SCRANAGE DATED GHANAIAN AFTER ORDER, FBI SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650041-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 41
• Publication Date: July 22, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504650041-0
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~ Scranage Dated
Ghanaian After
Order, FBI Says
By Caryle Murphy
Waehmgton Poet Stal( Writer
A former CIA employe charged
with giving secret information
about U.S. operations in Ghana to
her Ghanaian lover continued see-
ing him after superiors ordered her
to end the relationship, and she
eventually provided him with the
identities of 14 CIA informants, an
FB[ agent testified yesterday.
Sharon M. Scranage told FBI
agents that her lover, Michael Ag-
botui Soussoudis, had "implied that
people at the [U.S.) embassy [in
Ghana) and their families could be
hurt by accidents that could be ar-
ranged" and that "a CIA employe
could be shot" if she did not coop-
erate with him, FB[ special agent
Eugene J. Noltkamper said.
Yesterday's testimony indicated
that Scranage began divulging se-
crets long after the couple began
dating-after Soussoudis' discovery
that she worked for the CIA, after
his alleged threats, and a year after
she was ordered to end the relation-
s ship.
Scranage had "top-secret clear-
ance" when she worked for the CIA
at the U.S. embassy in the Ghanaian
capital of Accra from May 1983 to
May 1985, Noltkamper testified
yesterday before a federal magis-
i irate in Alexandria.
Her job as an "operations support
analyst" gave her access to sensi-
tive material in the CIA office,
where her tasks included acting as a
back-up radio operator, filing doc-
uments and sending and receiving
classified documents in a diplomatic
pouch, Noltkamper said.
U.S. Magistrate W. Harris Grims-
ley yesterday ordered Soussoudis,
39, held without bond on espionage
charges. Grimsley declined an offer
by the Ghanaian ambassador to the
United States, Eric Otoo, to allow
Soussoudis to live at his residence.
Otoo had offered to take responsi-
bility for court appearances by Sous-
soudis, arelative of the head of the
Ghanaian government, Flight Lt. Jer-
ry John Rawlings.
WASHINGTON POST
22 July 1985
Scranage, 29, was released into
her parents' custody Thursday after
they used their family home in King
George County, Va., as security for
her $25,000 bond. She also is
charged with espionage.
Scranage told FBI agents that "she
had done wrong and knew she had
done it" during three days of ques-
tioning at the Marriott in Tysons
Corner June 8-10, Noltkamper tes-
tified. "She knew her actions put
[CIA personnel].in danger," he said.
Scranage admitted passing se-
crets after her responses on a rou-
tine polygraph after her Ghana tour
aroused suspicions, sources said.
Acting on FBI instructions, she
lured Soussoudis to the Springfield
Holiday Inn where he was arrested
July 10, Noltkamper said.
Scranage met Soussoudis, who de-
scribed himself as a businessman,
"within days" of her arrival in Ghana
as a CIA employe in May 1983, Nolt-
kamper testified yesterday. He said
the two "began to date steadily."
Sometime in 1983, the C[A station
chief in Accra warned Scranage "to
be careful in her relationship" with
Soussoudis, Noltkamper said. In De-
cember 1983, she received "specific"
orders "to disengage herself from her
relationship with Soussoudis," Nolt-
kamper said. He said the order came
"in the form of a cable" from the C[A
in Washington and was relayed to
Scranage by the station chief.
Intelligence specialists said the
CIA's failure to monitor closely
Scranage's relationship with Sous-
soudis appeared to be a blunder.
CIA employes working overseas
usually are required to fill out f5rms
detailing relationships with foreign-
ers, intelligence specialists said.
CIA security officials often insist
on knowing persona! details of re-
lationships with foreigners, they
said. Sometimes security officers
order a CIA employe to end a re-
lationship, and occasionally they al-
low it to continue with hopes of re-
cruiting the other person as an in-
formant, they said.
In January 1984, Soussoudis,
who travels on a Ghanaian passport
and is a permanent resident of the
United States, left Ghana and came
to live in New York. He spent a few
days with Scranage in July 1984
when she came home on vacation,
Noltkamper said. Soussoudis re-
turned to Ghana in November
1984. The following month, armed
with a 9 mm automatic pistol, he
visited Scranage, Noltkamper said.
During the meeting, Noltkamper
said, Soussoudis "was yelling and
screaming .. ,and he got upset by
the fact that she was employed by
the CIA." He reportedly said
Scranage "confirmed the fact that
she was employed by the C[A. She
told him about meetings her chief of
station was having and indicated
that he was her boss."
Soussoudis asked Scranage for
classified information at that time,
including the names of CIA person-
nel in Ghana and the names of peo-
ple reporting to the CIA, because
"it would help himself and Ghana,"
Noltkamper testified.
When Scranage said she could
not get that information, Soussoudis
replied, "Yes you can, you are a CIA
agent," Noltkamper said. He said
Soussoudis also asked her for clas-
sified information on dissident
groups in Ghana.
It was then that Soussoudis made
threats against CIA personnel,
Scranage told the FBI. Noltkamper
testified that Soussoudis told
Scranage that "people more treach-
erous than himself could cause acci-
dents like brakes going out or that
somebody could be shot in the
street."
Their dating relationship contin-
ued, Noltkamper said, although
Scranage "felt threatened" by the
fact that Soussoudis kept a pistol
under his pillow when he slept.
From January to May, Scranage
gave Soussoudis classified informa-
tion she obtained from the files of
the CIA office at the embassy, from
cable traffic and from her knowl-
edge of operations at the CIA sta-
tion, the FBI agent testified.
Soussoudis' lawyer, Thomas
Dyson, argued that his client "was
not trying to get any information
which had to do with the U.S. either
internally or abroad. He was trying
to gain the names of Ghanaian cit-
izens who, for the purposes of this
discussion, were traitors to Ghana."
Stajj writer John Mintz contributed
to this report.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504650041-0