The 31-year veteran of the CIA is believed to have compromised more than 100 intelligence operations and sent a number of Soviet agents to their deaths or prison, as he traded information for large sums of money that funded his lavish lifestyle. In pleading guilty, Ames admitted that he compromised "virtually all Soviet agents of the CIA and other American and foreign services known to me" as well as giving the Soviet Union and Russia a "huge quantity of information on United States foreign, defense and security policies." Despite several security violations over the years, including leaving a briefcase on a train in New York that contained classified materials that could have compromised a Soviet asset, and his superiors' concerns about his heavy drinking, Ames was promoted to chief of the Soviet branch of the counterintelligence division.
Author: Caitlin Yilek
Published at: 2026-01-06 23:55:49
Still want to read the full version? Full article
