Aldrich Ames

Deciding whether to trust or credit a person is always an uncertain task.

Deciding whether to trust or credit a person is always an uncertain task.

I came into the Agency with a set of ideas and attitudes that were quite typical of people coming into read more

I came into the Agency with a set of ideas and attitudes that were quite typical of people coming into the Agency at that time. You could call it liberal anti-communism.

Foreign Ministry guys don't become agents. Party officials, the Foreign Ministry nerds, tend not to volunteer to Western intelligence agencies.

Foreign Ministry guys don't become agents. Party officials, the Foreign Ministry nerds, tend not to volunteer to Western intelligence agencies.

I found that our Soviet espionage efforts had virtually never, or had very seldom, produced any worthwhile political or economic read more

I found that our Soviet espionage efforts had virtually never, or had very seldom, produced any worthwhile political or economic intelligence on the Soviet Union.

Espionage, for the most part, involves finding a person who knows something or has something that you can induce them read more

Espionage, for the most part, involves finding a person who knows something or has something that you can induce them secretly to give to you. That almost always involves a betrayal of trust.