Ana Montes: Top spy released in the US after more than 20 years in prison

• Ana Montes was one of the “most damaging spies” apprehended by the US.
• Montes was accused of revealing the identities of four US spies.
• Ana Montes worked nearly two decades as a Defence Intelligence Agency analyst spying for Cuba.

Ana Montes, one of the most well-known Cold War spies apprehended by the US, has been released from prison after more than 20 years.

The 65-year-old worked nearly two decades as a Defence Intelligence Agency analyst spying for Cuba.

Following her detention in 2001, officials said she had nearly completely disclosed US spy operations on the island.

According to one official, she was one of the “most damaging spies” apprehended by the US.

Michelle Van Cleave, who was head of counter-intelligence under President George W Bush, told Congress in 2012 that Montes had “compromised everything – essentially everything – that we knew about Cuba and how we worked in Cuba”.

“As a result, the Cubans were fully aware of all we knew about them and could exploit it to their advantage. Furthermore, she was able to influence estimates about Cuba in her talks with colleagues, and she discovered a chance to transfer information obtained to other powers.”

Following her detention, Montes was accused of revealing the identities of four US spies as well as vast amounts of confidential information. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison, with the sentencing judge accusing her of putting the “country as a whole” in danger.

Unlike other high-profile spies apprehended during the Cold War, Montes was motivated by ideology rather than personal gain.

She agreed to work for Cuban intelligence in part because she was opposed to the Reagan Administration’s Latin American policies.

According to a report by the defence department’s inspector general, she was particularly enraged by US assistance for the Nicaragua Contras, a right-wing rebel force accused of perpetrating war crimes and other atrocities in the country.

In 1984, she was approached by a fellow student at Johns Hopkins University after expressing her displeasure at US actions in Nicaragua. After being introduced to a Cuban intelligence agent, she “unhesitatingly volunteered to operate through the Cubans to ‘assist’ Nicaragua,” according to the inspector general’s investigation.

She joined the Defence Intelligence Agency the following year after travelling to Havana for training, eventually becoming the organization’s lead analyst on the island’s communist regime.

She met with Cuban handlers every few weeks at Washington DC restaurants and relayed coded messages conveying top secret intelligence to them by pager for nearly two decades. She received her orders via short-wave radio communications.

She was finally apprehended in September 2001, after US intelligence officers received information that a federal employee was spying for Cuba. According to one of the FBI agents that apprehended her, she appeared stoic during her arrest.

Montes will be under supervision for five years following her release and her internet usage will be monitored. She will also be barred from working for the government or communicating with foreign agents without prior authorization.

However, Pete Lapp, one of the FBI agents who arrested Montes, told CBS News that he doubted she would try to contact Cuban spies again.

“That chapter of her life is finished,” Mr Lapp said. “She’s done everything she can for them. I can’t picture her jeopardising her freedom.”

Also Read

Agent Andrew Wylie says that Salman Rushdie lost sight in one eye

Salman Rushdie can't use one hand or see out of one eye,...