Jeffrey Carney Jeffrey Carney is a former U . S . Air Force intelligence specialist convicted of spying for East German Ministry for State Security ( MfS or Stasi ) . One of the MfS ' s most successful spies , code - named " Kid " or " Uwe " , Carney became alienated and angry at the Air Force and US policies under Ronald Reagan . He began handing over U . S . military documents to the MfS while working in West Berlin for the Air Force . After his transfer back to Goodfellow AFB in 1984 , Carney decided to once again request permanent asylum in East Germany . His whereabouts remained unknown until 1990 and he was carried on the rolls as a deserter . Carney was finally apprehended after the fall of the Berlin Wall by the agents of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations ( AFOSI ) on the 22nd of April , 1991 in the Friedrichshain district of Berlin . Biography . Carney entered the Air Force in December 1980 . From April 1982 to April 1984 he was assigned to the 6912th Electronic Security Group , Electronic Security Command at Tempelhof Central Airport in Berlin as a linguist and intelligence specialist , with duty station at the 6912th Marienfelde Field Site . Alienation . Carney quickly became disillusioned with the Air Force and its intelligence gathering operations , and there are several stories of him attempting to turn in his badge and quit in protest . His first - hand experiences during the dangerous days of NATO exercise Able Archer 83 strengthened his resolve to help avoid a nuclear conflict . Later , lonely , alienated , and under psychological stress , and he felt he had no one to talk to about his problems . He had intended to defect to East Germany on his first crossing , but he allowed himself to be drawn into espionage by East German intelligence agents who expertly manipulated him and claimed his complete loyalty . Spying . While working at the Marienfelde Field Site in Berlin , Carney began copying classified documents which he then provided to the East German Ministry for State Security ( MfS ) by repeatedly crossing back and forth into East Germany . In 1984 he was involuntarily transferred to Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas to work as a technical instructor . Unfortunately , Carney believed , Goodfellow AFB was a training base with no real - world intelligence of any interest to the MfS . He soon discovered that he had been very wrong . He continued providing the MfS with documents , meeting his handlers in Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro In 1985 . Feeling cut off from his supervisors in East Berlin and at increasing risk in what became known as ' The Year of the Spy ' he sought out the protection of the East German embassy in Mexico City . From there he was flown to Havana with the assistance of the Cuban government . Weeks later he returned to East Berlin via Prague . There he continued to work for the MfS ( HVA Abt . XI and HA III ) by intercepting and translating non - secure telephone communications of US military commanders as well as the East German telephone lines dedicated to the US embassy in East Berlin . Lifestyle and recognition . During the course of his spying , Carney provided the MfS and other socialist - bloc intelligence services with more than a hundred top - secret U . S . military documents . For his services to East Germany , he was awarded the NVA service medal in bronze and the medal of " Waffenbrüderschaft " in gold . His internal MfS file shows the value of the work he performed for the MfS and the KGB , earning praise from KGB General Chebrikov as well as from General Zaitsev of the Group of Soviet Forces Germany ( GSFG ) . Capture . A break in the case came after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 , when many MfS records became available to foreign investigators and journalists . In April , 1991 , he was located with the help of at least two former MfS intelligence officers turned informant . In preparation for his apprehension , he was quickly assigned to the 7350th Air Base Group at his former base , Tempelhof Central Airport , several months before his apprehension . ( Ironically , this assignment was official and had the unintended consequence of assigning Carney to a unit that supported Desert Shield / Desert Storm in 1991 . As a result , Carney received the National Defense Service Medal while in solitary confinement at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , several years later . ) On 22 April 1991 , Carney was apprehended on a public street by AFOSI agents near his residence in what used to be in the Soviet sector of Berlin . Immediately following his apprehension , he was taken to Tempelhof Airport and identified . After nearly 28 hours of intense interrogation , Carney refused to answer any more questions after his repeated requests for counsel had been intentionally denied . At this point the AFOSI , in consultation with other US agencies , decided to quietly remove Carney from German territory . He was secretly flown to the United States aboard military aircraft the following day . Carney ' s arrest and return to the United States was coordinated at the highest levels of the United States government without consulting German officials . The former ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany , Vernon Walters , personally acted as adviser to the Commander - in - Chief , United States Air Forces Europe . Conviction . Carney pleaded guilty to charges of espionage , conspiracy , and desertion and was sentenced in December 1991 to 38 years in prison . Carney served the mandatory portion of his sentence at both Quantico , Virginia and , later , the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . Carney was released in 2002 , after serving 11 years , seven months , and twenty days on a twenty - year sentence in accordance with his pretrial agreement . Later life . After his release from prison , Carney attempted to return to Germany claiming that he was German . However , as East Germany had ceased to exist and since his passport had expired , German authorities refused to grant him a passport . He is reported to be living in Ohio . In November 2011 Carney submitted a lengthy manuscript detailing his life as a spy to the United States Air Force for security review . After numerous delays , the manuscript was finally cleared on July 26 , 2012 . The book , " Against All Enemies : An American ' s Cold War Journey " , was published in 2013 .