SCHOOL THESIS

When contact was briefly interrupted, Montes’ experienced severe emotional trauma.
Popin remarks in his article, “CIA-led psychologists would later conclude that the
isolation, lies, and fear of capture had triggered borderline obsessive-compulsive
traits.” 235
Montes’s sister wrote of her betrayal,
You betrayed your family, you betrayed all your friends. Everyone who
loves you was betrayed by you. You betrayed your co-workers and your
employer, and you betrayed your nation. You worked for an evil
megalomaniac who shares or sells our secrets to our enemies. 236
Her sister believes Montes ultimately committed unauthorized disclosure to obtain power
over other people, in order for her to feel powerful. Rather than seeking power, Montes
may have become emotionally attached to her Cuban handlers to fulfill a feeling of
security that she did not have as a child.
Montes was highly successful at work, lived modestly; she did not suffer from
any known addiction, nor did she have financial problems. Additionally, she did not have
a history of security concerns aside from two security interviews in which she
acknowledged her disagreement with U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba. The foreign
policy issue was an emotional one for her. 237
C. CHELSEA (FORMERLY BRADLEY) MANNING
While serving as an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army in Iraq in 2009 and
2010, Chelsea Manning released more than 700,000 classified files, combat videos and
diplomatic cables to Wikileaks, an online anti-secrecy group. Her motivation appears to
be disillusionment with the world affairs of the U.S. government about what she learned
235 Ibid.
236 Ibid.
237 Scott W. Carmichael, True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba’s
Master Spy (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2007), 20.
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