Ana Montes Espionage Case -- Senior DIA analyst arrested 20 Sept 01 for spying for Cuban intelligence

Counterintelligence - Espionage - Spy Case

Name	MONTES, Ana Belen
Employer	Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
Dates of Employment	September 1985- 20 September 2001
Employee Type	Staff
Job Title/Duties	DIA's senior intelligence analyst on Cuba 1992: Selected for the DIA's Exceptional Analyst Program, traveled to Cuba to study the Cuban military Traveled to Cuba at least four times while working at DIA Helped draft a 1998 official US Government finding that Cuba no longer presents a military threat to the United States
Military Rank	none
Clearance Level	TS/SCI

Spying For	Cuba
Codename
Spying Dates	Recruited by Cuban intelligence when she was a graduate student in her late 20s. Was already spying for Cuba when she joined DIA in 1985 until her arrest in September 2001.
Co-conspirators
Methodology	Montes communicated with the Cuban Intelligence Service through encrypted messages and received her instructions through shortwave encrypted transmissions from Cuba. In addition, Montes communicated by coded numeric pager messages with the Cuban Intelligence Service by public telephones located in the District of Columbia and Maryland. The codes included 'I received message' or 'danger.'
Possible Motivations, Problems	Ideology, allegiance to Cuba ''She was motivated by a desire to help the Cuban people, and she did not -- I underline -- did not receive any financial benefit.....She offered to help Cuban intelligence because of her belief that United States policy does not afford Cubans respect, tolerance and understanding.''--Montes' lawyer Plato Cacheris
Finances	Clean
Identified/ Investigation	FBI agents obtained court approval to enter her apartment, where they found a shortwave radio, an earpiece and a laptop computer. Agents copied the computer's hard drive and restored what had been deleted. They also followed Montes as she made calls on pay phones outside the National Zoo and at other locations in the city and in Maryland, sending encrypted messages to pagers.
Arrest Date/Location	Thursday, 20 September 2001 at DIA Hqs
Charges	Montes used her position as an intelligence officer and, subsequently, a senior intelligence analyst . . . to gather writings, documents, materials and information, classified for reasons of national security, for unlawful communication, delivery and transmission to the government of Cuba. Montes first unmasked a U.S. intelligence officer to Cuba in May 1994, and revealed the name of another U.S. agent in September 1996. She betrayed two others in May 1997.
Court	US District Court in Washington, DC
Lawyers	Defense: Plato Cacheris
Status	Sentenced on October 16, 2002, CI Centre coverage of sentencing Sentence of 25 years in prison with no possibility of parole, followed by five years of supervised release. In exchange, Howard said, the government would get her full cooperation in disclosing all information she may have about criminal activity regarding herself or others with whom she may worked. Incarcerated at FMC Carswell in Ft. Worth, TX, prisoner #25037-016

Date/Place of Birth	28 February 1957, West German where her father was posted as a US Army doctor
Citizenship	US (Puerto Rican background)
Residences	3000 block of Macomb Street, NW, (Cleveland Apartments off Connecticut Ave), Washington, DC
Education	1979: University of Virginia, foreign affairs 1988: Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
Family	Conservative father had strained relationship with radical Montes Sister was a translator who worked on a spy-ring case in Florida.
Other Employment
Additional Bio	Was part of Georgetown University's Caribbean Project, an unofficial study group composed of academics, policy analysts and activists with an interest in Cuba

