Aldrich Ames, a CIA officer who became one of America’s most damaging double agents, has died aged 84. The former counterintelligence officer, who was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, died on Monday at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland, CBS News reported. Ames was jailed on April 28, 1994, after admitting to selling secret information to the Soviet Union and later Russia. Throughout his compromised career, he endangered over 100 clandestine operations and revealed the identities of more than 30 agents working for the West, resulting in the deaths of at least 10 CIA assets.
Struggling with financial difficulties, Ames began providing the KGB with the names of CIA spies in April 1985, receiving an initial payment of $50,000. Known by the KGB as Kolokol (The Bell), Ames identified almost all of the CIA's spies in the USSR, accruing a total of approximately $2.5 million over nine years for his betrayal. This hefty sum financed a lavish lifestyle, which included a new Jaguar, foreign vacations, and a $540,000 house, despite his FBI salary not exceeding $70,000 per year.
Ames's CIA career began in 1962, and after various roles, he became head of the Soviet counterintelligence department. However, alcoholism and a troubled personal life plagued his career. Several security violations culminated in his capture in 1994 after a mole hunt brought authorities closer to his treachery. While serving a lenient sentence for his accomplice wife, Ames was labeled by the CIA director at that time as 'a malignant betrayer of his country.' His actions remain a dark chapter in U.S. intelligence history, illustrating the profound impact of betrayal.
Struggling with financial difficulties, Ames began providing the KGB with the names of CIA spies in April 1985, receiving an initial payment of $50,000. Known by the KGB as Kolokol (The Bell), Ames identified almost all of the CIA's spies in the USSR, accruing a total of approximately $2.5 million over nine years for his betrayal. This hefty sum financed a lavish lifestyle, which included a new Jaguar, foreign vacations, and a $540,000 house, despite his FBI salary not exceeding $70,000 per year.
Ames's CIA career began in 1962, and after various roles, he became head of the Soviet counterintelligence department. However, alcoholism and a troubled personal life plagued his career. Several security violations culminated in his capture in 1994 after a mole hunt brought authorities closer to his treachery. While serving a lenient sentence for his accomplice wife, Ames was labeled by the CIA director at that time as 'a malignant betrayer of his country.' His actions remain a dark chapter in U.S. intelligence history, illustrating the profound impact of betrayal.
