WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799 Welcome to the Deep Dive. I'm so glad you're 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:04.400 joining us today. Yeah, thanks for having me. 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:07.519 It's a really intense topic today. It really 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:09.679 is. Now, if you follow intelligence history at 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:12.000 all, you likely already know the name Aldrich 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.560 Ames. Right. You probably know about his recent 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:18.039 passing on January 5th, 2026. And you definitely 00:00:18.039 --> 00:00:21.359 know the sheer scale of the damage he did to 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:24.800 the CIA during the Cold War. Absolutely. But 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:27.350 today... We're bypassing the usual headlines 00:00:27.350 --> 00:00:29.949 to look at the actual anatomy of his betrayal. 00:00:30.190 --> 00:00:32.170 Which is, frankly, the most fascinating part. 00:00:32.289 --> 00:00:34.289 Because the most shocking part of the story isn't 00:00:34.289 --> 00:00:37.070 necessarily what he stole. It's how a famously 00:00:37.070 --> 00:00:41.869 mediocre. chronically intoxicated analyst got 00:00:41.869 --> 00:00:44.409 away with it for so long right under the agency's 00:00:44.409 --> 00:00:47.030 nose. It really is a staggering case study. And 00:00:47.030 --> 00:00:48.609 to get to the bottom of it, we're drawing our 00:00:48.609 --> 00:00:51.770 facts today from a comprehensive Wikipedia article 00:00:51.770 --> 00:00:54.270 on Aldrich Ames. Great. It provides this incredibly 00:00:54.270 --> 00:00:56.990 detailed chronological look at his life, his 00:00:56.990 --> 00:00:59.869 deeply flawed career trajectory, and of course, 00:00:59.890 --> 00:01:02.210 the catastrophic ripple effects his actions had 00:01:02.210 --> 00:01:05.349 on global intelligence networks. And our mission 00:01:05.349 --> 00:01:07.870 for this deep dive is to figure out the how and 00:01:07.870 --> 00:01:10.140 the why. You know, how did this happen? Yeah. 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:12.939 We want to understand how a man who was literally 00:01:12.939 --> 00:01:15.120 leaving classified documents on public transit 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:18.299 ended up orchestrating the deadliest compromise 00:01:18.299 --> 00:01:21.760 of U .S. intelligence ever seen. It's just wild 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:23.640 to think about. And the motive is wild, too. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:26.959 He wasn't driven by some deep philosophical allegiance 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:29.519 to the Soviet Union. Not at all. He was driven 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:32.040 by staggering credit card debt and an absolute 00:01:32.040 --> 00:01:35.060 thirst for luxury goods. Okay, let's unpack this, 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:37.340 because on the surface, this sounds like a tense 00:01:37.340 --> 00:01:39.019 Hollywood thriller. Right, like a James Bond 00:01:39.019 --> 00:01:42.239 movie. Exactly. But when you look at the real 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:44.519 -life details, the actual day -to -day timeline, 00:01:44.920 --> 00:01:48.739 it's far more absurd and, frankly, far more tragic. 00:01:49.060 --> 00:01:51.359 That's a crucial distinction to make early on. 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:54.159 When we think of a master spy, pop culture conditions 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:56.939 us to expect an elite mastermind. Yeah. You know, 00:01:56.980 --> 00:01:59.700 suave, meticulous, brilliant. Yeah, the tuxedo 00:01:59.700 --> 00:02:02.000 and the martini. Right. But Aldrich Ames was 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:04.659 the polar opposite of that archetype. His story 00:02:04.659 --> 00:02:07.359 is actually a masterclass in bureaucratic dysfunction 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:09.900 and institutional blindness. Let's start with 00:02:09.900 --> 00:02:12.020 his early days, because the red flags were there 00:02:12.020 --> 00:02:14.460 from the very beginning. Oh, absolutely they 00:02:14.460 --> 00:02:17.800 were. Born in 1941, Ames basically followed his 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:20.860 dad into the family business. His father, Carlton 00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:23.620 Ames, worked for the CIA's Directorate of Operations 00:02:23.620 --> 00:02:26.860 starting in 1952. But Carlton wasn't exactly 00:02:26.860 --> 00:02:29.560 a rising star setting a gold standard. Not at 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:32.340 all. The historical record shows he received 00:02:32.340 --> 00:02:35.280 a particularly negative performance appraisal, 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.000 largely because of his severe alcoholism. Which 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:40.259 becomes a dark running theme here. It really 00:02:40.259 --> 00:02:43.389 does. So young Aldrich steps into the CIA as 00:02:43.389 --> 00:02:47.069 a teenager in 1957, carrying that family legacy. 00:02:47.349 --> 00:02:50.789 He starts as a low -level GS3 records analyst. 00:02:51.090 --> 00:02:53.150 Just a summer job, right? Basically. His summer 00:02:53.150 --> 00:02:55.449 job consists of marking classified documents 00:02:55.449 --> 00:02:58.430 and literally making fake money for CIA trainees 00:02:58.430 --> 00:03:00.550 to use over at their secret training facility 00:03:00.550 --> 00:03:03.169 in Virginia, which is widely known as The Farm. 00:03:03.330 --> 00:03:05.610 It's quite the informal introduction to the clandestine 00:03:05.610 --> 00:03:08.090 world. But his path was anything but a straight 00:03:08.090 --> 00:03:10.520 line to the top. He goes off to the University 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:13.259 of Chicago, initially planning to study foreign 00:03:13.259 --> 00:03:16.520 cultures, but he develops a massive passion for 00:03:16.520 --> 00:03:19.560 theater instead. Theater. Yeah, theater. His 00:03:19.560 --> 00:03:22.240 grades absolutely tank and he flunks out before 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:25.139 even finishing his second year. Wow. He spends 00:03:25.139 --> 00:03:27.580 some time working as a painter, a theater assistant, 00:03:27.780 --> 00:03:30.340 and then almost by default just drifts back to 00:03:30.340 --> 00:03:33.979 the CIA in 1962 doing clerical work. Which brings 00:03:33.979 --> 00:03:36.139 us to his first polygraph examination for the 00:03:36.139 --> 00:03:39.219 CIA. And honestly, one of the most glaring early 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:41.879 red flags you could imagine. Oh, the bicycle 00:03:41.879 --> 00:03:44.659 incident. Yes. The machine registers probability 00:03:44.659 --> 00:03:47.000 of deception when he claims to have not committed 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:50.280 a crime. So the examiner naturally asks him to 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:52.919 elaborate. Like, what did you do? Exactly. What 00:03:52.919 --> 00:03:55.419 did this prospective intelligence officer do? 00:03:56.379 --> 00:03:58.620 Ames confesses that he and a friend got drunk, 00:03:58.759 --> 00:04:02.000 stole a delivery boy's bicycle, and went joyriding. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:04.819 You'd think that admitting to drunken theft during 00:04:04.819 --> 00:04:06.939 a polygraph for a top secret clearance would 00:04:06.939 --> 00:04:09.740 be a career ender. Right. But the agency's response? 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:12.479 They decided it simply wasn't grave enough to 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:14.979 deny him the clearance. Unbelievable. He gets 00:04:14.979 --> 00:04:17.360 the green light. He eventually finishes his degree 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:19.920 at George Washington University. And despite 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:22.300 having more alcohol -related run -ins with the 00:04:22.300 --> 00:04:26.040 police, he gets accepted into the CIA's career 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:30.420 trainee program. Wow. This really sets the stage 00:04:30.420 --> 00:04:33.360 for a recurring theme in Ames' life, which is 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:36.079 failing upward. I want to pause on that for a 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:38.199 second because how does someone fail up that 00:04:38.199 --> 00:04:40.720 consistently in an organization handling state 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:43.199 secrets? That's a great question. He's sent to 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:45.560 Turkey where he gets a, quote, satisfactory. 