Aldrich Ames

Career at the CIA

He was born on 26 May 1941 in River Falls, Wisconsin. He worked summer jobs at the CIA from 1957 to 1960 and joined full-time in February 1962 as a clerk-typist. In 1967 he entered the Career Trainee Program and became an operations officer.²

His postings included Ankara (from 1969), the Soviet and East European division at headquarters (from 1972), New York (1976–1981), Mexico City (1981–1983) and Rome (1986–1989). The FBI describes him as a Russian-speaking officer who specialised in Russian intelligence.^1,2

Espionage

On 16 April 1985 he walked into the Soviet Embassy in Washington and left an envelope with the duty officer – the start of his work for the KGB. He received his first $50,000 on 17 May 1985.^1,2

On 13 June 1985 he gave the KGB the names of 25 people, among them Oleg Gordievsky, writes a reviewer in Studies in Intelligence.³

In 1985–1986 the CIA and FBI lost many Soviet sources; according to the Senate committee, the three most important of those arrested at the time were later executed. Ames admitted passing information on more than a hundred Soviet and East European cases. According to the FBI, his betrayal compromised more than 100 US intelligence operations and led to the deaths of ten American assets.^1,2

Investigation and sentence

The FBI opened its inquiry in May 1993, after examining his unexplained wealth, and ran ten months of physical and electronic surveillance. On 21 February 1994 he was arrested outside his home in Arlington, Virginia.^1,2

On 28 April 1994 Ames and his wife Rosario pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole and she to 63 months in prison.^1,2

On 1 November 1994 the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence published a report on the case and its implications for US intelligence; it drew among other things on the CIA Inspector General’s report submitted to it in September 1994.²