Aldrich Ames

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Aldrich Ames during his arrest

Aldrich Hazen Ames (born June 16, 1941 in River Falls , Wisconsin ) is a former employee of the US intelligence service CIA , who was convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union and Russia in 1994 .

Live and act

Ames' activity with the CIA began in 1962. After various posts, he became head of the CIA counter-espionage department in the USSR in 1985 . In this function he was responsible for the analysis of Soviet intelligence activities.

In the same year Ames offered the Soviet embassy in Washington, DC access to classified information in exchange for cash. By 1994 he sold countless explosive documents to the Soviet secret service KGB or its successor organization, the FSB . This included the names of agents who spied against the Soviet Union. Ames' information led to the exposure and execution of at least ten CIA spies and the exposure or failure of 100 CIA intelligence operations. For his espionage activities , he allegedly received almost $ 2.5 million .

As early as 1990, there had been internal concerns about Ames about his lavish lifestyle (he had bought a $ 540,000 house and a $ 49,500 Jaguar sports car in cash , among other things ). It was not until 1994, however, that the double agent was exposed and arrested by the FBI after years of internal CIA investigations had led to no results. As part of these investigations, Ames managed to pass a polygraph test twice . Ultimately, his lavish lifestyle, which was disproportionate to his official income, put the investigators on track, and the house search revealed a great deal of material evidence.

Ames was sentenced to life imprisonment and served in the United States Penitentiary in Allenwood , Pennsylvania . CIA Director James Woolsey , who had previously warned the CIA against a "witch hunt" citing the era of James Jesus Angleton , resigned after the Ames affair was uncovered.

The American television network ABC began broadcasting an eight-part television series about Ames and the CIA under the title "The Assets" in 2014. Ames was played in it by the British actor Paul Rhys . However, due to low ratings, the series was discontinued after only two episodes broadcast.

literature

  • Pete Earley: Confessions of a Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames New York: Putnam, 1997, ISBN 0-399-14188-X .

Web links

Commons : Aldrich Ames  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Maas : Killer Spy in the Google Book Search
  2. ↑ Alessandra Stanley: A Mole in Deepest Beige. In: The New York Times . January 1, 2014, accessed February 6, 2014 .
  3. ↑ ABC Pulls The Assets After Two Episodes. tvline.com, January 10, 2014, accessed February 6, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME Ames, Aldrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ames, Aldrich Hazen (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American CIA employee and double agent
DATE OF BIRTH June 16, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH River Falls, Wisconsin , USA