Couple plead not guilty to spying for Cuba

Washington: For three decades, accused spies Walter Kendall Myers and his wife shuffled secrets to their Cuban contacts in such fear of being caught, authorities say, that he memorised top-secret documents rather than bring them into their home.

Their downfall came simply and swiftly, lured by a stranger who offered Myers a cigar.

Obama administration officials say Kendall Myers had access to highly sensitive material while working for the State Department's intelligence arm, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has ordered a damage assessment of what the couple may have revealed. Their methods of communicating with the Cubans included Morse code on shortwave radio, changing shopping carts at the grocery store and a face-to-face meeting with President Fidel Castro himself, court documents say.

David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security, described the couple's alleged spying for the communist government as "incredibly serious".

State Department officials say Kendall Myers had been under investigation for three years, since before he retired in 2007. The FBI made its move on him on April 15, on the street outside the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, where he had gotten a doctorate and taught classes.

An undercover agent approached Kendall Myers, claiming to be an associate of his Cuban handler, according to a law enforcement official speaking on a condition of anonymity about the ongoing investigation. The agent offered Kendall Myers a cigar and birthday wishes since he turned 72 that day and proposed they meet at a Washington hotel later that night. The ruse worked, and Kendall Myers said he'd bring along his wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers.

The Myerses had been out of touch with their Cuban handlers for a while, according to court documents. The couple reportedly told the agent they lived "in fear and anxiety for a long time" and feared Kendall Myers' boss had put him on a watch list in 1995. They said they were not interested in regular spying again but would help where they could, court documents say.

Authorities said over the course of three meetings with the agent in April, they shared their views of Obama administration officials who had recently taken over responsibility for Latin American policy and changing conditions in Cuba. They also accepted a device to encrypt future e-mail. The undercover agent proposed a fourth meeting for Thursday at a Washington hotel, where the couple was arrested.

The couple pleaded not guilty Friday in US District Court to conspiracy to act as illegal agents and to communicate classified information to the Cuban government. Each is also charged with acting as an illegal agent of the Cuban government and with wire fraud. They are being held in jail until a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday. Their attorney, Thomas Green, declined to comment.

The Myerses' arrest could affect congressional support for easing tensions with Cuba dating back to the Cold War. Two months ago, the Obama administration took steps to relax a trade embargo imposed on the island nation in 1962.

Court documents indicate the couple received little money for their efforts, but instead professed a deep love for Cuba, Castro and his system of government. The couple was planning a sailing trip to Cuba, which Myers considered "home".

The documents say Castro came to visit the couple in a small house in Cuba where they were staying in 1995, after traveling through Mexico under false names. Kendall Myers reportedly boasted to the undercover FBI agent that they had received "lots of medals" from the Cuban government.