*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.
