Wife of espionage suspect works for the CIA

[Dover]

Wife of espionage suspect works for the CIA

By Charles Snyder and Chang Yun-ping
STAFF REPORTERS IN WASHINGTON AND TAIPEI
Wednesday, Jul 19, 2006,Page 1

The wife of former US State Department official Donald Keyser, Margaret Lyons, is a CIA official on loan to the office of the US' top spy, John Negroponte, Negroponte's office has confirmed.
Lyons "is a CIA employee currently on a detail assignment to the office of the Director of National Intelligence," a spokeswoman told the Taipei Times on Monday.

The spokeswoman said that her office would "decline to respond" to any other questions about Lyons.

A CIA spokesman also confirmed that Lyons works for the agency. She is a "senior officer" who has worked with the agency for "decades," he said. Despite the case against her husband, the agency has not revoked Lyons' security clearance, he said.

The open-source unit that Lyons is now detailed to is the successor to the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, which monitored and translated broadcasts in countries around the world, and made them available to government officials, scholars, journalists and others....cont'd

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/07/19/2003319437

[EVDebs]

1. "Negroponte's office has confirmed." Why on God's green earth

would they confirm this information ? Is everyone in the Bush administration NUTZ ?

[Demeter]

4. You Have To Be Nuts To Work For the BFEE's Dim Son

or in a severe blackmail situation.

[MADem]

2. Jesus Christ on a bicycle!!!!!!!!!!!

In its July 5 filing, the prosecutor said that during a search of Keyser's house in September 2004, investigators found more than 3,600 classified documents, including 28 top secret documents and nearly 2,000 secret documents. Nearly half of the documents were found in a bookshelf in a recently refinished basement den.

=====
WHO brings that much work home???? And if you ARE in the habit of bringing classified work home, you generally get ahold of a SAFE, so you aren't sleeping with the shit under your pillow....

[Sherman A1]

3. Well we hope

That they were at least tastefully arranged on these shelves in the newly remodeled basement. Our tax dollars at work......

[Lars39]

5. This has to be one of the most bizarre things I've read in a while.

[hughee99]

6. His wife works for the CIA?

Who "outed" her?

[Dover]

7. MORE from Rawstory and Time:

A Steamy Spy Scandal at the State Department
A tale of the diplomat, his spy paramour, and his wife — also a spy — keeps getting weirder
By TIMOTHY J. BURGER AND ADAM ZAGORIN

Posted Saturday, Jul. 15, 2006

Few occasions are more sensitive than a visit to the U.S. of a foreign head of state, and few such events during the Bush years have been as closely watched as Chinese leader Jiang Zemin’s visit to the President’s Texas ranch in 2002. But a Taiwanese spy named Isabelle Cheng had the inside track on Jiang’s trip, according to a recent court filing. Federal prosecutors say vaunted State Department Asia hand Donald Keyser sent Cheng long e-mails detailing his “conversations with Chinese President Jiang” in Texas. At some point, prosecutors say, the spy became his lover, and Keyser was caught lying to hide the affair — and hoarding classified documents in his suburban Washington home. Facing jail and with his marriage threatened, Keyser cut a deal, promising to tell all he knew about Taiwan’s intelligence operations. But then the tale of the diplomat, his spook paramour and his wife — also a spy — got even weirder...cont'd

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1214911,00.html

_______________

Time: 'Steamy spy scandal' at State Dept. as Nat'l Intel czar Negroponte operation is linked to Taiwanese spying case

Ron Brynaert
Published: Saturday July 15, 2006

A "steamy spy scandal" at the State Department is brewing as Time Magazine links an operation by US Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte to the case involving Taiwanese agent Isabelle Cheng and Donald W. Keyser, former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

"Federal prosecutors say Keyser sent Taiwanese spy Isabelle Cheng, who at some point became Keyser's lover, long e-mails detailing his 'conversations with Chinese President Jiang' during Jiang's visit to President Bush's Texas ranch in 2002," according to a Time press release sent to RAW STORY. "Prosecutors say Keyser was caught lying to hide the affair and hoarding classified documents in his suburban Washington home."

Keyser pleaded guilty last December "to unlawfully removing classified documents and two counts of making false statements" and "admitted that he concealed his relationship with a Taiwanese intelligence agent."

Isabelle Cheng (or Nain-Tzu Cheng) worked for Taiwan's National Security Bureau, operating from the Taipei Economic Cultural and Representative Office in Washington, DC. After cooperating with the US government in the case against Keyser, Cheng "was called back by Taiwan authorities after the incident," and her current whereabouts are unknown...cont'd

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Time_Steamy_spy_scandal_at_State_0715.html