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 28 April 1994 after he admitted to selling secret information to the Soviet Union and later Russia. He compromised more than 100 clandestine operations and divulged the identities of more than 30 agents spying for the West – leading to the deaths of at least 10 CIA intelligence assets.
Seeking money to pay debts, Ames said he began providing the KGB with the names of CIA spies in April 1985, receiving an initial payment of $50,000. Known to the KGB by his code name, Kolokol (The Bell), Ames went on to identify virtually all of the CIA's spies in the Soviet Union, for which he was handsomely rewarded.
To my enduring surprise, the KGB replied that it had set aside for me $2 million in gratitude for the information, he said in a statement to the court. Over the course of nine years, Ames admitted receiving a total of about $2.5 million from the Soviet Union for his betrayal of the US.
The cash fueled a lavish lifestyle, with Ames spending it on a new Jaguar car, foreign holidays, and a $540,000 house – all while earning no more than $70,000 a year.
Ames's career at the CIA began in 1962, aided by his father's connections. Despite security violations and emerging personal issues, he ascended to positions of significant authority, ultimately compromising national security.
His espionage continued until his arrest in February 1994, following an intense investigation. Ames cooperated with the authorities to secure a more lenient sentence for his accomplice wife. His actions were condemned by US officials, branding him a malignant traitor whose greed led to tragic consequences for numerous agents.
Ames was jailed on 28 April 1994 after he admitted to selling secret information to the Soviet Union and later Russia. He compromised more than 100 clandestine operations and divulged the identities of more than 30 agents spying for the West – leading to the deaths of at least 10 CIA intelligence assets.
Seeking money to pay debts, Ames said he began providing the KGB with the names of CIA spies in April 1985, receiving an initial payment of $50,000. Known to the KGB by his code name, Kolokol (The Bell), Ames went on to identify virtually all of the CIA's spies in the Soviet Union, for which he was handsomely rewarded.
To my enduring surprise, the KGB replied that it had set aside for me $2 million in gratitude for the information, he said in a statement to the court. Over the course of nine years, Ames admitted receiving a total of about $2.5 million from the Soviet Union for his betrayal of the US.
The cash fueled a lavish lifestyle, with Ames spending it on a new Jaguar car, foreign holidays, and a $540,000 house – all while earning no more than $70,000 a year.
Ames's career at the CIA began in 1962, aided by his father's connections. Despite security violations and emerging personal issues, he ascended to positions of significant authority, ultimately compromising national security.
His espionage continued until his arrest in February 1994, following an intense investigation. Ames cooperated with the authorities to secure a more lenient sentence for his accomplice wife. His actions were condemned by US officials, branding him a malignant traitor whose greed led to tragic consequences for numerous agents.
