Aldrich Ames
| Aldrich Ames link (Spook, double agent) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Aldrich Hazen Ames 1941-05-26 River Falls, Wisconsin, U.S. |
Criminal charge | 18 U.S.C. § 794(c) (Espionage Act) |
Criminal status | Incarcerated |
| Parents | Carleton Cecil Ames Rachel Aldrich Ames |
| Spouse | Nancy Segebarth |
Aldrich Hazen Ames is an American spy and former CIA case officer who became one of the most successful double agents for the Soviet Union and Russia.[1]
Aldrich Ames had reportedly divulged more than 100 covert operations and betrayed more than 30 operatives spying for the CIA and other Western intelligence services.
Ames was arrested on 21 February 1994, and is serving a life sentence for espionage without the possibility of parole.[2]
Motivation
When asked in a 1998 interview with CNN about the motives behind his espionage, Ames responded that they were "personal, banal, and amounted really to greed and folly." According to Ames, his primary motive for spying was to make extra money, and he succeeded in amassing approximately $2.7 million in spy money.[3]
"I could kill Ames"
In a June 2024 interview, Baroness Ramsay recalled her role in one of the most audacious spying operations of the 20th century: the rescue of the double agent Oleg Gordievsky from inside Russia at the height of the Cold War. Ramsay was MI6 “head of station” in Helsinki, waiting for Gordievsky’s arrival in Finland:
- Gordievsky was MI6’s most prized double agent. "He was the gold standard. Very special", Ramsay says. A KGB colonel, Gordievsky ran Russia’s spying operations in Britain. Unbeknown to MI6, a CIA officer called Aldrich Ames – who had turned traitor and was working for the Kremlin – blew Gordievsky’s cover, telling the KGB he was a British agent.
- Ramsay doesn’t hold back on Ames, the CIA traitor. Other agents he gave up were executed by the Soviets. “What an awful man. He did it for money. It’s no thanks to him Oleg survived. I could kill Ames.”
- He was later caught and sentenced to life in prison where he remains. “How could you live with yourself knowing you caused the death of people who trusted you and were helping you?” Ramsay asks. “Our lives are about loyalty, not treachery. You can never excuse treachery – betrayal is unforgivable in any circumstances.”[4]
References
- ↑ "Aldrich Ames, American spy"
- ↑ "Inmate Locator ALDRICH HAZEN AMES, 40087-083, 71-White-M, LIFE, ALLENWOOD USP"
- ↑ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/dece_ames.html
- ↑ "In an unprecedented interview, Baroness Meta Ramsay meets our Writer at Large and reveals what it’s like to be an officer at the heart of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service"