***Apple Book of the Month for January*
The incredible true story of Ana Montes, the most damaging female spy in
US history, drawing upon never-before-seen material and to be published
upon her release from prison, for readers of Agent Sonya and A Woman
of No Importance.**
Just days after the 9-11 attacks, a senior Pentagon analyst eased her
red Toyota Echo into traffic and headed to work. She never saw the
undercover cars tracking her every turn. As she settled into her cubicle
on the 6th floor of the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, FBI
Agents and twitchy DIA officers were hiding in nearby offices. For this
was the day that Ana Montes--the US Intelligence Community superstar who
had just won a prestigious fellowship at the CIA--was to be arrested and
publicly exposed as a secret agent for Cuba.
Like spies Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen before her, Ana Montes
blindsided her colleagues with brazen acts of treason. For nearly 17
years, Montes succeeded in two high-stress jobs. By day, she was one of
the government's top Cuba experts, a buttoned-down GS-14 with shockingly
easy access to classified documents. By night, she was on the clock for
Fidel Castro, listening to coded messages over shortwave radio, passing
US secrets to handlers in local restaurants, and slipping into Havana
wearing a wig.
Montes didn't just deceive her country. Her betrayal was intensely
personal. Her mercurial father was a former US Army Colonel. Her brother
and sister-in-law were FBI Special Agents. And her only sister, Lucy,
also worked her entire career for the Bureau. The highlight of her
distinguished 31 years as a Miami-based language specialist: Helping the
FBI flush Cuban spies out of the United States. Little did Lucy or her
family know that the greatest Cuban spy of all was sitting right next to
them at Thanksgivings, baptisms, and weddings.
In Code Name Blue Wren, investigative journalist Jim Popkin weaves the
tale of two sisters who chose two very different paths, plus the unsung
heroes who had to fight to bring Ana to justice. With exclusive access
to a "Secret" CIA behavioral profile of Ana, family memoirs, and Ana's
incriminating letters from prison, Popkin reveals the making of a
traitor--a woman labelled "one of the most damaging spies in U.S.
history" by America's top counter-intelligence official.
After more than two decades in federal prison, Montes will be freed in
January 2023. Code Name Blue Wren is a thrilling detective tale, an
insider's look at the clandestine world of espionage, and an intimate
exploration of the dark side of betrayal.
