Textbook Recruitment: Cuban Intelligence in American Academia

With the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, a section of the Castro regime that does its best work in the shadows is now preparing to increase its profile: the intelligence apparatus, long acknowledged as one of the most effective and best in the world of espionage. Far from falling victim to the disintegrated Cuban economy, the Dirección General de Inteligencia (General Directorate of Intelligence or DI) spares no cost in its pursuit of its single-minded goal of penetrating all aspects of American society in order to protect the communist regime in Havana.

One key component of its operations is the recruitment and grooming of operatives in the world of academia. Professors, researchers, scientists, students, and anyone connected to universities identified by the DI as targets are assessed and developed as potential spies. Emphasis is placed on institutions nearby the Cuban regime presence in America: New York (UN Mission, which is virtually all staffed by DI officers), Washington (former interests section and now Embassy, a dream come true for DI operatives who now enjoy full diplomatic immunity), and Miami (traditional home of the Cuban exile community and anti-Castro organizations).

In a declassified debriefing of former Cuban intelligence officer José Cohen by the FBI, he details how the DI will analyze a published work by a professor or student, locate an opening based on ideological or emotional factors, and then contact the target under the guise of educational cooperation and/or research. The Cuban assumption is that the targets will enter or have access to US government institutions and materials, and from this base they mold the target into an agent.

Time is no object, as an operation targeting an individual will often take years before bearing fruit. Witness the cases of Ana Belen Montes, a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who spied for Havana for sixteen years, and State Department analyst Walter Kendall Myers, who provided classified material to his Cuban handlers for nearly thirty years. These cases are just the tip of the iceberg, as it defies reason that these individuals were not part of a larger spy network.

More recently, with the establishment of diplomatic relations, the next task is the dismantling of the embargo. A potential opening comes in the form of spring break and cruise ship packages marketed to American college students, again under the pretense of educational and cultural exchange. While tourism is still banned under US policy, the DI can only eagerly welcome the easing of restrictions, as potential young recruits flood the white sand beaches of Varadero.