Page 9 - Wasp Network News Today

>> reporter: we dont know. but he will be coming to the u.s. hes certainly not going to stay in cuba. the director of national intelligence is saying this person provided critical assistance to the u.s. and then you have that list of all the spies working for cuba that he, this intel asset, helped identify during the course of his work for u.s. intelligence. >> jim sciutto, stand by. elise labott, our global affairs correspondent, you have more information on this american spy 20 years in a cuba...

With secretary of state conqujo kerry and being greeted by loved ones and even held his own news conference and yet very little is known about the details surrounding the other prisoner released from cuba. a u.s. intelligence agent who up until now very few people even knew existed. i am joined by cnn national correspondent jim sciutto. what do we been this agent? >> this is a big diplomatic move and its an old-school cold war spy swap, and known in the u.s. as the wasp network. in exchange, cub...

Shared, it led to the discovery and conviction of a couple of these americans who were spying for the cubans. we also know that he provided valuable intelligence to help us uncover the wast network that was a cuban-run intelligence network in south florida. and the kind of spy swap that was executed today, essentially trading some members of that wasp network in exchange for this highly valued intelligence asset in cuba, is keconsistent with the kind of spy swaps that have been executed by many ...

Were, in fact, spies? >> yes. they were not technically dealing with espionage but if you refer to a secret intelligence agent, yes, they have always admitted that. at the start of the trial they admitted that. thats one of the things that made it so difficult to get a fair trial in cuba -- im sorry, in miami, which was that the very beginning of the case, all of the defendants admitted they were agentings here working in cuba. what they were disputing at trial and what we continue to litigate u...

Take certain and was taking certain steps that were both economically and otherwise harming cuba. and they were tasked with a non -- truly a non-espionage mission here which was to look into whether or not certain exiled groups were undertaking what could be called terrorist or other types of actions that would be harmful to cuba. >> and one of the groups they were spying on was called brothers to rescue which was mounting flights in the cuba straits to look for potential migrants. one of their ...

Cuba has an excellent world class spy agency. and they have run world class spying operations around the world and very specifically here. in 1998 an investigation led by the fbis miamis field office exposed the huge and long running very sophisticated cuban spy operation that targeted the castro regimes most potent and tireless and aggressive enemies on earth, the anti-castro cuban exile groups based in the united states and specifically in south florida. spies for the cuban government infiltra...

Cuba has an excellent world class spy agency. and they have run world class spying operations around the world and very specifically here. in 1998 an investigation led by the fbis miamis field office exposed the huge and long running very sophisticated cuban spy operation that targeted the castro regimes most potent and tireless and aggressive enemies on earth, the anti-castro cuban exile groups based in the united states and specifically in south florida. spies for the cuban government infiltra...