7. Aldrich Ames
Aldrich Ames, a longtime CIA officer, became one of the most damaging spies in American history. Motivated largely by financial gain, Ames passed critical secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia for nearly a decade. His betrayal led to the exposure and execution of numerous U.S. agents, crippling American intelligence efforts. Ames’s actions caused major intelligence failures and sent shockwaves through the CIA, exposing vulnerabilities within the agency.
