Kendall Myers

Kendall Myers was born in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 1937. He was the grandson of Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor and great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell. Myers was also related to William Howard Taft through his father. He was educated at Mercersburg Academy, a private preparatory boarding school in the borough of Mercersburg in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, followed by Brown University in the city of Providence, Rhode Island, from which he graduated, and earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. and for 20 years had been a part-time faculty member at Johns Hopkins' Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. From 2000 until his retirement in October 2007, he worked as a European analyst in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR). Myers’ State Department service was primarily in domestic positions. His spouse, Gwendolyn Myers, was never employed by the U.S. Department of State. ==US–UK "special relationship" controversy==

In November 2006, Myers created controversy by describing the "special relationship" between the United States and the United Kingdom as "one sided" and a "myth." He said that he was "ashamed" of the treatment of Prime Minister Tony Blair by US President George W. Bush. Then UK MP Denis MacShane responded, "After the Republican defeat in the midterm election, every little rat who feasted during the Bush years is now leaving the ship. I would respect this gentleman, who I have never heard of, if he had had the guts to make any of these points two or five years ago." The US State Department distanced itself from Myers' comments, stating, "He was speaking as an academic, not as a representative of the State Department." ==Espionage charge==

On June 4, 2009, Myers and his wife were arrested and charged with acting as an illegal agent of and providing classified information to the Cuban government for nearly 30 years, as well as wire fraud. Authorities said the Myerses were caught by an FBI undercover operation and had been spying for Cuba for "nearly three decades." Myers’ arrest was the culmination of a three-year joint FBI/Department of State Diplomatic Security Service investigation. Based on general information provided by the FBI, the Diplomatic Security Service conducted a comprehensive internal investigation that resulted in the identification of Myers as the probable Cuban agent, and ultimately led to his arrest. Other entries reference a comparison of health care in the United States and healthcare in Cuba, and "complacency about the poor" in the United States. On July 16, 2010, Kendall Myers was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole, and Gwendolyn was sentenced to a total of 81 months in prison. Gwendolyn was released in 2015. Kendall Myers died in prison on March 12, 2026, at the age of 88. ==Reaction==

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered a damage assessment be done to investigate the extent of harm done to US security. In addition, Clinton directed the State Department to conduct a comprehensive damage assessment in coordination with the intelligence community in line with established damages protocols and regulations. Cuba Upon hearing the news of Myers' arrest, Castro stated that the case read like "an espionage comic strip." Castro declined to say whether the Myers couple really had passed secrets to the Cuban government, but added that they deserved praise if they did. ==See also==