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Aldrich Hazen Ames (born June 16 1941 in River Falls, Wisconsin ) is a former Central Intelligence Agency counter-intelligence officer and analyst, who in 1994 was convicted of Spying for the Soviet Union . EARLY WORK Ames began working for the CIA in 1962 in a low level job. For the next few years, he graduated from college and advanced through the ranks while working in the Records Integration Division of the Operations Directorate. In 1969, on his first assignment as a case officer, he was stationed in Ankara , Turkey , where (somewhat ironically) his job was to target Soviet intelligence officers for recruitment. He first began spying for the Soviet Union in 1985 when he walked into the Soviet embassy in Washington to offer secrets for money. Ames was assigned to the CIA's Europe Division / Counterintelligence branch where he was responsible for directing the analysis of Soviet intelligence operations. He had access to the identities of U.S. sources in the KGB and Soviet military. The information Ames provided led to the compromise of at least 100 U.S. intelligence operations and to the execution of at least 10 U.S. sources. He ultimately gave the Soviet Union the names of every American agent working in their country. The Soviets paid Ames approximately $2.5 million, allowing Ames and his wife to live a lifestyle beyond the means of a normal CIA officer's family. Ames, who struggled with Alcoholism , had no ideological affinity for the USSR. Before he was caught, he was assigned the task of preparing the damage assessment of Jonathan Pollard 's activities, and it is believed that he used the opportunity to attribute to Pollard the act of uncovering CIA agents and assets in the USSR. CIA RESPONSE The CIA noticed that something was very wrong, but were reluctant to admit that they could have a Mole , something that had never before befallen the CIA, to their knowledge. Initial investigations were far more focused on a communications breach caused by Soviet Bug s or by a broken code. It has been alleged that investigation into the breach was discouraged in the late 1980s when the CIA was reeling from the Iran-Contra Affair and was desperate to avoid another major embarrassment. Ames showed deception on three Polygraph tests while spying for the Soviet Union. He failed when asked if any foreign intelligence service had tried to recruit him as a spy. Ames found excuses for the failures which were accepted by the examiners. Due to the inability of the CIA to uncover the leak, and the fear that the counter-intelligence division may not have been secure, the CIA turned to the FBI to investigate the matter. The FBI soon focused on Ames as one of the prime suspects, putting him under constant surveillance. ARREST In February of 1994, Ames was scheduled to fly to Moscow as part of his duties for the CIA, and the FBI feared that he would Defect . This led to the arrest of Ames and his Colombia n-born wife, Rosario, on February 21, 1994, by the FBI who charged him with providing highly classified information to the Soviet KGB and its successor organization, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service . On February 22, 1994, Ames and his wife were charged by the United States Department Of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union. They were later convicted; Ames received a sentence of Life Imprisonment , and his wife received a 5-year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit espionage and Tax Evasion as part of a plea-bargain by Ames. Rosario is now believed to be living in South America. According to the Federal Bureau Of Prisons , Ames is currently housed in the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina . {Link without Title} MOVIE Ames' story is dramatized in the 1998 movie ''Aldrich Ames: Traitor Within'', with Timothy Hutton as Ames. IN FICTION Ames was included as a character in the 1997 Frederick Forsyth novel '' Icon '', in which several Soviet agents recruited by the United States were betrayed by him. {Link without Title} FURTHER READING
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