- Matthew Murphy
- BBC news
Anna Monti’s espionage activity was not materially motivated
US authorities have released Anna Monti, one of the most famous Cold War-era spies captured in the US, after serving more than 20 years in prison.
The woman, now 65, spent more than 20 years spying for Cuba while working as an analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Officials said after his arrest in 2001 that it exposed all but U.S. intelligence operations on the island, while an agency official went on to say he was one of the spies who caused the most damage among those arrested by authorities. Americans.
Michel Van Cleef, who was head of counterintelligence during the presidency of President George W. Bush, told Congress in 2012 that Monty “revealed everything, practically everything about what we know about Cuba and how we operate on the island , and this has made the Cuban authorities are fully aware of what we know.” “And she was able to use that to her advantage. In addition, she was able to influence our assessments of the situation in Cuba in her conversations with her colleagues, and she also found a way to provide information to other powers”.
Following her arrest, Monty was accused of revealing the identities of four American spies and divulging massive amounts of information.
She was sentenced to 25 years in prison and the judge who handed down the sentence accused her of “endangering the whole nation”.
Monti differs from other spies captured during the Cold War in that his motivations were ideological rather than material, and he agreed to work for Cuban intelligence in part due to his opposition to the policies of former President Ronald Reagan’s administration and to its activities in Latin America.
According to one report, she was furious at US support for the Contras in Nicaragua, a right-wing group suspected of committing war crimes and other atrocities in the country.
She was first approached by a fellow student at Johns Hopkins University in 1984 after expressing outrage at the actions in Nicaragua, then introduced to a Cuban intelligence agent, and over dinner in New York City she agreed to work to help Nicaragua through the Cubans, reported without any hesitation In the intelligence report about his activity.
After traveling to Havana for training the following year, she joined the Defense Intelligence Agency, where she became a senior analyst for the Cuban government.
For about 20 years, he met with Cuban intelligence officers every few weeks at restaurants in Washington, DC, and sent them coded messages over a walkie-talkie. You received the instructions via a shortwave radio transmitter.
She was arrested in September 2001 after US intelligence officials received information that a US government official was spying for Cuba. One of the agents who arrested her said she was calm and composed during the arrest.
Monty will remain under surveillance for another five years and his online activity will be monitored. Working in government agencies or contacting foreign customers without authorization will be prohibited.
Pete Lab, one of the FBI agents who arrested her, told CBS he didn’t think she would try to contact the Cubans.
“He brought the curtain down on that chapter of his life. Having done his job, I don’t expect him to risk his freedom,” he added.
