Ana Belen Montes was sentenced to 300 months in prison in October 16, 2002 after having been convicted of espionage on behalf of Cuba. Her perfidy damaged the country’s intelligence and military optic into Cuba given her role as the leading intelligence analyst within the Defense Intelligence Agency, all of her production had to be reviewed for accuracy, bias, and infusion of disinformation on behalf of Cuba. Her release date was January 8, 2023, but as expected, she the Bureau of Prisons released her on Friday, January 6.
Ana Belen Montes – Queen of Cuba
Known as the “Queen of Cuba” Montes successfully conducted espionage against the United States for 17 years. Her modus operandi was designed to avoid detection by any insider threat processes. Her care in this regard was especially noteworthy, as she did not remove documents from the DoD. Instead, she used prodigious memory to her advantage. She would read briefs and reports of interest and when she returned home recreate the documents for passage to the Cubans. Detection would not come from monitoring what she read, she was the key Cuban analyst with all-source access to foreign intelligence. No it would take a different type of sleuthing and that would come from a tip by another insider, this insider working within the Cuban intelligence apparatus. Thus an insider breaking trust is ultimately identified by a separate insider who also decided to break trust, evidencing how close to a hall of mirrors reality is when it comes to nation-state espionage engagement
For much of those 17 years, two of her siblings, both associated with the FBI, were unwitting of her espionage. During the investigation and subsequent trial of Montes, both her siblings were exonerated and found to have was not involved with their wayward sister.
Montes did her time
Montes did her time, but did she change her rhyme? While Montes kept her nose clean throughout her time in prison, she also made sure that all knew that she had not changed her mind concerning the United States and stood in opposition to the United States on ideological grounds.
Indeed, the family’s perspective is still one of anger and hurt over their sister’s actions, and their sister has done her time and has an opportunity at age 65 to right things. No doubt for the family, her release has produced a plethora of mixed emotions and all will be present when they greet their sister, Ana.
Will she be contrite or dig in and defend her actions. What will Montes do next? It’s anyone’s guess. Mine is she will remain a vocal critic of the United States, but will also keep her nose very clean for the five years of her probation so that she does not end up back in prison. After her period of probation, I would not be surprised to see her emigrate to a Spanish speaking country, perhaps Cuba.
Additional reading
Two books are on the cusp of being published which dissect the espionage escapades of Ana Belen Montes, are “Queen of Cuba” by Peter J. Lapp and Kelly Kennedy and “Code Name Blue Wren” by Jim Popkin, both will be worth the read for those desiring to go deep into the Montes story.
