I just finished Scott Carmichael’s book True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba’s Master Spy
Carmichael is the senior security and counterintelligence investigator for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the same intelligence agency that employed Montes until September 21, 2001.
As the title suggests, the story is less about her than it is about how she was caught. It’s a quick read and it sheds light on how moles are rooted out. There are of course big holes in the story, because of national security concerns, and I’m sure the entire book had to be vetted by the DIA before publishing.
The amazing thing is that Ana Montes admitted that, when questioned, she disagreed with American policy toward Cuba on several occasions:
Each time she provided the best answers: it was true. She did disagree with the U.S. Government’s policy and approach toward Cuba…
But -and this was a big “but”- she noted that it was her right as a U.S. Citizen to disagree with her government. A lot of people do. She disagreed with the the policy, and yet, she claimed, she remained a loyal American who had never done anything to harm the United States. It was the perfect answer, wrapped in the U.S. flag.
Of course she had a right to disagree, but she didn’t have a right to work with sensitive information at the highest levels of our intelligence community.
I also highlighted that passage because certainly there are many freedom-loving, anti-castro people who oppose the US policy toward Cuba. But -and this also a big “but”- there are also many castroites making the same arguments. And many of these are agents of infuence in academia, the media, etc.
It’ll probably be a long time, if ever, before the general public can learn the damage that Ana Belen Montes did to our country. Mr. Carmichael decided to channel the proceeds of the book to the family of a US serviceman that was killed in El Salvador in a camp that Ana Belen Montes had visited just weeks before. Although Montes can’t be held directly responsible for that man’s death Carmichael states eloquently:
At a time when Greg Fronius depended on her and others like her for support, Ana Montes was standing firm in the Cuban Camp. Through her chosen role as a Cuban agent, she stood opposed to everything that Greg was trying to accomplish. She stabbed him in the back.
The simple fact is this: The trusted DIA analyst who had just visited Greg’s compound, the quietly dressed, professional woman who listened so attentively to all the briefings, was working for the other side. For that reason alone, whatever use the Cubans made of the subsequent trip report, I believe that Ana Montes betrayed Greg Fronius when he needed her most.
For those of you that still think that Cuba is not dangerous consider this: Ana Montes was about to be briefed, along with her DIA colleagues, on US war plans for Afghanistan. Information which Cuba would have had no compunction about selling to the Taliban. Would it have changed the outcome of that military action? Certainly not on a macro level but who knows many other Greg Froniuses would have been killed by Ana Montes treason? If she had managed to give the castro regime such information in a time of war, Ms. Montes would likely have faced the death penalty instead of the 25 years she plea bargained for.
I hope she serves every last day of that 25 years and then drops dead as she crosses the prison gates.
So is it a good book to buy?
Yes I recommend it, though I as I said, there’s not a lot of new info on Montes herself. The new info is about how she was caught.
Yes I recommend it, though I as I said, there’s not a lot of new info on Montes herself. The new info is about how she was caught.
One thing that pisses me off is the difference between this case and the so-called “Cuban Five.” They were also responsible for the murder of Americans, and what is there? An international movement to free them from injustice, an injustice supposedly committed by the U.S. government kowtowing to the omnipotent “Miami Mafia” it makes me sick.
While Ana Montes was attending graduate courses at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University during 1982-84, she was recruited by the Cuban Directorate General of Intelligence (DGI).
The author omits mentioning that in 1978, SAIS launched their Cuba Exchange Program which served as a breeding ground for espionage recruitment. Castro apologists at the university include professors Piero Gleijeses, Wayne S. Smith, and Eduardo Gonzalez, director and co-director, respectively, of the Cuba Exchange Program. SAIS alumni include renown pro-Cuba activist Julia Sweig.
When arrested, Ana Montes was a forty-four-year-old who had never been married, although “She had a number of boyfriends throughout her life.” (58) She is a Puerto Rican who “was raised in a family tha advocated achieving the political independence of Puerto Rico from the United States by peaceful means.” (147). This has been a major tenent of Fidel Castro’s foreign policy and led Montes to admire Castro.
Montes formulated Cuba policy for the Pentagon during 16 years. This is a good indicator of why US-Cuba policy has been a failure, because Castro was able to reach into the Pentagon for 16 years! How many other Ana Montes’ are out there? We know of at least another female professor who teaches at FIU and was friends with admitted and convicted spy Carlos Alvarez.
A couple of years after this broad was picked up, I read somewhere that she had been raised in an atomosphere of animosity against Cubans. Can’t recall where I read that, unfortunately, so I don’t know if it’s true.
Either way, I hope she ROTS in the can.
Actually, she’s Puerto Rican in origin, though her dad was a shrink in the Army. The father is a Puerto Rican nationalist and you know that movement is full of commies and infiltrated Cuban agents. But interestingly her siblings are by all accounts red, white and blue Americans. In fact a couple of them work for federal law enforcement. One sister I believe is in the FBI and was in the Miami field office when the WASP suspects were arrested. It seems that she betrayed not only her country but her family as well.
Actually, she’s Puerto Rican in origin, though her dad was a shrink in the Army. The father is a Puerto Rican nationalist and you know that movement is full of commies and infiltrated Cuban agents. But interestingly her siblings are by all accounts red, white and blue Americans. In fact a couple of them work for federal law enforcement. One sister I believe is in the FBI and was in the Miami field office when the WASP suspects were arrested. It seems that she betrayed not only her country but her family as well.
As a Cuban/Puerto Rico…. I say, may Ana Montes rot in Prison. When she dies may she rot in hell with that other Pig Che and fidel. She is a traitor to her Country and to her familia. Mal fin tenga!
Mr. Conductor: You are so mean spirited toward this poor woman! Not only did she lose her high-paying influential government job, but she can no longer serve her master Fidel Castro. Even worse, the Castro regime has not expanded the list of “The Five” spy heroes to “The Six” to include her. She has been totally disrespected by her real love, Castro, just like she was disrespected her entire life by that string of boyfriends who just used her as a sex object on weekends and never married her. I have to admit, from looking at her photos, that she is insingable. Now that she is 50 years old, she will never marry and will never have children. When she comes out of jail on her projected date of July 1, 2023, she will be 66 years old! I don’t think that the government took her retirement pension away, but she might use her skills to get a job at Walmart as a greeter of customers.
The incredible things that happen in our country. Now it turns out that she did not even loose her pension. This is amazing! So not only does she conspire with the sworn enemies of our country, but when she gets out of prison she will collect a juicy pension at the tapayer’s expense, the same taxpayers that she sought to destroy and undermine. Have our elected officials gone crazy? Why is this poor excuse of a person entitled to a pension? Why wasn’t she given life in prison without the possibility of parole? Makes you wonder.
Cubamoto,
That could have been part of the plea bargain (incentive)offered for her “cooperation.”