FBI/CIA AGENT ACCUSED OF SECURITY BREACH, HEZBOLLAH TIES

Ex-FBI Agent Accused Of Security Breach
(CBS/AP) A former agent for the FBI and CIA pleaded guilty Tuesday to faking a marriage to win U.S. citizenship, clearing the way to being hired and given security clearances by the two intelligence agencies.

Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, emigrated to United States from Lebanon in 1989. She was given U.S. citizenship five years later and began working as a special agent at the FBI's field office in Washington in 1999, according to a criminal information sheet filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

While working as a special agent, Prouty improperly searched an FBI computer database for information about her relatives and links they might have to the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the criminal sheet showed. She joined the CIA in 2003 and resigned as part of her guilty plea Tuesday, officials said.

There's no evidence that Prouty was working as a spy on Hezbollah's behalf, two government officials said.

However, "This still continues to be an ongoing investigation," said FBI spokesman Stephen Kodak in Washington....

Prouty was not authorized to search the FBI database, in 2002, for her name and that of her sister and brother-in law. Her relatives were linked to Hezbollah two years later when they joined a senior Hezbollah official at a fundraiser.

Prouty's brother-in-law Talal Chanine spoke at that fund raiser in Lebanon alongside Hezbollah's one-time spiritual leader Sheikh Fadlallah, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.

Prouty joined the CIA in 2003. CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield described Prouty as a "midlevel employee" who violated immigration laws long before she was hired by the government.

The CIA is cooperating with the investigation, Mansfield said.

Prouty pleaded guilty to conspiracy, unauthorized computer access and naturalization fraud.