According to El Pais, Spain has expelled two US embassy employees who managed to infiltrate the Spanish CNI intelligence service by bribing two of its officers.
Government ministers confirmed on Monday, without providing further details, a report first published by the El Confidencial news website about the arrest of two Spanish intelligence officers on charges of passing on confidential information to Washington.
Suspicions arose after the two CNI agents were observed accessing classified information that was not part of their remit, according to the paper, though it is unclear what information they passed on.
According to El Pais, they were recruited by two spies based at the US embassy who have since been expelled from Spain At least two Americans”
“Agents stationed at the US Embassy in Madrid who were directly involved in the recruitment of CNI spies have been quietly expelled from Spain,” according to the paper. When contacted by AFP, the defence ministry, which the CNI reports to, could not be reached immediately, while the foreign ministry stated that it had “no comment” on the report.
The scandal raised eyebrows because both Spain and the United States are NATO members with good relations.
According to El Pais, both Defence Minister Margarita Robles and Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares spoke with the US ambassador separately to request an explanation.
During an informal meeting with foreign journalists on Tuesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez acknowledged that the case had caused concern in Madrid, but he avoided commenting further of criticizing Washington and insisting that the situation had been resolved.
El Pais described one of the agents as a “middle-ranking member of CNI who had been recruited… to obtain secret information on demand in exchange for a large sum of money” and said the two agents were arrested “two months ago” following an investigation that began before the summer.
It was stated that the other agent was his assistant The US administration has made no comment on the situation.