Documents	Court Affidavit, Sep 2001 (pdf) Indictment, Jan 2002 (pdf)
Quotes	"She did grave damage. She owed the country an apology. I'm disappointed she did not provide it."--US Attorney Roscoe Howard Jr "She not only betrayed her country but she put at risk lives of brave people who work for this country ... and she put that information in the hands of this country's greatest enemy in the hemisphere."--Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation "Ana Belen Montes consciously and deliberately chose to join forces with those who would compromise the national security of this country. She secretly and without remorse systematically compromised classified information relating to the national defense of the entire country. She comes before this court and makes no apology for her deceit and betrayal."--Assistant U.S. attorney Ronald L. Walutes Jr. "Few spies are that highly placed. From the Cuban perspective, to have the person who writes American policy in your court, we're talking about a very influential person. In the espionage world, this is real gold."--CI Centre Professor David Major "She gave away the store because she was Miss Cuba at DIA."--Robert Heibel, a former FBI counterintelligence agent "We told you how tremendously useful the information you gave us from the meetings with him resulted, and how we were waiting here for him with open arms."--Cuban intelligence officer in a message to Montes who had given him details regarding a US intelligence officer who was present in an undercover capacity in Cuba "Cuba, in my analysis, shares that information and uses it to ingratiate itself and prove its utility to other enemies of the United States."--Jose Cardenas, executive director of the Washington office of the Cuban American National Foundation, a lobbying group for Cuban exiles ''She doesn't fit the profile. She wasn't flashy.''--a U.S. investigator
Case Links	CI Centre coverage of sentencing Statement Montes made during her sentencing Cuban Espionage in the US \| News Articles Defense Intelligence Agency World Fact Book: Cuba DGI Cuban Intelligence Cuban military CI CI Centre Course 159 Cuban Intelligence: An Introduction to Cuban Intelligence and Counterintelligence Operations & Methodologies
BOOKS	True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba's Master Spy by Scott Carmichael

News:

Defense Analyst Accused of Spying for Cuba

The Defense Intelligence Agency's senior analyst for matters involving Cuba was arrested at her office yesterday and accused of providing classified information about military exercises and other sensitive operations to the Cuban government. Ana Belen Montes, 44, of Northwest Washington, was on the U.S. government's payroll but really was working for the Cuban Intelligence Service, prosecutors said.....(Washington Post, 22 Sep 01)

Pentagon Analyst Accused of Spying

An analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency was charged with conspiracy to spy for Cuba, the Justice Department said Friday.....(AP, 21 Sep 01)

FBI charges analyst with spying for Cuba .....(Washington Times, 22 Sep 01)

U.S. intelligence analyst charged with spying for Cuba......(Miami Herald, 22 Sep 01)

Area Cubans Relieved By Charges In Spy Case

Cuban American groups yesterday applauded the arrest of a top-level Defense Intelligence Agency analyst on charges of spying for Cuba, asserting that her alleged actions could help terrorists and bring further harm to the United States....(Washington Post, 23 Sep 01)

Spy Betrayed Agents to Cuba, Officials Say......(New York Times, 23 Sep 01)

Defense Analyst Charged in Cuban Spy Case.....(Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep 01)

Attacks Expedited Arrest in Espionage Case

The FBI accelerated the arrest of a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst on charges of spying for Cuba because of concerns that she would pass along classified information about the U.S. response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.....(Washington Post, 28 Sep 01)

Cuba spy suspect was rising into senior intelligence ranks

Before her arrest as a spy for Cuba last week, Ana Belen Montes was rising rapidly into the senior ranks of the U.S. intelligence community and appeared to have made a direct impact on U.S. policy toward the island, according to a variety of sources who knew or worked with the 44-year-old defense analyst.....(Miami Herald, 29 Sep 01)

Intelligence Analyst Charged With Spying for Cuba

A few days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, Ana Belen Montes, a top Defense Department intelligence analyst, sent an e-mail note to an old friend saying she was all right and had not known anyone who died at the Pentagon.....(New York Times, 30 Sep 01)

Spy suspect was a loner on her way up

A textured portrait is emerging of Ana Belen Montes, who was rapidly rising into the senior ranks of the U.S. intelligence community before her arrest more than a week ago as a spy for Cuba......(Knight-Ridder, 30 Sep 01)

Defense Analyst Pleads Guilty to Spying for Cuba

The Defense Intelligence Agency's senior analyst for Cuban issues pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in Washington to being a spy for Fidel Castro's government, admitting that for 16 years she used her highly classified position to steal top-secret information and pass it along to a nation the State Department lists as supporting international terrorism.....(Washington Post, 20 Mar 02)

Cuban spy passed polygraph at least once

Even though confessed Cuban spy Ana Belen Montes already outwitted a lie-detector test, the government plans to rely on polygraph exams to check her honesty as they debrief her about her 16-year spying career while working for U.S. military intelligence. Montes took a polygraph examination at least once during her career as an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency, her attorney says.......(Miami Herald, 28 Mar 02)

Castro's Top Spy

“The Pentagon received praise from an unlikely source,” the article stated, “Cuban President Fidel Castro.” What Castro was citing was a Pentagon intelligence review leaked to the press, which had concluded Cuba posed no serious military threat to the United States, due especially to a severely weakened Cuban military. The report, Castro said, was “an objective report by serious people.” There was good reason for Castro to be pleased with the leaked report. It was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency in cooperation with other intelligence arms of the Government, and was written by Ana Belen Montes, Castro’s top spy in the United States......(FrontPage magazine, 29 Mar 02)

She led two lives -- dutiful analyst, and spy for Cuba
In a brief e-mail message laden with emotion, the mother of Ana Belen Montes -- a top spy for Cuba -- lays bare the anguish she feels over her daughter's plight........(Miami Herald, 16 Jun 02)

Pentagon Aide, a Cuban Spy, Is Described as Unapologetic

A high-ranking Pentagon intelligence analyst who spied for Cuba because she opposed American policies toward Latin America "in no measure apologizes for her betrayal of the United States," federal prosecutors said in a court document filed yesterday. The analyst, Ana B. Montes, pleaded guilty to espionage last March, acknowledging that for 16 years she provided Fidel Castro's government with top-secret information, including the true identities of four American undercover intelligence officers......(New York Times, 12 Oct 02)

Confessed Spy for Cuba Gets 25 Years

A defiant U.S. intelligence analyst, who confessed to spying for Cuba throughout her 16-year career, harshly criticized American policy toward Fidel Castro and was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison......(AP, 16 Oct 02)

U.S. Spy for Cuba Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
Ana Belen Montes, a former American intelligence officer convicted of conspiring to spy for Cuba, was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison after saying she opposed U.S. government policy toward Cuba and wanted to help the communist island nation defend itself......( Reuters, 16 Oct 02)

Confessed Spy for Cuba Gets 25 Years

Ana Belen Montes, the daughter of an Army psychologist who grew up to be the most adept Cuban spy to ever infiltrate the U.S. military, was sentenced to 25 years in prison today in U.S. District Court, a somber end to a stealthy career of espionage in the nation's capital....(Washington Post, 16 Oct 02)

US jails woman who spied for Cuba

An American woman has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for spying for Cuba. Ana Belen Montes, who worked for US military intelligence, said she had wanted to defend the island against US injustice......( BBC, 16 Oct 02)

Unrepentant Spy Gets 25 Years
Saying she put her conscience before her country, a former U.S. intelligence analyst was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison for conspiring to spy for Cuba, becoming one of the few women in American history convicted of espionage.....(Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct 02)

Ex-U.S. Aide Sentenced to 25 Years for Spying for Cuba

A former Pentagon intelligence analyst who spied for Cuba for 16 years said as she was sentenced today that she had wanted to help the island's Communist government defend itself against unjust American policies.....(New York Times, 17 Oct 02)

Spy for Cuba Sentenced to 25 Years

Ana Belen Montes, the daughter of an Army psychologist who grew up to be the most adept Cuban spy to infiltrate the U.S. military, was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday, a somber end to a stealthy career of espionage in the nation's capital.....(Washington Post, 17 Oct 02)

Spy for Cuba gets a 25-year term
The most senior spy for Cuba ever to penetrate the top ranks of the U.S. intelligence community declared at her sentencing Wednesday that U.S. policy toward Cuba is ''cruel and unfair'' and that she felt ``morally obligated to help the island defend itself.''.....(Miami Herald, 16 Oct 02)

Statement by Ana Belen Montes, who received 25-year sentence for spying...

This is the statement read in federal court Wednesday by Ana Belen Montes, who received a 25-year jail sentence for a lengthy spying career for Cuba. Before her arrest in September 2001, Montes was a senior analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency. Her specialty was Cuba.....(Miami Herald, 17 Oct 02)

Spy for Cuba gets 25-year term, calls U.S. policy cruel and unfair

.....(Sun-Sentinel, 16 Oct 02)

Confessed Spy Sentenced, Calls U.S.-Cuba Policy 'Cruel And Unfair'

A former intelligence analyst who confessed to spying for Cuba rebuked U.S. policy toward the Communist island as she was sentenced to 25 years in prison as part of a plea deal.....(MSNBC, 17 Oct 02)

The one spy motivated by idealism

The Americans who have spied against their country represent an almost unrelieved line of avarice and aggrievement.....(Scripps-Howard News Service Op-Ed, 17 Oct 02)

