Queen of Cuba
An FBI Agent's Insider Account of the Spy Who Evaded Detection for 17 Years
Peter J. Lapp, Post Hill Press, 2023, 272 pages
Book Review published on: July 25, 2025
In the shadow of headlines about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a news story broke from Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2001 about the arrest of an alleged spy, Ana Montes. A Department of Defense (DOD) intelligence officer, she was accused of and eventually convicted for committing espionage on behalf of Cuba. Over the course of a decade and a half, she provided classified information, which likely led to the death of at least one U.S. service member, compromised the effectiveness of highly secretive intelligence surveillance tools, and acted as an agent of influence coloring American foreign policy from within its own governmental ranks. Her arrest was finally triggered by fears that she would pass war plans for impending operations in Afghanistan to Cuba who would then share them with the Taliban.
Montes stands as a noteworthy counterintelligence case for the differences with other famous spies. Montes escaped detection for a lengthy time because she didn't fit a profile. She was female and worked alone at a time when most known spies were male and the ones who were female worked with accomplices. Because she spied for ideological reasons, her case lacked a money trail for investigators to follow. Her tradecraft differed too; she met face-to-face with handlers rather than using dead drops; and she memorized material rather than trying to copy or pass documents directly. She exploited shadowy spots within a shadowy profession that afforded her wide access throughout the intelligence community and the DOD.
Peter Lapp's Queen of Cuba: An FBI Agent's Insider Account of the Spy Who Evaded Detection for 17 Years joins two other major works on the Montes case: Scott Carmichael's True Believer and Jim Popkin's Code Name Blue Wren. Carmichael's is the oldest of the three books, written in the early 2000s, soon after Montes's arrest, and it is a testament to the foundational status of True Believer that both Lapp and Popkin authoritatively quote Carmichael. Code Name Blue Wren, whose publication was coincidental with the release of Montes from prison in January 2023, is the longest of the three books and is the most completely indexed and footnoted for the reader interested in research. Popkin aims to provide the definitive story of Montes herself with an engaging espionage narrative built for a streaming video adaptation.
Lapp's insider perspective as part of the FBI investigation into Montes contrasts with Popkin's journalistic viewpoint, with the result that Queen of Cuba is closer in style to True Believer. Both Lapp and Carmichael, who worked the DOD side of the Montes counterintelligence case, are more focused on the process of the mole hunt than on the backstory of the mole herself. One of the strengths of Lapp's work is the perspective he provides on the FBI processes to identify and track an espionage case. One cannot help but get caught up in the emotional tension as he describes executing a search of Montes's apartment while also trying not to leave evidence that would tip her to surveillance of her activities. His firsthand recounting of the interrogation and debriefing of Montes after her arrest are truly a fly on the wall vantage for the reader for the visceral feelings they convey of that conversation.
Lapp's concern for the judicial process is reassuring as a steward of the public trust. He describes a cautionary tale from the contemporary FBI investigations into Robert Hanssen's espionage case that led to false accusations against another government employee who was later proven innocent. That reinforced the need for due diligence in the Montes case to avoid wrongly tarnishing someone who held a reputation as a sterling employee. The title Queen of Cuba comes (with irony) from Montes's unofficial work nickname as the DOD's foremost intelligence expert on her portfolio.
Lapp also mentions with respect the civil liberties protections imposed on the investigation through the FISA courts and other oversight measures. Lapp describes the process of meeting these standards and expresses appreciation for the way it made him do his job better in building an ironclad case against Montes to obtain her conviction. Such issues of civil liberties and oversight of government surveillance were core to debates over the USA Patriot Act and Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act legislation enacted since Montes's arrest. It is an important part of the public discourse to understand how and why such restraints exist to protect American citizens, government employees, and the legal processes in a democracy. Lapp's perspective of an insider working within—and praising—that burden is vital for society.
Queen of Cuba benefits from additional material having entered the public domain in the two decades since Montes's arrest to provide a more complete narrative of her story than has previously been available. Headlines in 2023 about an era of great power competition and accusations about Havana syndrome health incidents are also a more compelling backdrop for a Cuban espionage narrative than the publication of True Believer found in the late 2000s at the height of the Global War on Terrorism. Lapp's book still contains several sections of redacted text amid its tale of spycraft, with the familiar blacked out lines adding to the mood for the reader. Queen of Cuba will provide an informative, entertaining, gripping afternoon for readers to enjoy whether they are relaxing on a beach in the summer sun or curled up with a mug of cocoa in winter.
Book Review written by: Matthew Kiefer, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas