SCRANAGE DATED GHANAIAN AFTER ORDER, FBI SAYS

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650041-0
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RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
February 9, 2012
Sequence Number: 
41
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
July 22, 1985
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650041-0.pdf114 KB
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504650041-0 Q4T'^~_F ~t''PEARE~ --'""'~ ~ 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