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

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Important new information being released just prior to the U.S. mid-term 
elections. 
This should help consolidate support for the Republican Party, reeling from the 
corruption scandals rocking the organization, particularly among the militant 
crowd
of fighters for "Cuban freedom" against the Castro Regime.

This book has also received effusive praise from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity 
and 
G. Gordon Liddy. No endorsements I'm aware of from Congressman Mark Foley, a
staunch opponent of the Castro regime. Among this scholar's other works are:

# Betrayal: How the Clinton Administration Undermined American Security 
# Breakdown: How America's Intelligence Failures Led to September 11 
# China: The Gathering Threat 
# The China Threat: How the People's Republic Targets America 
# Treachery: How America's Friends and Foes Are Secretly Arming Our Enemies 
===================================================

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15754464.htm
MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Fri, Oct. 13, 2006

Book outlines how spy exposed U.S. intelligence secrets to Cuba
By Pablo Bachelet
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - 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.

The book, "Enemies: How America's Foes are Stealing Our Vital Secrets
and How We Let it Happen" was written by Bill Gertz, a defense
correspondent for The Washington Times.

In it, Gertz reports that Montes leaked so many significant U.S.
secrets to Havana that some U.S. officials rank the damage she did
with that caused by Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, the infamous CIA
and FBI turncoats for Moscow whose information resulted in the deaths
of dozens of U.S. agents.

"Montes was the first national-level analyst from the intelligence
community known to have turned traitor and the most damaging Cuban
spy arrested to date," Gertz wrote, quoting from a still-classified
damage assessment report on Montes.

U.S. intelligence officials consulted by McClatchy Newspapers
confirmed that Gertz's book reflects the intelligence community's
assessment of the Montes case, although some of the more sensitive
information remains under wraps.

Gertz has written several books on intelligence matters.

U.S. officials believe Montes did the greatest damage by giving Cuba
information on U.S. electronic eavesdropping systems, which were the
primary sources of intelligence on Cuba since Washington had long
found it all but impossible to recruit spies within the island, Gertz
wrote.

During a briefing from the National Security Agency she received in
1999, Montes learned about "every single NSA eavesdropping program
targeted against Cuba and Latin America," according to Gertz's book.

She also learned about current and proposed electronic spying systems
by taking part in planning sessions for future imagery and other
intelligence-gathering programs, the book adds.

Montes had access to an intelligence community computer system, the
Corporate Information Retrieval and Storage system, which includes
information from the CIA, the State Department's Bureau of
Intelligence and Research, the NSA, the FBI and other sources, Gertz
wrote.

The book notes that Montes also sat on an interagency group known as
the Hard Target Committee, which discussed operations in places such
as Iran, China and North Korea. The book doesn't say if the
information was passed to those countries.

Through Montes, the Cubans obtained a clear picture of what
Washington knew and didn't know about Cuba, allowing Havana to carry
out "a robust denial and deception program," according to the damage
assessment report.

Some of her disinformation included a 1998 U.S. intelligence report
that downplayed the threat of Cuban armed forces and its bio-weapons
capabilities, and a 1993 paper that said the Cuban military wanted
closer ties with the United States, Gertz wrote.

The book also says there are "indications" that her spying may have
led to the deaths of some U.S. agents in Latin America, but it
provides no details. Court records show Montes leaked the identities
of four U.S. agents in Cuba. Those agents weren't harmed.

The damage assessment report, however, paints an embarrassing picture
for U.S. spy-catchers: Montes met her Cuban handlers, posing as
business people, students or academics, at Washington restaurants
more than 100 times, sometimes twice a week.

Montes, who pleaded guilty to spying charges, told a Washington
courtroom that she had spied for Cuba out of conviction that U.S.
policies were causing undue suffering to Cubans and that Havana paid
her little or no money for her work.

According to Gertz, Cuba recruited Montes around 1985. She first came
under U.S. suspicion in 1994, when Cuba detected a highly secret
electronic surveillance system. Montes took a polygraph test and
passed it.

Montes came under suspicion again in 2000, when Cuban officials
uncovered a U.S. agent working in Cuba for a special intelligence
program, Gertz wrote. Montes was one of the few U.S. officials
familiar with the operation. The FBI placed her under surveillance
and arrested her in 2001.




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