True Life Spy Stories

Ana Montes Pt. 1 | The Queen of Cuba, America's Most Damaging Female Spy


Listen Later

Ways to support the podcast:

Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ https://bmc.link/philipthompsonDonate via PayPal: 💸 paypal.me/PhilipT284On the morning of Friday, 21 September 2001, Ana Montes began her day with her usual routine. She arrived punctually at her sixth-floor cubicle preparing for another day working as an intelligence analyst for the US Defence Intelligence Agency. For nearly seventeen years she had served as its foremost expert on Cuba. She had access to some of her country’s most sensitive secrets and with her brilliant mind, she helped shape U.S. policy toward Cuba during the tumultuous period of the 1980s and 1990s Cold War.She had, however, been living a double life. Behind her carefully cultivated image of the dedicated civil servant lay a woman harboring a profound ideological commitment to the Castro regime - and a talent for deception that would evade detection through three presidential administrations. By day, she drafted intelligence reports that shaped U.S. policy; by night, she meticulously typed classified secrets from memory onto encrypted floppy disks that she passed to her Cuban handlers in Washington's Chinese restaurants. But finally, her duplicity had caught up with her, and her day was about to take a dramatic turn.The phone on her desk rang. It was her boss, asking her to see him in the Inspector General's office. Not sensing anything out of the ordinary, she made her way to the elevator which she took one floor up. When she entered the meeting room, she immediately froze. She was greeted by FBI Special Agents, and she knew exactly why they were there.

This is the story of Ana Montes, the so-called “Queen of Cuba”, and one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history.Further reading (affialiate links):📕 Queen of Cuba: An FBI Agent's Insider Account of the Spy Who Evaded Detection for 17 Years - Peter J. Lapp: https://amzn.to/4j2d1Vq📕 True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba's Master Spy - Scott Carmichael: https://amzn.to/43r64IF📕 Code Name Blue Wren: The True Story of America's Most Dangerous Female Spy—and the Sister She Betrayed - Jim Popkin: https://amzn.to/42VItQl#philipthompson #truelifespystories #queenofcuba

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

True Life Spy StoriesBy Philip Thompson

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

6 ratings


More shows like True Life Spy Stories

View all
SpyCast by SpyCast

SpyCast

1,525 Listeners

Stuff They Don't Want You To Know by iHeartPodcasts

Stuff They Don't Want You To Know

10,301 Listeners

FBI Case File Review by Jerri Williams

FBI Case File Review

2,152 Listeners

Secrets and Spies Podcast: Current Affairs | Geopolitics | Intelligence by Secrets & Spies

Secrets and Spies Podcast: Current Affairs | Geopolitics | Intelligence

262 Listeners

Cold War Conversations by Ian Sanders

Cold War Conversations

455 Listeners

True Spies: Espionage | Investigation | Crime | Murder | Detective | Politics by SPYSCAPE

True Spies: Espionage | Investigation | Crime | Murder | Detective | Politics

1,960 Listeners

The Underworld Podcast by The Underworld Podcast

The Underworld Podcast

802 Listeners

British Scandal by Wondery

British Scandal

2,451 Listeners

SPYCRAFT 101 by Justin Black

SPYCRAFT 101

330 Listeners

Short History Of... by NOISER

Short History Of...

2,683 Listeners

American History Hit by History Hit

American History Hit

1,461 Listeners

The Spy Who by Wondery

The Spy Who

505 Listeners

Conspiracy Files with Zoe Parker by The Forbidden Knowledge Network

Conspiracy Files with Zoe Parker

158 Listeners

REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana by Wondery | Ballen Studios

REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana

1,063 Listeners

Titanic: Ship of Dreams by NOISER

Titanic: Ship of Dreams

909 Listeners