CIA Turncoat Aldrich Ames Dies-Interesting Facts About The Soviet Union's Infamous Double Agent

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Aldrich Ames, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer and an infamous double agent, died on Monday at the age of 84, in federal prison in the US.

Arrested in 1994 for betraying his nation, Ames was awarded a life sentence without the possibility of parole. He died in the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said.

With Ames passing away, we take a look at some intriguing facts from the double agent's life.

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Ames was likely the highest-paid spy in history. As Moscow's mole inside the CIA, Ames was responsible for selling dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of CIA operational plans to the KGB.

For his services, Ames was paid $2.7 million, as per The New York Times. Ames was also promised $1.9 million more by Moscow, as per the National Library of Australia, making him the highest-paid spy known to the world.

Got at least 10 agents killed

Ames got at least 10 spies killed while acting as a double agent for the KGB, with his intel reportedly leading to the arrest and executions of Soviet and Soviet-bloc spies working for the CIA and other allied intelligence agencies.

Reports also suggest that Ames' deceit led to the compromise of at least 10 American intelligence operations.

Passed polygraph tests

Despite his involvement in active espionage, Ames was able to to pass two separate lie detector tests, in 1986 and 1991, unscathed.

Ames was able to do so, reportedly, by following the advice of his Russian handlers, who told him, "Just relax, don't worry, you have nothing to fear."

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Reportedly one of the most knowledgeable people in the intelligence community in the 1980s, Ames offered up the names of two CIA-recruited agents to the Soviet Embassy in April 1985, and followed it up months later by releasing the names of all the Soviet and Warsaw Pact agents who had been recruited by the CIA and the FBI.

Commenting on his change of loyalties, Ames, ahead of his court appearance said that it wasn't driven by ideology.

"There was this strange transfer of loyalties. It wasn't to the Soviet system, which I believe was a beastly, inhuman, nasty regime," he said at the time, as per The Washington Post.

Ames suggested that he had become disillusioned with US intelligence, and that his loyalties had evolved beyond the petty concerns of governments.

A partner in crime

Ames did not carry out his treasonous activities in isolation but was actively helped by his wife Rosario Ames, who“aided and abetted” his espionage activities, as per the FBI.

After his arrest, both Ames and his wife pled guilty to charges in April 1994, following which the double agent was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, while Rosario got 63 months in jail.

Illicit wealth

Despite being on a modest government salary as a CIA agent, reportedly around $60,000 annually at the time, Ames made no attempt to hide his illicit wealth, spending over $600,000 for a luxury house and a Jaguar, which he drove to work.

At the time, Ames had claimed that the money came from his wife's family in Colombia, and surprisingly, his suspicious spending habits raised no questions, as per The Washington Post.

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