BY TIM JOHNSON

                      WASHINGTON - Nearly six months after the FBI arrested a senior analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency and
                      charged her with spying for Cuba, her attorneys are in behind-the-scenes talks with federal prosecutors about her
                      cooperation.

                      Those familiar with similar espionage cases say Ana Belen Montes, 45, may already be sharing information with
                      prosecutors in hopes of reducing a potentially severe sentence.

                      Montes' high-profile lawyer, Plato Cacheris, has represented some of the most prominent spies of recent years,
                      including FBI mole Robert Hanssen and CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames, both of whom agreed to cooperate with federal
                      prosecutors in return for avoiding the death penalty.

                      Montes, who was marched out of her office in handcuffs on Sept. 21, has not had a detention hearing before a
                      federal judge or been indicted. In court motions filed by her attorneys, she continually waives her right to a
                      speedy trial.

                      Five times since early October, prosecutors and Cacheris' firm have requested that the federal court in
                      Washington postpone a hearing.

                      ''The government and the defense counsel continue to actively discuss this case,'' the two sides stated in the latest
                      motion to postpone, filed last week. A hearing was reset for April 8.

                      ''That's the signal that they are involved in plea negotiations and possible cooperation,'' said Jon A. Sale, a
                      defense attorney who is a former chief assistant U.S. attorney in Miami.

                      In granting the new delay, federal Judge John M. Facciola noted ''both unusual and complex'' underlying facts in
                      the case. He did not elaborate.

                      HIGHEST-LEVEL SPY

                      At the time of her arrest, Montes, a Puerto Rican who was born in Germany, was the senior analyst on issues
                      related to Cuba at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's intelligence-gathering arm. She is the
                      highest-level spy ever accused of espionage for Cuba, and her arrest sent shock waves through the U.S.
                      intelligence community.

                      By some accounts, Montes allegedly engaged in espionage for ideological reasons, rather than for cash. She lived
                      alone in a modest, walk-up apartment in northwest Washington, driving a red Toyota to work at Bolling Air Force
                      Base near the Potomac River.

                      She had both detractors and admirers of her insight into Cuban affairs.

                      ''On the Cuban military, she was good, boy, she was good,'' said one State Department official, who asked to
                      remain anonymous.

                      Nearly a month after her arrest, authorities put her on a medical alert, apparently afraid she would commit
                      suicide, court records show.

                      Cooperation agreements with accused spies can take time to iron out, experts say, in part because of overlapping
                      and conflicting agendas of different government agencies.

                      The CIA and the DIA want a full accounting of what occurred, the contacts Montes may have had, information
                      about Cuba spy tradecraft and operational activities, and complete details about what she may have revealed to
                      Havana.

                      But the intelligence community worries that if Montes goes to trial, her attorneys would want classified information
                      made public, perhaps damaging activeintelligence operations.

                      Already, the Montes court file shows that Cacheris and two other attorneys in his firm have been cleared to
                      receive top-secret evidence against Montes. They are blocked from making the evidence public.

                      As in many spy cases, no one seems particularly interested in pursuing the death penalty because it means the
                      accused spy never gives details of how badly he or she may have damaged national security.

                      WHAT'S DOABLE

                      Cacheris, a former Marine and one-time assistant U.S. prosecutor, did not return calls made to his Washington
                      office.

                      ''Someone like Plato would be realistic in what is doable or not doable in this case,'' said John L. Martin, the former
                      head of internal security at the Justice Department. ``He would be advising her -- on prospects of prevailing at
                      trial.''

                      If Montes cooperates, she would be debriefed by the FBI, the CIA, the DIA and any other agency or department
                      that feels victimized by her actions, experts say.

                      ''You take her back,'' said one expert, who asked not to be identified. ``You go to the beginning and do it in
                      reverse chronological order.''

                      Then debriefers would focus on people Montes may have dealt with, then perhaps focus on subject matter. If they
                      felt she was lying, they would subject her to a polygraph.

                      NO FAMILY TIES

                      In other prominent spy cases, prosecutors held leverage over accused turncoats. Hanssen and Ames were
                      married and their families could be threatened with loss of a government pension, or -- in the case of Ames,
                      whose wife was compromised as a possible accomplice -- jail time.

                      Montes is single. Without family to worry about, she could exchange cooperation for a reduction in sentence and
                      such issues as where she would serve jail time and what kind of treatment she might receive for medical or other
                      concerns, experts said.