Aldritch Ames, CIA Spy Turned Soviet Mole, Dies in Prison

Aldrich Ames, one of the most damaging spies in American history, has died in federal custody at the age of 84, US authorities confirmed on Monday. Ames, a veteran counterintelligence officer at the Central Intelligence Agency, was serving a life sentence without parole for selling US intelligence secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia, a betrayal that exposed dozens of American assets and led to the execution of multiple agents.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Ames died while incarcerated at a federal correctional facility in Maryland. He had been imprisoned since 1994, after pleading guilty to espionage and tax evasion charges in a case that sent shockwaves through the US intelligence community and severely damaged relations with Moscow during the fragile post-Cold War period.

Ames began spying for the Soviet Union in 1985 while serving as head of the CIA’s Soviet counterintelligence branch, a position that gave him access to some of the most sensitive intelligence in the US government. Over nearly a decade, he provided the KGB with the names of Russian officials secretly working for the United States, effectively dismantling key US espionage networks inside the Soviet Union. Many of those exposed were later imprisoned or executed.

Federal prosecutors said Ames and his wife, Rosario, received more than $2.5 million in cash and assets in exchange for the information, making him one of the highest-paid American spies ever uncovered. Their sudden wealth, including luxury cars, expensive travel, and large unexplained cash deposits, eventually triggered suspicion and a counterintelligence investigation.

Ames was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in February 1994 and later pleaded guilty, avoiding a public trial. In court, he expressed what he called “profound shame and guilt,” admitting that his actions were driven by personal financial problems and greed. At the same time, he controversially minimized the damage he caused, arguing that human intelligence operations were overstated in their importance, a claim widely rejected by intelligence professionals.

The scandal prompted major reforms inside the CIA and contributed to the resignation of senior officials, including then-CIA Director James Woolsey. Ames’s case is often cited alongside those of Robert Hanssen and the Rosenbergs as emblematic of the enduring risks of insider betrayal within intelligence agencies.

Rosario Ames served just over five years in prison after pleading guilty to assisting her husband’s espionage activities. Aldrich Ames remained incarcerated until his death, a lasting symbol of one of the gravest counterintelligence failures in US history.