Sue Mi Terry speaking at New America’s Future of War Conference in 2018. Photo: Eric Gibson / New America via Wikimedia Commons
An ex-senior White House employee and CIA analyst currently residing on the Upper West Side faces accusations of espionage for allegedly disclosing U.S. government secrets to South Korea. The accusations claim that the disclosures were in exchange for luxury handbags, extravagant dinners, and thousands of dollars in funding for their public policy program.
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Sue Mi Terry, 54, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and one count of failure to register under FARA. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Terry allegedly “subverted foreign agent registration laws in order to provide South Korean Intelligence officers with access, information, and advocacy,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Wednesday in a Justice Department press release.
On Thursday morning, the New York Post approached Terry outside a West 72nd Street medical office, where she tried to dodge questions while unsuccessfully hailing a cab, the Post reported. Terry told the reporter, “I am very late,” while insisting she was not a foreign agent. When asked why she was charged, Terry responded, “It will all be explained,” and “My lawyers are working on it.”
When Terry finally caught a cab, it drove her “aimlessly around the Upper East Side before stopping near Park Avenue, where she appeared to pay the cabbie.” Instead of getting out, however, the cab darted off, running a red light. That’s when the Post lost track of her.
In exchange for Terry’s release before trial, her husband, Max Boot, a Washington Post national security columnist, put up their six-room, $1.8 million home on the Upper West Side as collateral for her $500,000 personal recognizance bond. The turn-of-the-century estate features wood paneling, stained glass windows, a built-in bookcase, and ten-foot ceilings, according to its StreetEasy listing. Terry also had to surrender her passport.
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Outside Terry’s home on Thursday, the Post reported observing “a man who appeared to be Boot…hand[ing] off an Apple laptop to the driver of a black Cadillac Escalade.” When Boot spotted the reporter, he crossed the street to take photographs of them, their car, and its license plate. When asked if he was Max Boot and if he would comment on the charges, the man didn’t speak a word, crossed back over the street, and went inside.
Terry, a native of Seoul, traded access to top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, in exchange for lavish gifts such as a $3,450 Louis Vuitton handbag, a $2,845 Dolce & Gabbana coat, and a $2,950 Bottega Veneta handbag, prosecutors said. They also say she received $37,000 in funding for a public policy program concerning Korean affairs that she controlled.
Terry’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, is also a diplomat whom President Biden chose as counsel for the White House in 2021. Wolosky contends that the accusations against Terry are unfounded, though he has not provided any corroboration. He also maintained that Terry is a harsh critic of the South Korean government. “Once the facts are made clear, it will be evident the government made a significant mistake,” he said.
Terry’s court date is July 30.
Are the Dems doing anything right?
Um, no.
The the charge is that she’s an unregistered agent of a foreign power.
There are lots of those on the UWS, not just for one foreign power.
Fix this.