Cuba’s government has spent decades recruiting Americans to betray their country.It objects to Secretary of State Marco Rubio inviting Cubans to cooperate with the CIA.
Havana apparently believes espionage should remain a privilege of the dictatorship.The Trump administration is right to disagree.Rubio is challenging a comfortable assumption in Washington: that Cuba is too broke to matter.
A regime unable to keep the lights on can still penetrate a government, compromise an intelligence officer, and help America’s adversaries.Poverty has never disqualified a country from espionage.
It can make espionage one of its more valuable exports.I am an American of Cuban descent who spent more than two decades as a CIA operations officer, including service as chief of station in Latin America.That background leaves me with little patience for the assumption that a failing economy must produce an incompetent security apparatus.
Dictatorships allocate resources according to what keeps them in power.Feeding the population and protecting the regime are different priorities.
Havana has made its choice repeatedly.Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed for Cuban dissidents to partner with the CIA.(Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images)CUBA’S ECONOMIC FREEFALL IS HIDING A NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT JUST MILES FROM FLORIDA: REPORTThe record requires little elaboration.
Ana Belén Montes became the Pentagon’s leading Cuba analyst while working for Cuban intelligence.She exposed American intelligence officers and distorted Washington’s understanding of the country she was supposed to assess.
Victor Manuel Rocha served as a U.S.ambassador and on the National Security Council while secretly serving Havana.
Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers sustained an espionage conspiracy for 30 years.These were patient investments in access.Cuban intelligence cultivated ideological commitment, steered recruits toward useful positions, and allowed American institutions to supply salaries, credentia...