AMES, Aldrich
Aldrich Ames worked in CIA counterintelligence while passing secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia. He was convicted of espionage in 1994.
In April 1985, Ames approached Soviet officials at their embassy in Washington and offered to spy for them. The FBI says he received $50,000 soon afterward. Over the following months, Ames disclosed information about human sources working for the CIA and FBI. Some of the people he compromised were executed.
CIA officer Jeanne Vertefeuille led a team investigating why so many sources had been lost. A break came in August 1992, when team member Sandra Grimes noticed that Ames made large bank deposits after meetings with a Soviet official. His CIA work gave him a legitimate reason to meet Soviet officials, which made the pattern in his finances especially important.
The FBI arrested Ames and his wife Rosario in February 1994. In April he pleaded guilty and received a sentence of life imprisonment. Grimes and Vertefeuille later recounted the investigation in Circle of Treason.
A related topic is HANSSEN, Robert.
Bibliography:
- Earley, Pete. Confessions of a Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1997.
- Wise, David. Nightmover: How Aldrich Ames Sold the CIA to the KGB for $4.6 Million. HarperCollins, 1995.
- U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. An Assessment of the Aldrich H. Ames Espionage Case. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1994.
- Grimes, Sandra and Jeanne Vertefeuille. Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames. Naval Institute Press, 2012.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation. (n.d.). Aldrich Ames. FBI History, Famous Cases and Criminals.
- Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). Spy Catcher: Jeanne Vertefeuille.