---
born: 1917-11-20
category: Political Figure
created: 2025-08-05
died: 2010-06-28
location: North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
summary: Powerful West Virginia Democratic Senator in whose office Barbara Videnieks,
  wife of the PROMIS contracting officer Peter Videnieks, worked.
tags:
- Person
- CIA
updated: 2026-09-22
---

[Robert Byrd](/people/robert-byrd/) was a powerful West Virginia Democratic Senator. Barbara Videnieks, wife of [Peter Videnieks](/people/peter-videnieks/), the [Justice Department](/organizations/department-of-justice/) contracting officer on the [PROMIS](/programs/promis/) contract, worked in his office.[^1][^2] The suggestion by [Michael Riconosciuto](/people/michael-riconosciuto/) and others that Peter Videnieks was involved in the death of [Danny Casolaro](/people/danny-casolaro/) in [West Virginia](/places/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](/people/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 [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) move some of its administrative offices to Charlestown, 20 miles from Martinsburg, on the Virginia border.[^1]

[^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