Pentagon analyst accused of spying for Cuba

A Pentagon intelligence analyst who attended war games conducted by the US Atlantic Command in 1996 was charged with spying for Cuba.

Ana Belen Montes, an employee of the Defence Intelligence Agency, transmitted a substantial amount of classified information to the Cuban intelligence service, an FBI affidavit alleged.

Montes appeared before a US magistrate yesterday in Washington and was charged with conspiracy to deliver US national defence information to Cuba.

She entered no plea and was ordered held without bond.

Montes has worked for the DIA, the intelligence arm of the Defence Department, since 1985, authorities said.

In a 17-page affidavit, the FBI alleged that the Cuban intelligence service passed messages to Montes via shortwave radio and that the DIA analyst began spying for Cuba nearly five years ago.

The FBI secretly entered Montes’ residence under a court order May 25 and uncovered information about several Defence Department issues, including a 1996 war games exercise conducted by the US Atlantic Command, authorities said.

According to the affidavit, the DIA said that Montes attended the war games exercise in Norfolk, Virginia, as part of her official duties at DIA. The FBI said it found information on the hard drive of her laptop computer.

One partially recovered message deals with a particular special access programme related to the national defence of the United States, which is so sensitive that it could not be publicly revealed in the court documents, the document said.

According to the FBI’s affidavit, some of the messages suggested that Montes disclosed the upcoming arrival of a US military intelligence officer in Cuba.

‘‘As a result,’’ the FBI said, ‘‘the Cuban Government was able to direct its counter-intelligence resources against the US officer.’’

The FBI said Montes got a message back from her Cuban handlers stating: ‘‘We were waiting here for him with open arms.’’

One message from her found on the hard drive was from her Cuban intelligence service handler said that she had provided ‘‘tremendously useful ... information.’’

Another message from her Cuban contact said in regard to the 1996 war games exercise: ‘‘Practically everything that takes place there will be of intelligence value. Let’s see if it deals with contingency plans and specific targets in Cuba.’’

The DIA confirmed that Montes and a colleague were briefed on the highly sensitive programme on May 15, 1997.

The FBI said they had Montes under surveillance since May.

It was unclear whether the Montes case was directly related to a ring in Florida convicted of spying for Cuba. However, the FBI affidavit notes repeatedly that methods of passing classified information that Montes allegedly used were the same as those used by the Miami defendants.