Rachel Vaccaro—constitute an amazing collection of talent. Their dedication to righting wrongs, respect for the law, unstinting perseverance, consummate professionalism, and unfailing good humor were inspirational and kept me going for thirty plus years.
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p; Jim Bamford, Fred Burton, and Joel Swerdlow provided me with crucial insights into the world of publishing and encouraged me to tell my story. Dave Major, George Larson, Lori Sostowski, and Bill Strong provided valuable feedback on the manuscript, in some cases after slogging through multiple drafts. Tim Boswell, my developmental editor at Brown Books, deftly guided me in bringing the manuscript to life as the stories of flesh and blood people. Janet Harris, my senior editor at Brown Books, provided crucial insights regarding the organization of the book and making its “Inside the Beltway” aspects transparent for the general public. Kathy Penny, my project manager at Brown Books, kept everyone on track. Ted Johnson served as my personal photographer. Amy Baker and Randy Baker, my New Hampshire IT gurus, patiently launched me into the world of urls, blogs, and sundry other technology tools.
Besides their specific contributions, the friendship and encouragement extended by all of the foregoing persons as well as by members of my family and my dear friends have made my life and the writing of this book a much richer experience.
Glossary
ADX—Administrative Maximum Facility Florence
AIPAC—American Israeli Public Affairs Committee
A/S—Assistant Secretary of State
AFSA—American Foreign Service Association, State Department
AIT—American Institute in Taiwan
AUSA—Assistant United States Attorney
BEX—Board of Examiners, State Department
Black Dragon—Senior career Foreign Service Officer in leadership/management position
BQA—better qualified applicant
CIA—Central Intelligence Agency
CuIS—Foreign Intelligence Service, Cuba
Clandestine intelligence (CI) officer—commonly called a “spy”
CODEL—Congressional delegation
CO—Corrections officer
DAS—Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, State Department
DASS—Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Security
DIA—Defense Intelligence Agency
DAO—Defense Attaché Office
DOD—Department of Defense
DOJ—Department of Justice
DRL—Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, State Department
DS—Diplomatic Security
DS/CI—Diplomatic Security, Office of Counterintelligence, State Department
DGSE—Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure, Foreign Intelligence Service, France
EAP—East Asia and Pacific Affairs, State Department
FAM—Foreign Affairs Manual, State Department
FBI—Federal Bureau of Investigation
FSI—Foreign Service Institute, State Department
FSO—Foreign Service Officer, State Department
GIB—General Investigations Bureau, China (predecessor of the MSS)
GRU—Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
GWU—George Washington University
HR—Office of Human Resource, State Department
HST—Harry S. Truman building, State Department headquarters
IC—Intelligence Community (CIA, DIA, FBI, NSA, and others)
ICE—Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security
INR—Bureau of Intelligence and Research, State Department
IO—Intelligence Officer
IRA—Irish Republican Army
JEH—John Edgar Hoover, FBI Director from 1924–1972
KGB—Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, Committee for State Security, Foreign Intelligence Service, Russia
Main State—Harry S. Truman building, Washington, DC
MFA—Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Mossad—HaMossad le Modi’in ule Tafkidim Meyuhadim, Foreign Intelligence Service, Israel
MSS—Ministry for State Security, Foreign Intelligence Service, China
NID—National Intelligence Daily, the CIA’s daily report containing reports of NSA, CIA, and DOD, including National Reconnaissance Office satellite photography
NKVD—Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennik Del (The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs), Russia
NODIS—Caption stamped on State Department documents meaning “no distribution outside the department and limited distribution inside the department to specific addressees”
NSA—National Security Agency
NSB—National Security Bureau, Foreign Intelligence Service, Taiwan
NSC—National Security Council
NSDD—1991 National Security Directive establishing the State Department “Pass-Through” program
OES—Bureau of Oceans, International Environment and Scientific Affairs, State Department
