A Recruitment Example | Police | SIU

Provided by a self-admitted Cuban intelligence officer, the following is a possible scenario of how the CuIS might recruit an individual at a US university:

The Cuban intelligence officers located at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York, New York, or the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, DC, obtain a published work by a specific professor or student (hereinafter referred to as the “targeted individual”) from a university the CuIS are monitoring. The material is studied and processed by an intelligence officer in Havana, who is in charge of directing the effort. This officer makes contact with a Cuban agent within Cuba, possibly a co-opted Cuban academic. The pair will analyze the published work and design a plan of action that may include a personal letter to the targeted individual in the United States. The letter will suggest a “genuine” interest in starting a friendship or contact regarding the topic of the article. The personal letter becomes a pretext for the Cuban intelligence officer stationed in the United States to use for initial contact with the targeted individual.

The targeted individual now has contact with a Cuban “diplomat” who is interested in his/her work. The Cuban intelligence officer has a starting point from which to build a relationship and assess the targeted individual in terms of motivations, weaknesses, and current and future access to information. Through meetings, meals, and even invitations to visit Cuba, the CuIS will take months or years to assess the targeted individual. Other Cuban agents in contact with the targeted individual, possibly due to their location at the university, can support this assessment effort.

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