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Ames, a 31-year CIA veteran, admitted being paid $2.5 million by
Moscow for U.S. secrets from 1985 until his arrest in 1994. His
disclosures included the identities of 10 Russian officials and
one Eastern European who were spying for the United States or
Great Britain, along with spy satellite operations,
eavesdropping and general spy procedures. His betrayals are
blamed for the executions of Western agents working behind the
Iron Curtain and were a major setback to the CIA during the Cold
War.
He pleaded guilty without a 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
material for years.
He professed “profound shame and guilt” for “this betrayal of
trust, done for the basest motives,” money to pay debts. But he
downplayed the damage he caused, telling the court he did not
believe he had “noticeably damaged” the United States or
“noticeably aided” Moscow.
“These spy wars are a sideshow which have had no real impact on
our significant security interests over the years,” he told the
court, questioning the value that leaders of any country derived
from vast networks of human spies around the globe.
In a jailhouse interview with The Washington Post the day before
he was sentenced, Ames said he was motivated to spy by
“financial troubles, immediate and continuing.”
Ames was working in the Soviet/Eastern European division at the
CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, when he first
approached the KGB, according to an FBI history of the case. He
continued passing 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 figure out
why so many agents were getting discovered by Moscow.
Ames's spying coincided with that of FBI agent Robert Hanssen,
who was caught in 2001 and charged with taking $1.4 million in
cash and diamonds to sell secrets to Moscow. He died in prison
in 2023.
Ames's wife, Rosario, pleaded guilty to lesser espionage charges
of assisting his spying and was sentenced to 63 months in
prison.
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