Ana Belén Montes Freed After 20 Years in Prison

One of the few spies ever caught in the U.S. using shortwave numbers station transmissions to receive instructions is Ana Belén Montes, who was just released from prison after serving 20 years of her 25-year sentence. Former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, 65, freed after being found guilty of espionage in 2002. One of the highest-ranking US officials ever proven to have spied for Cuba has been released from prison early after spending more than two decades behind bars. Ana Belén Montes pleaded guilty in 2002 to conspiracy to commit espionage after she was accused of using her leading position as a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) official to leak information, including the identities of some US spies, to Havana. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison at the age of 45. Montes, now 65, was released on Friday, the US bureau of prisons said. A US citizen of Puerto Rican descent, Montes began working for the DIA in 1985 and rapidly climbed its ranks to become the agency’s top Cuba analyst.

(Sources: The Guardian, 8^th January 2023 | The SWLing Post | The Spectrum Monitor)