---
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
  - Person
  - CIA
summary: "Powerful West Virginia Democratic Senator in whose office Barbara Videnieks, wife of the PROMIS contracting officer Peter Videnieks, worked."
born: 1917-11-20
died: 2010-06-28
location: "North Wilkesboro, North Carolina"
created: 2025-08-05
updated: 2026-09-22
---
[[Robert Byrd]] was a powerful West Virginia Democratic Senator. Barbara Videnieks, wife of [[Peter Videnieks]], the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] contracting officer on the [[PROMIS]] contract, worked in his office.[^1][^2] The suggestion by [[Michael Riconosciuto]] and others that Peter Videnieks was involved in the death of [[Danny Casolaro]] in [[West Virginia]], the Justice Department's review of 1994 stated, appeared "to rest on the fact that Mr. Videnieks' wife works for Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia"; it found "no evidence whatsoever of Mr. Videnieks' involvement." [[Joseph Cuellar]], an Army Reserve major, told the reviewers that his former fiancée had worked with Barbara Videnieks "in the Capitol Hill office of West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd."[^2] Byrd played a major role in the effort to have the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] move some of its administrative offices to Charlestown, 20 miles from Martinsburg, on the Virginia border.[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report on the Review of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua's Report,* September 27, 1994, section on the death of Danny Casolaro. https://archive.org/details/doj-oip-inslaw-1993