20. This Spy Still Found it Easy to Take Advantage of His CIA Bosses
No alarm bells were raised for years, and it was not until 1993 that Aldrich Ames’ employers took a serious look at his finances and activities. In the meantime, Ames had passed two polygraphs while he was spying for the KGB. He needed no high tech means or complicated Oceans Eleven type capers to smuggle out secrets and dupe the CIA. Ames simply stuffed whatever documents he wanted to give his handlers in his briefcase or in trash bags. He then brazenly carried them out of the CIA headquarters at the end of the workday, and nobody questioned him.
By the time Ames was finally unmasked, nearly a decade later, he had revealed to the Soviets and Russians the identity of every CIA spy operating in their country. As a result, at least a dozen CIA spies within the Soviet Union were captured, of whom ten were subsequently executed. They included Adolf Tolkachev, who was arrested by the KGB in 1985. He was tried and convicted, and executed the following year. As to Ames, after his arrest in 1994, he cut a deal with prosecutors that spared him the death penalty, and ensured that his wife got no more than a five year sentence.
