By Alyssa McMurtry
OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spain has expelled at least two American officials working in the US Embassy in Madrid for bribing Spanish intelligence agents to share confidential information, Spanish daily El Pais reported on Thursday.
Earlier this week, Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles confirmed that Spanish authorities have launched an investigation into a potential case of Spanish agents working as spies for Washington. El Pais reported two Spanish intelligence agents were detained two months ago.
After the alleged spying came to light this summer, both Robles and Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares summoned the US ambassador to explain the situation, El Pais reported.
When confronted, US Ambassador Julissa Reynoso reportedly told the Spanish ministers that she was unaware of the spying, which she claimed started before Joe Biden became president. According to El Pais, she apologized and promised to cooperate fully with the investigation.
This type of spying is considered “openly hostile,” according to El Pais. While this activity may be common between rival nations, sources told the Spanish daily that it was very odd for a case like this to emerge among allies like Madrid and Washington, given that Spain tends to be willing to hand over relevant intelligence information upon request.
Spain’s National Intelligence Center (CNI) reportedly discovered the spying after noticing that someone was accessing classified information irrelevant to his or her job. An internal investigation later found that at least one mid-level agent had been recruited by American spies, handing over the secret information in exchange for a large sum of money.
El Pais reported that the other detainee was the allegedly compromised officer’s assistant. They could face up to 12 years in prison for revealing state secrets.