Ex-CIA officer held at JFK International Airport, charged with keeping documents

He made an initial appearance yesterday in federal court in New York, but will face charges in northern Virginia, where the CIA is located.

Alexandria, Jan 17: A former CIA officer, Jerry Chun Shing Lee (53) has been arrested and charged with illegally retaining classified records, including names and phone numbers of covert CIA assets.

Shing Lee was arrested Monday night after arriving at JFK International Airport.

He made an initial appearance yesterday in federal court in New York but will face charges in northern Virginia, where the CIA is located.

According to court documents, Lee, a Hong Kong resident, served in the CIA from 1994 to 2007 as a case officer.

A court affidavit states that in 2012 when Lee travelled to northern Virginia with his family, the FBI searched Lee's possessions and found two small books with handwritten notes containing names and numbers of covert CIA employees and locations of covert facilities. Court records don't yet list an attorney for Lee.

PTI