A dyslexic spy who was about to retire wanted to get more money as he harbored a lot of classified information and tried to sell it in exchange for cash because he believed that he deserved more than a pension for his years of serving the feds. The story about this particular spy has been exposed in the new book entitled, "The Spy Who Couldn't Spell."
Dyslexia is a condition wherein a person suffers from having difficulties in reading, writing and spelling. Many well-known household names have suffered from this such as Steven Spielberg, Whoopi Goldberg, Cher, Anderson Cooper, and many others.
As for the subject of the new book "The Spy Who Couldn't Spell," he was identified as Brian Patrick Regan. Chicago Tribune reported that he committed the largest theft regarding government secrets before Edward Snowden committed his own crime.
In the year 2000, Regan sent a small package containing U.S. intelligence documents to the Libyan consulate and offered more information if they would pay him a total of $13 million. Regan's code for unlocking the documents was difficult due to his dyslexia as there were rearranged digits, letters and words.
New York Post reported that FBI special agent Steven Carr opened a package to him that was mailed in December of 2000. He did not expect that it would contain three letters that were encrypted and mailed out to the Libyan consulate.
In one of the letters, Regan wrote, "I am a Middle East North African analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency. I am willing to commit espionage against the U.S. by providing your country with highly classified information." In the other letters, there were missing letters and misspelled words so the FBI had to figure out who the mole was using that lead.
Carr was eventually able to narrow things down at the National Reconnaissance office. The writer of the book "The Spy Who Couldn't Spell," Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, said that everyone was blown away by the amount of information harbored by Regan.
Most of the documents taken by Regan are satellite images of Middle Eastern military operations, U.S. reconnaissance satellites, weapon depots, underground bunkers, air defense systems, etc. Regan had a difficult time growing up due to being dyslexic but after he graduated high school, he joined the Air Force and excelled in cracking codes. It was believed that him being ridiculed in the past has also contributed to his willingness to provide classified information to the Libyan consulate.
Eventually, Regan was arrested at the Dulles International Airport. He was supposed to board a flight to Switzerland on Aug. t 23, 2001 as he was planning to sell the information door-to-door. He was offered a deal by the government, which was giving up all the stolen documents in exchange for less than nine years of spending time behind bars. Regan did not accept the offer and attempted to blackmail the government.
Regan then sent a letter to his wife as he arranged a region-wide treasure hunt for his children. However, the government threatened to charge his wife with obstruction of justice so he agreed to break the codes for his wife's freedom. He has been sentenced to life behind bars.
"The Spy Who Couldn't Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI's hunt for America's Stolen Secrets" is on sale for $27. It could be bought via the New American Library.
