CIA agent who sold information to the Soviet Union

CIA agent Aldrich Ames worked for the Soviet Union from 1985, selling the identities of every spy he knew working for the US in exchange for huge sums of money.

Born on May 26, 1941, Aldrich Hazen "Rick" Ames grew up with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). His father was a CIA analyst, and many of Ames' classmates had parents who worked for the CIA. Right after graduating from high school, he worked as a summer intern at the CIA.

Ames continued to work for the CIA while completing his undergraduate degree at George Washington University. In 1962, he began working full-time for the CIA, and in 1969, he was assigned to covert operations in Ankara, Türkiye.

During that time, he received repeated low evaluations from his superiors. Ames's record was littered with black marks, including run-ins with law enforcement, alcoholism, lack of concentration, and procrastination. Ames once even left documents on the New York subway.

Ames’s personal life was also troubled. His wife divorced him, citing emotional abuse, and he was left with thousands of dollars in debt. Living with his girlfriend, Maria del Rosario Casas Dupuy, whom he met while on assignment in Mexico, Ames’s financial burden became even heavier.

"I felt I was under a lot of financial pressure," he said. "I had to take on debt to buy furniture for the apartment. The divorce left me basically without any assets. Rosario was living with me at the time and I had to think about the future. I didn't have a house, and we were planning to start a family together. So I had to think long-term."

CIA agent Aldrich Ames. Photo: FBI

Aldrich Ames found a solution to his financial difficulties. In 1985, he began selling CIA secrets to the Soviet Union.

According to an investigation by the US Senate Intelligence Committee, Ames approached Soviet officials in April 1985 with an offer to exchange classified information for money. The Soviets agreed and paid Ames $50,000.

"I still don't understand what motivated me to do what I did next," Ames admitted. "After receiving the $50,000, I realized the severity of what I had done. I had crossed the line of no return."

Having crossed that line, Ames delved deeper into the life of a double agent. He readily provided the names of every Soviet intelligence officer and military officer spying for the United States, as well as information he had about the CIA's anti-Soviet activities.

The Senate Intelligence Committee found that Ames had provided "large quantities of sensitive documents and important information," as if he had taken bags of documents out of the CIA and handed them over to the Soviet Union's KGB.

Wherever he went, Ames connected with the Soviets. From Bogota, Colombia to Rome, Italy, Ames continued to pass U.S. state secrets to the Soviets. The FBI reported that by 1989, Ames had received $1.88 million.

However, Ames's double agent work did not go unnoticed. CIA officials began to notice the problem as more of their agents were discovered. They immediately suspected that someone within the CIA was passing information to the Soviet Union.

At CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, a team of investigators led by Sandra Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille spent years trying to identify the traitor.

Grimes and Vertefeuille initially did not consider Ames suspicious. They compared Ames to "the absent-minded professor", always sloppy and late.

But they discovered that after returning to Washington from Rome in 1989, Ames seemed to have transformed into a completely different person. "I saw a very different Rick Ames," Grimes said.

Ames fixed his teeth, bought a Jaguar, and started wearing Italian shoes for $600. Ames and his wife also spent $540,000 in cash on their new home in Arlington. When these things drew attention, Ames hinted that he had received the money from his wife’s wealthy family.

Suspicious of Ames's irregularities, Grimes and Vertefeuille compiled a list of 198 people who had access to the leaked information. After narrowing the list down to three people, in 1992, Grimes finally found a lead to Aldrich Ames.

After studying the fluctuations in Ames' bank account balance, she discovered that after each lunch with a Soviet official, he would deposit large sums of cash into the account. In total, Ames had $1.3 million in deposits from unknown sources.

"It doesn't take a scientist to figure out what's going on. Rick is a Russian spy," she said.

The CIA team investigating Ames, including Sandra Grimes, Paul Redmond, Jeanne Vertefeuille, Diana Worthen and Dan Payne (from left to right). Photo: CIA .

The CIA and FBI tracked Ames by placing devices on his car, tapping his phone, and examining his discarded belongings. They soon had enough evidence to arrest Ames and his wife on February 21, 1994. Ames initially denied being a double agent, insisting that the CIA and FBI were "making a big mistake" and "arresting the wrong person."

But Ames quickly changed his tune. He eventually admitted to all the spying. It is unclear how much Rosario Ames knew about her husband's double agent work, but she signed the couple's tax returns and had a suspicious phone call with Ames.

Aldrich Ames later pleaded guilty to espionage and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He has been incarcerated at the federal prison in Herre Haute, Indiana, ever since. His wife Rosario also pleaded guilty to tax evasion and conspiracy to commit espionage. She served five years in prison and returned to Colombia after her release.

Ames said his motive was purely monetary. "A lot of people need money. Historically, some CIA employees have stolen from the agency and done terrible things for money. But very few people have sold secrets to the KGB because they saw so many barriers. For me, in 1985, some of those barriers were gone. I don't think I compromised the security of the country and the safety of its people," he said.

Ames said that in the early stages of his spying for the Soviet Union, he only provided "trivial, worthless" information. However, Vicktor Cherkashin, a retired KGB agent who contacted Ames, said in 1997 that Ames passed on important information from the beginning.

Washington said Ames had caused serious damage to US property and led to the deaths of at least 10 people. "There were people who died just because the traitor wanted a bigger house and a Jaguar," said R. James Woolsey, then director of the CIA.

Thanh Tam (According to ATI )

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