Fox News terrorism analyst arrested after falsely claiming to be a CIA agent
A terrorism analyst regularly granted airtime on Fox News since 2002 has been fired after being exposed as a fraud by a grand jury which indicted him on charges of falsely claiming to be a CIA agent.
Wayne Simmons described himself erroneously as an ‘Outside Paramilitary Special Operations Officer’ for the CIA during stints on the show, a title which it is further alleged he used in an attempt to obtain government security clearances under false pretences.
Despite the fictitious nature of this background Simmons was successful in obtaining work as a government defense contractor and at one stage was even deployed overseas as an intelligence adviser to senior military officers.
Now that his lies have caught up with him Simmons faces charges of defrauding the United States government and making false statements and is also in the dock for conning a victim out of $125k in a fake real-estate investment.
A Fox News spokeswoman stressed that Simmons had never been paid for his appearances on the show.