Donald Willis Keyser (born 17 July 1943) retired from the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

in September 2004 after a 32-year career. He had been a member of the Senior Foreign Service since 1990, and held Washington-based ambassadorial-level assignments 1998–2004. Throughout his career he focused on U.S. policy toward East Asia, particularly China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Keyser attended the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, the Stanford Inter-University Center in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

, and the

National War College The National War College (NWC) of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National War Colle ...

. He joined the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

in 1972, and has held a number of senior posts relating to

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

n affairs. He is fluent in

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

. In 2005, he

plea In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a criminal case under common law using the adversarial system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in response ...

ded guilty to unauthorized possession of secret documents, and to

lying A lie is an assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deception, deceiving or Deception, misleading someone. The practice of communicating lies is called lying. A person who communicates a lie may be termed a l ...

to the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

regarding his sexual relationship with a

ese

intelligence officer An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a rank, used in the same way a ...

Isabelle Cheng Isabelle Cheng (), also known as Cheng Nian-tzu, was an intelligence agent for the National Security Bureau (Republic of China), National Security Bureau of Taiwan. She came to public attention when her relationship with Donald Keyser, an offici ...

. He denied, however, passing any confidential information to Cheng, and entered into a

plea bargain A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...

arrangement — in exchange for prosecutors dropping

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

charges, he would co-operate fully in their investigations. In 2006, prosecutors sought to void the plea bargain, claiming that Keyser had not fulfilled his part of the deal, but they later reversed this position, saying that Keyser had increased his level of co-operation. In January 2007, Keyser was sentenced for the original charges of possessing secret documents and lying to investigators — he served one year and one day in jail, and was fined $25,000.

External links

Donald Keyser Case (CI Centre)A Novel-Like Tale Of Cloak, Dagger Unfolds in Court (New York Sun)
* ttps://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/05/AR2006080500656.html Alleging Lack of Cooperation, Prosecutors Seek to Void Plea in Classified-Document Case (Washington Post)br>U.S. will not pursue spy charges against Keyser (China Post)Jail Sentence For Diplomat In Spy Case (New York Sun)
Keyser Living people 1943 births Taiwanese spies United States Department of State officials United States Foreign Service personnel {{US-gov-bio-stub