OFB—Old Furniture Building at Lorton Reformatory
OIG—Office of the Inspector General, State Department
PDAS—Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, State Department
penetration agent—commonly called a “mole”
PEPCO—Potomac Electric Power Company
PRC—Peoples’ Republic of China
PRCMUN—Permanent Mission of the Peoples’ Republic of China to the United Nations
RSO—Regional Security Officer
SA—Special Agent
Sacred Ibis—code name for the investigation of the Russian technical penetration of the State Department
SAIS—Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
SCI—Special Compartmented Information, an additional access within Top Secret
SCIF—Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility
SF 86—Standard Form 86, federal agency employee security questionnaire
SIPR net—Secure Internet Protocol Router network, encrypted government e-mail system
SIB—Special Investigations Branch (Internal Affairs), State Department
S/P—Policy Planning Staff, State Department
SSA—Supervisory Special Agent
State Department—Department of State of the United States of America,
SVR—Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki, Foreign Intelligence Service, Russia (Successor to the KGB)
SY—Office of Security, State Department (Predecessor to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security)
SY File—Security file for State Department employees
TECRO—Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office
UK—United Kingdom
UN—United Nations
UPI—United Press International
USAID—United States Agency for International Development
USC—United States Code, federal laws
USLO—United States Liaison Office, Beijing, China
USSS—United States Secret Service
USUN—United States Mission to the United Nations
WFO—Washington Field Office
WSJ—Wall Street Journal
Vision Quest—code name for the Kendall Myers investigation
YR—Country code for “Russia” appearing on license plates issued by the Office of Foreign Missions, State Department, to Russian diplomats
Sources
INTRODUCTION
History of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security of the United States Department of State, Printed October 2011, Global Publishing Solutions, First Edition. Also available online at www.state.gov/m/ds/rls/rpt/c47602.htm and www.state.gov/documents/organization/176589.pdf.
PART 1, CHAPTER 1
Affidavit of FBI Special Agent Katharine G. Alleman in support of Criminal Complaint, Arrest Warrants, and Search Warrants. United States of America v. James M. Clark, Theresa M. Squillacote, and Kurt A. Stand (United States Court for the District of Eastern Virginia, Criminal Action 98-0061), October 1997.
Harnden, Toby. “Spying for Fidel: The Inside Story of Kendall and Gwen Myers,” Washingtonian, October 2009.
Indictment. United States of America v. Walter Kendall Myers, aka Agent 202, and Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, aka Agent 123, and Agent E-634 (United States
District Court for the District of Columbia Criminal Action 09-150), June 4, 2009.
Interviews of Walter Kendall Myers and others by Robert Booth, February through May 2010.
PART 1, CHAPTER 2
Baldwin, Tom. “The policy of hugging America close has been a failure for the British, a US State Department analyst claims,” Timesonline, November 30, 2006.
Criminal Complaint. United States of America v. Walter Kendall Myers, aka Agent 202, and Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, aka Agent 123, and Agent E-634 (United States District Court for the District of Columbia Criminal Action 09-150), June 4, 2009.
Harnden, Toby. “Spying for Fidel: The Inside Story of Kendall and Gwen Myers,” Washingtonian, October 2009.
___________. “State Department official who mocked Britain is arrested as Cuban spy,” http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/toby_harnden/blog/2009/06/05/state_department_official_who_mocked_britain_is_arrested_as_cuban_spy, The Telegraph, June 6, 2009.
Indictment. United States of America v. Walter Kendall Myers, aka Agent 202, and Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, aka Agent 123, and Agent E-634 (United States District Court for the District of Columbia Criminal Action 09-150), June 4, 2009.
Interviews of Walter Kendall Myers and others by Robert Booth February through May 2010.
Murray, Tom. “My Professor, the Spy,” The Daily Beast, June 11, 2009.
Popkin, Jim. “Woman Indicted in Cuba Spy Case is in Sweden and Out of U.S. Reach,” Washington Post, April 23, 2013.