State Department Spy for Cuba Sentenced to Life

A 73-year-old retired State Department employee who was also a spy for Cuba for almost 30 years was sentenced to life in prison today after pleading guilty to espionage and wire fraud. Walter Kendall Myers was also fined $1.7 million—including the money he was paid as a government intelligence analyst. His wife, Gwendolyn Myers, was sentenced to 6 years for her spy work. They held hands as the judge sentenced them, the Washington Post reports.

Kendall Myers, an Ivy league-educated Europe specialist who worked his way up the State Department ladder, eventually gained a high-level security clearance. His career ran parallel with his secret life, which began in 1978, when he visited Cuba and was recruited by an intelligence agent. "Our only objective was to help the Cuban people defend their revolution," he said in a statement at sentencing. Argued the US attorney: "Kendall Myers could have been anything he wanted to be. He chose to be a Cuban spy." (More State Department stories.)