SPY CASES - UNITED STATES

Aldrich Hazen Ames

Reportage on the Case to 1999

The place to begin in trying to understand the Ames case is Arthur S. Hulnick, "The Ames Case: HOW Could It Happen?" International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 8, no. 2 (Summer 1995): 133-154.

Materials that deal with the impact of the Ames case on the CIA and U.S. intelligence generally are listed separately, under "Fallout from the Ames Case" -- 1994 and 1995-1996.

Materials presented chronologically.

Smith, R. Jeffrey, and Michael Isikoff. "Seven Years and 10 Deaths Later, a Spy Arrest Is Made." Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 28 Feb.-6 Mar. 1994, 33.

Jones, Tamara. "What the Secret Agent Kept Secret." Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 7-13 Mar. 1994, 8.

Comments from Aldrich Ames' high school classmates, plus some comments about his father and his career with the CIA.

Wise, David. "The Cold that Came in with the Spy." Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 7-13 Mar. 1994, 9.

Wise compares the mysteries surrounding the Ames case to a matryoshka, a Russian nesting doll.

Epstein, Edward Jay. "Was Ames Alone?" Wall Street Journal, 8 Mar. 1994. [http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/archived/amesalone.htm]

Some intelligence "officials placed great faith in the CIA's lie detector tests and other routine security procedures and derided those who had less faith in these defenses -- notably Angleton and his counterintelligence staff -- as 'paranoid,' indulging in 'sick think' or otherwise out of touch with reality. The Ames case demonstrates that such faith was misplaced."

Pincus, Walter, R. Jeffrey Smith, and Pierre Thomas. "The Spy Who Slipped Through the Cracks." Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 14-20 Mar. 1994, 31.

Reviews known details of the Ames case, with particular emphasis on the failure of the CIA and FBI to cooperate in the earlier stages of the case.

Pincus, Walter. "Marriage, Money and a Suspected Spy." Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 11-17 Apr. 1994, 33.

Focuses on Ames' relationship to the Yurchenko defection-redefection case.

Pincus, Walter. "At the Heart of It All Was Money." Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 9-15 May 1994, 31-32.

Report based on 90-minute interview with Ames at Alexandria, Virginia, jail on 27 April 1994.

Weiner, Tim. "Why I Spied: Aldrich Ames." New York Times Magazine, 31 Jul. 1994, 16-19.

Johnston, David. "How the F.B.I. Finally Caught Aldrich Ames." New York Times, 27 Jan. 1995, A9 (N).

Pincus, Walter. "Sifting the Trash to Find a Spy." Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 6-12 Feb. 1995, 34.

A high-risk "trash cover" on 15 September 1993 "gave the FBI its first usable evidence" that Aldrich Ames was an active spy.

Pincus, Walter. "Is There More to the Ames Story?" Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 27 Feb.-5 Mar. 1995, 31-32.

"One year after his arrest, government investigators still don't believe confessed spy Aldrich H. Ames has told the complete story of how he came to work for Moscow.... [H]e has shown deception on lie detector tests when questions have been asked about how and when he began spying and whether he has disclosed all the U.S. operations he exposed."

Pincus, Walter. "Not a Happy Camper: Aldrich Ames, the CIA Spy, Is Warring with the Agency Over His Prison Conditions." Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 21-27 Apr. 1995, 10-11.

Ames complains about his solitary confinement, control of his communications, and other conditions that seem to be associated with his plea agreement. Pincus says Ames has stopped cooperating with the CIA effort to determine just how much he gave away.

Hulnick, Arthur S. "The Ames Case: HOW Could It Happen?" International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 8, no. 2 (Summer 1995): 133-154.

This is an excellent review of the Ames case, with more intellectually informed and insightful comments in a shorter space than most of the growing list of books on the subject. Just to be picky, readers should check out the monumental typo on p. 139: "His work with the Russian Federation (FR) field office in Washington...." Hey, Art, who's doing your proofreading?

Corn, David. "C.I.A. Mole Seeks Daylight: A Talk with Aldrich Ames." The Nation, 11 Sep. 1995, 238-240.

This article gives us little (?nothing) new about Ames, but uses him to reiterate points Corn has seemingly adopted as his personal theme: the CIA, and specifically human source intelligence, is neither very good nor particularly needed.

Smith, Esmond D. [CAPT/USN (Ret)] "Security and the Ames Case: An Assessment." Naval Intelligence Professionals Quarterly 11, no. 4 (Oct. 1995): 4-8.

"The Ames case shows us that the CIA, like all large organizations, is subject to bureaucratic inertia, unbelievable inefficiencies, and poor management." The author is not convinced that talk of regrouping and reorganization is meaningful, and points to the Navy's lack of significant change in attitudes following the Walker, Pollard, and Lonetree cases.

Earley, Pete. "'Treason?' He Repeats the Word Out Loud as if He Is Shocked by It." U.S. News and World Report, 17 Feb. 1997, 29-35.

Interview with Aldrich Ames.

Johnston, David. "Justice Dept. Calls F.B.I. Derelict in Pursuit of C.I.A.'s Most Damaging Spy." New York Times, 18 Apr. 1997, A13 (N).

An internal Justice Department inquiry blames the FBI for failing to aggressively pursue the counterintelligence case that eight years later led to Aldrich Ames. FBI counterintelligence agents believe the criticism is misdirected.

U.S. Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Office of the Inspector General. A Review of the FBI's Performance in Uncovering the Espionage Activities of Aldrich Hazen Ames. Washington, DC: Apr. 1997. [http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/9704.htm]

This is the "unclassified executive summary," dated 21 April 1997, of a 400-page report delivered by the FBI Inspector General, Michael R. Bromwich, to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Attorney General, the FBI Director, and the DCI on 15 April 1997.

[Vertefeuille, Jeanne.] "Jeanne Vertefeuille's Address at CIRA Luncheon, 5 May 1997." CIRA Newsletter 22, no 2 (Summer 1997): 3-5.

Vertefeuille, who figures prominently in David Wise's Nightmover, worked in the Counterintelligence Center on the Ames case. In this talk, Vertefeuille addresses "myths and misperceptions" surrounding the case.

Pincus, Walter. "Ames Fights IRS Tax Bill on Moscow Spy Pay." Washington Post, 18 Oct. 1998, A2. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]

"Ames will go before a federal judge in Pennsylvania next week to fight a $404,392 bill the IRS levied against him for failure to pay income taxes on more than $1 million he received in payments from Moscow for espionage between 1989 and 1992."

Brennan, Patricia. "Student, Trouper, Good Friend, Spy: A Filmmaker Plots the 'Traitor Within.'" Washington Post, 29 Nov. 1998, Y6. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]

Report on the background of Robert Benedetti's Showtime film, "Aldrich Ames: Traitor Within," aired on 29 November 1998. Benedetti describes the film thusly: "If there was a choice to be made for historical accuracy and dramatic value, we chose dramatic value. It's sort of novelized history, history for dramatic purposes. As such, it is mostly a character study; the psychology and the drama is more important than the politics and the history."

Pincus, Walter. "Ames Seeks to Renegotiate 1994 Guilty Plea Over Spying for KGB." Washington Post, 15 Sep. 1999, A7. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]

"Aldrich H. Ames is seeking to renegotiate his 1994 guilty plea, saying in a court filing [in U.S. District Court in Alexandria] that he agreed to a life sentence only to avert a long prison term for his wife, which would have deprived his young son of both parents."

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