Us Sends More Intel Assets To Cuba

The U.S. has increased its intelligence assets in Cuba in recent months as it pushes the country’s communist regime to reform or fall from power, according to two people familiar with the Trump administration’s plans for the island.

Such intelligence moves could portend actions ranging from a U.S. military operation in Cuba to stepped up efforts to turn Cuban officials or ordinary citizens against the regime.

One of the individuals said the U.S. has recently sent spies and assets to Cuba. The person declined to specify the scope of the increased intelligence collection effort or which U.S. agencies are involved because they didn’t want to risk giving details that could compromise operations. The U.S. has 18 offices and agencies that make up the intelligence community.

The second person described the move as increasing the CIA’s “presence” recently but declined to specify timeframes or who was involved.

Both people were granted anonymity because the topic involves sensitive intelligence.

CIA spies are generally either natives of other countries who steal secrets on behalf of the U.S., known as “agents,” or salaried U.S. intelligence professionals who recruit foreigners to do so, known as “officers.” The CIA, which has a paramilitary wing, also uses various technological and other means to carry out its activities.

The U.S. has for decades engaged in intelligence activities in Cuba, as it does throughout the world. But the CIA and related agencies’ work in Cuba was hampered in recent years, in part due to personnel drawdowns driven by the so-called Havana syndrome incidents.

The first person described the upped intelligence presence as a key tactical step that could pave the way for a U.S. military incursion. But they stressed the outlines of any such operation are far from clear. Cuba lies just 90 miles off U.S. shores.

U.S. military operations are often preceded by increased American intelligence activity. CIA efforts to track the whereabouts of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro reportedly played a critical role this January in the successful U.S. operation to capture him.

The CIA declined to comment. Spokespeople for the White House, Defense Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to requests for comment.

The administration “is going to pursue all the conventional tools, including intelligence community resources” to push Cuba’s leaders for change, the second person said. They added that President Donald Trump continues to “prefer diplomacy” to achieve the goal.

The Trump administration has recently focused heavily on the war with Iran, which has now dragged into a sixth month. Even so, it has simultaneously ramped up pressure on Cuba, including imposing an energy blockade that has left the island largely in the dark.

The first person said “Iran doesn't need to be solved before we go there." They added that Cuba is a “huge priority of Rubio’s,” referring to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The Trump administration sent CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Cuba in May to warn the regime to make fundamental reforms. Days later, the Justice Department brought charges against former Cuban President Raul Castro in connection with the 1996 deaths of four people seeking to rescue Cuban exiles at sea.

Castro, the brother of longtime Cuban dictator Fidel, was defense minister at the time of the incident, which involved Cuban fighter jets.

The Trump administration also has cited a 2020 indictment against Maduro to justify his capture this January. The Venezuelan regime is now effectively under U.S. control since the his capture.

Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, has been closely overseeing American efforts in both Cuba and Venezuela.

He has indicated that he is running out of patience with Cuba’s regime as it has proven largely resistant to U.S. demands for major economic and other changes.

POLITICO has previously reported that the administration has grown increasingly more inclined to pursue military action against the Cuban regime as diplomacy has stalled.

The Trump administration also has ramped public messaging aimed at undermining the regime in Havana.

The State Department recently released a lengthy document titled “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” which accused the Cuban regime of decades of malfeasance. The accusations are part of a broader, Trump-led push against so-called communists and socialists, including some U.S. politicians who oppose the president.

In a late July email to staffers obtained by POLITICO, a senior State Department official accused Cuba of “exporting the anti-colonial, Third Worldist resentment now taking root within our own institutions.”

John Sakellariadis contributed to this report.