A New York grand jury has indicted a former CIA analyst on charges of acting as a spy for the South Korean government and receiving cash, luxury goods, bags and fancy meals in return.
Sue Miterry, who served as a senior official on the White House National Security Council, was indicted on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Federal officials say Ms. Terry has been working as an agent for the South Korean government for more than a decade, according to court documents released Tuesday in the Southern District of New York. But she never registered with U.S. officials as a foreign agent.
The Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank where Ms. Terry works as a senior research fellow for Asia, has placed her on unpaid leave, a spokeswoman told U.S. media. The organization has also removed her profile from its website.
Ms Terry, 54, denies the allegations and her lawyer Lee Wolowski told the BBC the allegations against her were “unfounded”.
“These indictments distort the work of a scholar and news analyst known for her independence and years of service to the United States,” Wolowski said. “In fact, she was a harsh critic of the South Korean government at a time when this indictment claims she acted on its behalf.”
Terry was born in Korea but moved to the United States when he was 12, according to his former employer at Columbia University.
In 2001, she received her Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, a prominent international relations school in Massachusetts. She is known to teach in both English and Korean.
Ms. Terry, 54, served as a senior analyst at the CIA from 2001 to 2008 and then held various federal positions, including as director of the National Security Council's Korea, Japan and Maritime Affairs Bureau under the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.
Prosecutors said Ms. Terry began working as an agent for the South Korean government in 2013, about five years after she finished her stint at the CIA and the National Security Council.
In a 31-page indictment, officials say Ms. Terry admitted to FBI agents in a voluntary interview in 2023 that she was an “informant” for South Korea’s National Intelligence Service.
The indictment alleges that the South Korean government gifted Ms Terry a $2,845 (£2,100) Dolce & Gabbana coat, a $3,450 Louis Vuitton handbag and meals at fancy restaurants.
Officials said the government gave her $37,000 in a scheme to hide the source of the money, ultimately putting it in an endowment fund for the think tank where she worked.
Ms. Terry's indictment comes a day after Democratic Senator Robert Menendez was convicted of aiding a foreign government in exchange for luxury items including gold bars and Mercedes cars.
