FBI Leaked Data on Suspended Agent, His Lawyer Says

The lawyer for veteran FBI agent Fernando E. Mata charged Tuesday that the FBI leaked information that it was investigating Mata for contacts with Cuban intelligence agents. Purpose of the leak, the lawyer said, was to send “a chilling message to any FBI agent who wants to stand up and tell the truth.”

Hugo A. Rodriguez, Mata’s lawyer and a former FBI agent himself, said the reported action against Mata, who was suspended with pay about six weeks ago, amounts to retaliation for his participation in a landmark discrimination suit against the bureau won by Latino agents in 1988.

Robert Davenport, the FBI’s chief spokesman, denied that “the FBI leaked the information to anyone” and said the placing of Mata on administrative leave “is totally unrelated” to the agent’s participation in the discrimination suit.

But Davenport declined to explain Mata’s suspension because of “privacy considerations.”

Whatever the reason, the action against Mata seems to have rekindled the tension and uncertainty among some of the FBI’s Latino agents that plagued the bureau when the discrimination suit was being tried. The reaction partly reflects the stature of Mata, who was awarded the attorney general’s distinguished service award in 1983 for his counterintelligence work.

Matt Perez, the lead plaintiff in the class-action discrimination suit and now deputy assistant director of the FBI’s laboratory division, said: “An official bureau investigation is involved, and, therefore, I’m precluded from commenting.”

But Leo Gonzalez, an agent who retired in December after 19 years with the FBI, scoffed at the inquiry being conducted of Mata’s intelligence work. “I know Fernando very well, and I consider Fernando a very loyal American. When he talks about this country, tears come to his eyes. When he talks about the FBI, tears come to his eyes.

“To believe he would spy for the Cubans is abhorrent,” Gonzalez said. “This is part and parcel of a pattern of reprisal” against agents who took part in the successful attack on the FBI’s treatment of Latino agents.

The disclosure of the scrutiny of Mata for his alleged contacts with agents of the Cuban DGI intelligence service comes amid reports of stepped-up efforts by the Cubans to penetrate the FBI through Latino agents. A government intelligence source confirmed the recruitment, reported by the Washington Times, has been going on.

A source familiar with the Mata inquiry said it dates back several years--before the discrimination suit.

Mata’s lawyer, Rodriguez, who talked with reporters outside the federal courthouse in Miami, said he advised his client against appearing with him.

“It’s kind of difficult living in this community and accepting the ambiguous charges,” Rodriguez said, referring to the hostility of the Cuban community in Miami toward anyone suspected of supporting Fidel Castro’s government.

Rodriguez also said that Mata, as a veteran of counterintelligence work, did not want his picture taken.

A source familiar with the Mata case said Mata had submitted to polygraph examinations by the FBI with the assurance that results were for an administrative inquiry and would not be used in any criminal investigation.

Rodriguez said the investigation has been going on for more than three years, “when they began close scrutiny of his activities for the past 15 years. But I guarantee you that there will be no criminal charges.”

Rodriguez said he has received information that he also is under investigation for having leaked classified material.

Rodriguez said he did not know if Mata had been approached by Cuban intelligence agents. He said it was possible, “because that’s the field that he worked in. If you work in narcotics, you talk to dopers.”

Ronald J. Ostrow reported from Washington and Mike Clary from Miami.