This Traitor Belongs in Jail, Not Free in Cuba

This Traitor Belongs in Jail, Not Free in Cuba
Montes spied on her own country for Castro, doing much damage, yet Obama
may soon liberate her.
By DEVIN NUNES
July 14, 2016 7:08 p.m. ET

The Obama administration is reportedly in secret negotiations with Cuba
that would result in the release from federal prison of one of the most
damaging American spies in U.S. history. Such an extraordinary gesture
would be preposterous for many reasons.

Ana Belén Montes, who is serving a 25-year sentence as part of a 2002
plea deal, was a U.S. Justice Department official with a top-secret
security clearance when she was approached by Cuban intelligence agents
in 1984. At the time the Cuban regime ran a pervasive spying program
against the U.S., as it still does today, though then it often acted in
conjunction with the Soviet Union. A devoted sympathizer of radical
Latin American regimes, Ms. Montes quickly agreed to spy for Havana,
thus beginning a 16-year-long betrayal of the U.S.

As prosecutors later showed, Ms. Montes took a secret trip to Cuba to
meet with her new spymasters, then sought government positions with
greater access to classified information that would be useful to the
Castro regime. In 1985 she began working for the Defense Intelligence
Agency, which specializes in military intelligence. Ms. Montes quickly
rose through DIA ranks, eventually becoming the agency's leading Cuba
analyst. She was granted access to top-secret classified information
that she would memorize at work and type up at home, later passing the
information to her Cuban handlers.

As I conveyed in a July 12 letter to President Obama, it is difficult to
overstate the damage caused by Ms. Montes's treachery. In May 2012,
Michelle Van Cleave, the former head of U.S. counterintelligence who
oversaw completion of the damage assessment on Ms. Montes, told Congress
that her activities likely "contributed to the death and injury of
American and pro-American forces in Latin America," and that she
compromised other, broader intelligence programs.

Nevertheless, press reports indicate that the Obama administration is
considering releasing Ms. Montes to the Castro regime as part of a
prisoner swap for American fugitives from justice now sheltered in Cuba.

This exchange would be part of the administration's campaign to
normalize ties with Cuba, which has included restoring diplomatic
relations, loosening sanctions and removing Cuba from the list of state
sponsors of terrorism. Hopes that the Castro regime would reciprocate by
granting basic freedoms to the Cuban people and releasing political
prisoners have gone unfulfilled.

The abundant incentives that President Obama offered to get Iran last
year to sign a nuclear deal have already shown how far this
administration will go to curry favor with hostile powers. As we saw in
2014 with the trade of five dangerous Taliban prisoners for Army Sgt.
Bowe Bergdahl—now arraigned on charges of desertion and misbehavior
before the enemy in Afghanistan—this president has odd ideas about what
constitutes a beneficial prisoner swap. Even so, releasing Ms. Montes
cannot be tolerated.

In the past, the U.S. has deported or traded captured foreign spies, but
it is extremely rare to trade American citizens who have betrayed their
country. Doing so would be especially egregious in these circumstances.
The American government should not pay the Castro regime a bribe, in the
form of a released American spy, in hopes of advancing normalization.

Ms. Montes' release would send a dangerous message that convicted spies
may be able to secure a deal through the foreign government that
employed them. Potential traitors to this country should know that
betraying America will bring harsh penalties, without exception or the
potential for a get-out-of-jail-free card.

"Prison is one of the last places I would have ever chosen to be in, but
some things in life are worth going to prison for," an unrepentant Ms.
Montes wrote to a relative, the Washington Post reported in 2013. If
releasing American traitors from prison is the cost of "normalizing"
relations with Cuba, then clearly that price is too high.

Mr. Nunes, a Republican from California, is chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee.

Source: This Traitor Belongs in Jail, Not Free in Cuba - WSJ -
http://www.wsj.com/articles/this-traitor-belongs-in-jail-not-free-in-cuba-1468537724