Ex-analyst sentenced to 25 years for spying

A former senior Defense Department intelligence analyst was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in prison for giving U.S. defense secrets to Cuba, after telling a federal judge she felt "morally obligated" to help defend that communist nation against U.S. policies.....(Washington Times, 17 Oct 02)

“I felt morally obliged…”

Ana Belen Montes, the former senior analyst at the US Defense Intelligence Agency, had been in charge of the Cuban case, was sentenced to a 25-year imprisonment. The Pentagon employee is accused of spying for Cuba.....(Pravda, 17 Oct 02)

Woman jailed for spying for Cuba

A FORMER senior analyst at the US Defence Intelligence Agency has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for spying for Cuban President Fidel Castro's communist regime.....(The Advertiser, 17 Oct 02)

Cuba Expresses Respect for U.S. Spy

In Cuba's first comments about a U.S. intelligence analyst who confessed to spying for the communist island for 16 years, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque on Friday expressed "profound respect and admiration" for the convicted spy.....(AP, 18 Oct 02)

Cuba admits ties to jailed US intelligence analyst

Cuba for the first time has acknowledged ties to the former senior US intelligence analyst, Ana Belen Montes, sentenced this week to 25 years jail for spying for Havana's communist government.....(AFP, 20 Oct 02)

How a Cuban Spy Sowed Confusion in the Pentagon

......Aside from her ability to tell Cuba secrets that might be passed along to terrorists, there was another risk posed by Ms. Montes' penetration of the DIA. In her role as the key Pentagon intelligence analyst on Cuba, Ms. Montes could influence the National Intelligence Council and thereby put her stamp on consolidated NIC reports. Those reports combine the findings of separate agencies but Ms. Montes could have overshadowed other analysts if her views were more highly valued by the higher-ups who consolidate the information. In fact, Ms. Montes held considerable sway over the Pentagon's opinion of Cuba. In 1998 the Defense Department released a high-profile report claiming that Cuba posed no military threat to the U.S. It discounted risks that Cuba was developing chemical and biological weaponry. Ms. Montes was the key drafter of that report, which means not only that it is pretty much useless to U.S. intelligence but that it may have contained disinformation damaging to U.S. security interests.......(Wall Street Journal, 2 Nov 02)

Book outlines how spy exposed U.S. intelligence secrets to Cuba

Enemies: How America's Foes are Stealing Our Vital Secrets and How We Let it Happen, by Bill Getz

A senior Cuba analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency gave Havana detailed information on U.S. eavesdropping programs aimed at the Castro government, allowing Cuba to mount effective counterintelligence and deception operations for year, according to a new book on U.S. intelligence failures. Cuban spy Ana Belen Montes, who was born in Puerto Rico, enjoyed nearly unfettered access to classified information until she was caught in 2001. She's now serving a 25-year prison term….(Mercury News, 13 Oct 06)

Turncoat analyst an effective spy for Cuba, book says

Enemies: How America's Foes are Stealing Our Vital Secrets and How We Let it Happen, by Bill Getz

Cuban spy Ana Belen Montes gave Havana detailed information on U.S. eavesdropping programs against the Castro government, allowing Cuba to mount effective counterintelligence and deception operations for years, according to a new book on U.S. intelligence failures. The book, by Washington Times defense writer Bill Gertz, also describes Alberto R. Coll, a Cuban American and former deputy assistant secretary of defense in the early 1990s, as ''an apparent spy'' -- a charge Coll vehemently denied….(Miami Herald, 15 Oct 06)

DIA official warns about Cuban spies

…DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) analyst Ana Belen Montes, convicted of espionage in 2002, told Cuban intelligence officers about a secret U.S. Army Special Forces camp in El Salvador that she visited in 1987. Weeks later, the camp was attacked by pro-Cuban guerrillas of the Marxist group Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, DIA counterspy Scott W. Carmichael says in his book, "True Believer." Mr. Carmichael, who led the DIA's investigation of Montes, said in an interview that other Cuban agents are operating inside the U.S. government. "I believe that the Cuban Intelligence Service has penetrated the United States government to the same extent that the old East German intelligence service, the Stasi, once penetrated the West German government during the Cold War,"…(Washington Times, 15 Mar 07)