A Fox News commentator on terrorism was arrested Thursday and charged with falsely claiming to have worked at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for almost three decades, U.S. authorities said.
Wayne Simmons, 62, was a regular analyst on terrorism for the Fox News agency and claimed to have worked as an “Outside Paramilitary Special Operations Officer” for the CIA from 1973 to 2000, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.
He is also accused of using the “false claim in an attempt to obtain government security clearances and work as a defense contractor, including at one point successfully getting deployed overseas as an intelligence advisor to senior military personnel.”
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Simmons faces charges of major fraud against the United States, wire fraud and making false statements to the government. The indictment also alleges that Simmons defrauded an individual out of roughly $125,000 US in connection with a bogus real estate investment.
According to a profile on Amazon.com, Simmons has appeared on Fox News, part of 21st Century Fox Inc., speaking on issues related to terrorism since 2000.
Fox News spokeswoman Carly Shanahan told the Associated Press that Simmons was a guest on the network and that the reference to him on air as “Fox News contributor” was an error.
“He was never a paid commentator,” Shanahan said.
The indictment said that Simmons falsely claimed on national security forms that his previous arrests and convictions were related to his CIA work and that he had held a top secret security clearance.
In an online biography, Simmons claims that while working for the CIA he “spearheaded Deep Cover Intel Ops against some of the world’s most dangerous Drug Cartels and arms smugglers from Central and South America and the Middle East.” He also claims to be “one of the first outside Intelligence officers” to visit Guantanamo Bay in July 2005.
If convicted on the charges, Simmons faces a maximum penalty of up to 35 years in prison.
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