Aldrich Ames, CIA agent who spied for Moscow for nearly a decade, dies at 84

CIA defector Aldrich Ames, who betrayed Western intelligence resources to the Soviet Union and Russia in one of the most damaging intelligence breaches in U.S. history, has died in a prison in Cumberland, Maryland. He was 84 years old.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons confirmed Ames died Monday.

Ames, a CIA lifer, admitted receiving US$2.5 million from Moscow for US secrets from 1985 until his arrest in 1994.

Its revelations included the identities of 10 Russian officials and one Eastern European who were spying for the United States or the United Kingdom, as well as spy satellite operations, eavesdropping and general espionage procedures.

His betrayals were blamed on the execution of Western agents working behind the Iron Curtain and were a major setback for the CIA.

“He destroyed the network of Russian agents who were spying for the United States, built over 20 years,” said Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tim Weiner, who covered the Ames case from the beginning and interviewed the disgraced spy from behind bars.

Ames pleaded guilty without trial to espionage and tax evasion and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Prosecutors said he deprived the United States of valuable intelligence for years.

Ames’ wife, Rosario, pleaded guilty to lesser espionage charges for aiding his espionage and was sentenced to 63 months in prison.

“The lowest motivations”

Ames expressed “deep shame and guilt” for “this betrayal of trust, committed for the vilest motives” – money to pay debts. But he downplayed the damage he caused, telling the court that he did not believe he had “significantly damaged” the United States or “significantly helped” Moscow.

“These spy wars are a sideshow that has had no real impact on our important security interests over the years,” he told the court in a matter-of-fact tone.

In a prison interview with The Washington Post the day before his sentencing, Ames said he was motivated to spy by “financial, immediate and ongoing problems.”

Weiner said Ames “ultimately did it for the money” and understood what that meant when he was arrested – after admitting to the reporter years ago that he had effectively condemned himself. to a living death.

Before his arrest, Ames drove a Jaguar and lived in a home purchased for cash in a Washington suburb. He spent the last three decades of his life in prison.

WATCH | The 1994 arrest of Aldrich Ames:

The 1994 arrest of CIA double agent Aldrich Ames

In February 1994, Aldrich Ames, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer, was arrested and charged with spying for the Soviet Union and Russia. Here’s a look at what CBC viewers heard from Prime Time News reporter David Halton after the story broke.

Ames was working in the Soviet/Eastern European division at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, when he first contacted the KGB, according to a history of the case by the FBI.

He continued to pass secrets to the Soviets while stationed in Rome for the CIA and after returning to Washington. Meanwhile, the U.S. intelligence community was frantically trying to understand why so many agents were being discovered by Moscow.

Ames’ spying coincided with that of FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who was arrested in 2001 and accused of stealing US$1.4 million in cash and diamonds to sell secrets to Moscow. Hanssen died in prison in 2023.