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CIA spy who betrayed the US for the USSR dies at 84
Aldrich Ames, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer and the most dangerous traitor in American intelligence history, died in the United States at the age of 84. He passed away on January 5 at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland, where he was serving a life sentence. The cause of death has not been officially disclosed.
The Washington Post reports on January 7.
How Aldrich H. Ames became the worst agent in CIA history
Aldrich H. Ames was born on May 26, 1941, in Wisconsin to a family of teachers. His father later worked at the CIA, significantly influencing his son's future path. Ames began working at the agency as a teenager and eventually became an operative with access to highly sensitive information. This access ultimately led to one of the biggest failures of American intelligence.
Ames is widely regarded as central to one of the CIA's most significant espionage failures. His espionage activities for the Soviet Union and Russia spanned nine years, reportedly resulting in the deaths of at least ten CIA and partner intelligence agents. U.S. intelligence agencies assessed the leak as the agency's most severe internal security breach to date.
Ames initially attributed his decision to engage in espionage to serious financial hardship. However, subsequent interrogations and interviews revealed that his motivations were multifaceted and not solely financial.
After his arrest, he described his behavior as a "special way of thinking," whereby he separates his personal life from his moral and professional obligations. He said that his many years of working undercover in espionage and counterintelligence had given him the ability to "break down" his decisions into isolated internal categories.
How Aldrich Ames made money on his treason
Ames first passed information to the Soviet Union in 1985 when he revealed the names of CIA-recruited agents.
He later provided Moscow with a comprehensive list of known Soviet and Warsaw Pact agents, along with significant information on intelligence operations and U.S. foreign, defense, and security policies. In exchange, he received over a million dollars in cash, as well as promises of future payments and real estate in Russia.
Despite the disappearance of agents in the USSR and suspicions of a massive information leak, American intelligence agencies took a long time to catch on to Ames. Even his sudden change to a lavish lifestyle did not raise any red flags. His possessions included an elite Jaguar automobile and a house in Virginia, which was purchased with cash.
Nevertheless, Ames was arrested in February 1994. As part of a plea bargain, he pleaded guilty, which allowed his wife, Rosario, who was accused of being an accomplice, to receive a lighter sentence. Ames was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. At the time, he was 52 years old.
What did Ames say in court?
He said that he "betrayed serious trust," but he downplayed the consequences of his actions.
"These spy wars are a sideshow which have had no real impact on our significant security interests over the years," Mr. Ames said in court.
In his statements, he expressed "the deepest sympathy, even empathy" for those affected by his actions, claiming that they had made similar choices and paid a high price for them.
During his many years in prison, he studied law in great detail, filed lawsuits, and corresponded with journalists and researchers. He even unsuccessfully attempted to contest the U.S.'s tax claims on the funds he received for espionage. His story also formed the basis of a television film released at the end of the 1990s.
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