Aldrich Ames
Aldrich Ames is a former CIA officer who gained notoriety for committing espionage on behalf of the Soviet KGB from 1985 to 1994. Born in River Falls, Wisconsin, in 1939, he rose through the ranks of the CIA after beginning his career as a clerk typist and later becoming a trained operations officer. During his time in the agency, Ames became a double agent, leaking classified documents that compromised numerous intelligence operations and led to the execution of several U.S. sources. His actions made him one of the highest-paid spies in history, earning him significant financial rewards while living a lavish lifestyle that ultimately drew attention.
Ames was arrested in February 1994 and charged with conspiracy to commit espionage and tax evasion. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty. His espionage activities had a profound impact on U.S. intelligence, eroding trust in government agencies and highlighting vulnerabilities within the CIA. Ames's case has been the subject of extensive media coverage, including books, articles, and dramatizations, reflecting the complexities of his motivations and the consequences of his betrayal.
Aldrich Ames
Intelligence Officer
- Born: June 16, 1941
- Place of Birth: River Falls, Wisconsin
AMERICAN SPY
MAJOR OFFENSES: Conspiracy to commit espionage and tax evasion
ACTIVE: April, 1985-February, 1994
SENTENCE: Life in prison without possibility of parole
Early Life
Aldrich Hazen Ames was born to Carleton Cecil and Rachel Aldrich Ames in River Falls, Wisconsin, the eldest of three children. His father was a college professor and his mother a high school English teacher, both in River Falls. His father began a career with the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA’s) directorate of operations in 1952, but because of alcohol abuse, his career with the agency was somewhat troubled. The younger Ames worked as a CIA records analyst, marking classified documents during the summer of 1957, and returned to the same job the following two summers. He graduated from McLean (Virginia) High School and entered the University of Chicago in 1959, taking classes in drama; he dropped out because of failing grades. Ames returned to the CIA as a clerk typist in 1962 and later took a job as a document analyst for the agency while attending George Washington University, from which he received a bachelor’s degree in history in 1967.
Espionage Career
Ames was accepted into the CIA’s Career Trainee Program in 1967, where he was trained as an operations officer for the recruitment of foreign agents. He placed low in psychological evaluation for the job, but he finished his training with strong marks. His first overseas assignment was to Ankara, Turkey, which began in 1969. In the early 1970s, Ames received training in Russian language and was assigned to the Soviet-East European Division. From 1976 to 1981, he served as an agent in New York, and in 1982, he received his last promotion.
From April 1985 to February 1994, Ames led a double life as a mole for the KGB (the Soviet Union's intelligence agency), providing it with an abundance of classified documents. He effectively shut down all CIA intelligence in the Soviet Union by revealing to the KGB the names of all Soviets employed as spies by the United States. In places such as Bogotá, Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela; Vienna, Austria; and Washington, DC, Ames had numerous meetings with Soviet agents, sharing classified documents on sensitive security, defense, and foreign relations issues. The secrets included detailed information on double agent operations, security weaknesses, and the agency’s mode of operation.
Ames would wrap classified documents in plastic bags in packets of five to seven pounds each and would carry them without suspicion from the agency. He became the highest paid spy in the world: His treasonous activities brought him $1.8 million in payoffs; an additional $900,000 was held for him in a Moscow bank. Ames lived a lavish lifestyle with Jaguar cars, expensive furniture, many charge cards, and a half-million-dollar home, yet these excesses did not raise suspicions within the CIA. After a long and often bungled investigation, in February 1994, the fifty-two-year-old Ames was arrested at his home in Arlington, Virginia, and charged with espionage.
Legal Action and Outcome
Ames was charged with conspiracy to commit espionage and tax evasion. He pleaded guilty to these charges on April 28, 1994. His wife, Maria del Rosario Casas Ames, was arrested later at their home on the same charges. Ames and his wife cooperated fully with authorities and arranged plea bargains by which they forfeited their assets to the US government. About a half million dollars of those assets were given to the Justice Department’s Victims Assistance Fund.
Ames was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and Maria was given a sentence of sixty-three months. She was released in 1998. Based on interrogations and interviews after his arrest, it is clear that Ames’s motive for spying changed markedly through the years, from a need to pay off modest debts to a desire to support a lavish lifestyle. He is incarcerated in the high-security US Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Impact
The information provided by Aldrich Ames led to the compromise of approximately one hundred US intelligence operations and the execution of ten US sources. He compromised more CIA agents than almost anyone else in history, second to fellow KGB mole Robert Hanssen. He also engaged in flagrant personal and professional misconduct, including inattention to detail, alcohol abuse, financial excesses, administrative carelessness, and an extramarital affair with a foreign national. His egregious acts against the country went undetected for nine years; during his thirty-one years in the agency, he received no reprimands. In the long term, however, his actions contributed to a growing public mistrust and cynicism toward government agencies.
Ames committed espionage for money and ego, with no philosophical allegiance to the Soviet Union. Psychologists have characterized him as grandiose, impulsive, and interested in short-term financial gain. Numerous articles and books have been written on the case. The story has been addressed in podcasts and true-crime series, and Ames’s life was portrayed by Timothy Hutton in the 1998 television film Aldrich Ames: Traitor Within.
Bibliography
Baer, Robert. The Fourth Man: The Hunt for a KGB Spy at the Top of the CIA and the Rise of Putin's Russia. Hachette, 2022.
Cherkashin, Victor. Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer. New York: Basic, 2005. Print.
Earley, Pete. Confession of a Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames. New York: Putnam, 1997. Print.
Fischer, Benjamin B. "My Two Moles: A Memoir." International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, vol. 35, no. 1, 2021, pp. 147-163, doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2021.1888041. Accessed 29 Aug. 2024.
Grimes, Sandra, and Jeanne Vertefeuille. Circle of Treason: CIA Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed. Annapolis: Naval Inst. P, 2012. Print.
Nixon, Geoff. "Why Some Aging Spies Won't Walk Out of U.S. Prisons, Long After the Cold War." CBC News, 17 Feb. 2024, www.cbc.ca/news/world/aldrich-ames-captured-spies-punishments-1.7100439. Accessed 29 Aug. 2024.
Richelson, Jeffrey T. The US Intelligence Community. Boulder: Westview, 1999. Print.
Trehair, Richard C. S., and Robert L. Miller. Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations. 2012 ed. New York: Enigma, 2012. Print.