News-Record.com

This is infuriating:

"In an apparent violation of U.S. policy, Peace Corps volunteers and a Fulbright scholar were asked by a U.S. Embassy official in Bolivia 'to basically spy' on Cubans and Venezuelans in the country, according to Peace Corps personnel and the Fulbright scholar involved." ABC News reports.

" 'I was told to provide the names, addresses and activities of any Venezuelan or Cuban doctors or field workers I come across during my time here,' Fulbright scholar John Alexander van Schaick told ABCNews.com in an interview in La Paz.

"Van Schaick's account matches that of Peace Corps members and staff who claim that last July their entire group of new volunteers was instructed by the same U.S. Embassy official in Bolivia to report on Cuban and Venezuelan nationals.

"The State Department says any such request was 'in error' and a violation of long-standing U.S. policy which prohibits the use of Peace Corps personnel or Fulbright scholars for intelligence purposes.

" 'We take this very seriously and want to stress this is not in any way our policy,' a senior State Department official told ABCNews.com.

"The Fulbright scholar van Schaick, a 2006 Rutgers University graduate, says the request came at a mandatory orientation and security briefing meeting with Assistant Regional Security Officer Vincent Cooper at the embassy on the morning of Nov. 5, 2007."

An error? I'll say.

The reasons for this long-standing policy are clear and compelling -- especially regarding Peace Corps volunteers.

First, PCVs are not spies. They undertake different missions on behalf of the U.S. government.

Second, any suspicion that they are spies compromises their real mission and potentially puts them in danger.

PCVs must build trust among the people they live and work with. Their effectiveness depends on it, and their safety might, too. If they're regarded as spies, they could be made targets by enemies of the United States.

In some parts of the world, anyone associated with the U.S. government is viewed with suspicion. Now, thanks to the actions of an idiotic U.S. assistant regional security officer in Bolivia, the grounds for suspicion might have increased.

I hope this is only one idiot acting on his own and that no PCVs anywhere have been recruited for spying operations. More seriously, I hope U.S. spy agencies haven't sent operatives abroad under Peace Corps cover.

This ought to be investigated. Maybe Sen. Christopher Dodd, a former PCV, could look into it. For the sake of all PCVs, and for the credility of the Peace Corps itself, a clear accounting is due.