00:04:46.970 --> 00:04:50.410 But his superiors explicitly write in his file 00:04:50.410 --> 00:04:53.129 that he is unsuited for field work. They actually 00:04:53.129 --> 00:04:54.970 recommend he just stay at headquarters for the 00:04:54.970 --> 00:04:57.370 rest of his career. Right. So he comes back to 00:04:57.370 --> 00:04:59.389 the Soviet East European division, gets a few 00:04:59.389 --> 00:05:02.050 decent reviews, but his excessive drinking is 00:05:02.050 --> 00:05:04.470 repeatedly noted. Continually noted. He even 00:05:04.470 --> 00:05:08.110 gets two eyes only reprimands placed in his file. 00:05:08.529 --> 00:05:11.509 And yet he's posted to New York. New York is 00:05:11.509 --> 00:05:13.290 where the negligence shifts from concerning. 00:05:13.689 --> 00:05:16.790 to almost comical. Ames is noted for constantly 00:05:16.790 --> 00:05:19.029 procrastinating on his financial accounting, 00:05:19.230 --> 00:05:21.410 which is a big deal when you're handling operational 00:05:21.410 --> 00:05:25.189 funds. Huge deal. But much worse, his inattention 00:05:25.189 --> 00:05:28.269 to detail leads to two massive security violations. 00:05:28.870 --> 00:05:32.250 In one instance, he literally leaves a briefcase 00:05:32.250 --> 00:05:35.490 full of classified operational materials sitting 00:05:35.490 --> 00:05:37.709 on a New York City subway car. Just left it on 00:05:37.709 --> 00:05:39.470 the seat of a public train during a commute. 00:05:39.709 --> 00:05:42.250 Yep. The sheer panic that must have caused inside 00:05:42.250 --> 00:05:45.949 the agency. Exactly. The FBI miraculously managed 00:05:45.949 --> 00:05:48.350 to recover it and determined it hadn't been compromised 00:05:48.350 --> 00:05:50.910 by foreign agents. Thank goodness. But Ames later 00:05:50.910 --> 00:05:53.310 stated he only ever received a verbal reprimand 00:05:53.310 --> 00:05:56.430 for it. A verbal reprimand for losing classified 00:05:56.430 --> 00:05:58.870 materials on the subway. There wasn't even formal 00:05:58.870 --> 00:06:01.389 documentation of the incident in his main file. 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:04.040 That is mind -blowing. Then he goes to Mexico 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:07.360 City, where he gets mediocre evaluations, engages 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:10.180 in at least three extramarital affairs, including 00:06:10.180 --> 00:06:13.160 one with a Colombian CIA informant named Rosario 00:06:13.160 --> 00:06:15.560 Casas Dupuy. Which he utterly failed to report 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:17.839 to his superior. Exactly. And on top of that, 00:06:17.899 --> 00:06:20.060 he gets into a loud, drunken argument with a 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:22.779 Cuban official at a diplomatic reception. So 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:25.019 you have a guy with documented alcohol abuse, 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:28.519 unauthorized affairs with informants. public 00:06:28.519 --> 00:06:31.819 diplomatic altercations and a history of leaving 00:06:31.819 --> 00:06:34.660 classified briefcases on subways. It's quite 00:06:34.660 --> 00:06:37.079 the resume. You'd assume he's fired or at least 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:39.939 permanently sidelined. But instead, in 1983, 00:06:40.279 --> 00:06:42.779 he's transferred back to headquarters and placed 00:06:42.779 --> 00:06:44.680 in the most sensitive element of the Department 00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:47.540 of Operations Soviet counterintelligence. It 00:06:47.540 --> 00:06:50.019 makes no sense from the outside. He is literally 00:06:50.019 --> 00:06:53.860 handed access to all CIA plans against the KGB 00:06:53.860 --> 00:06:56.879 and Soviet military intelligence. What's fascinating 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:59.839 here is what this tells us about the CIA's internal 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:03.170 culture. at that specific time in history. Yeah, 00:07:03.230 --> 00:07:05.230 break that down for us. This wasn't just a single 00:07:05.230 --> 00:07:07.310 supervisor making a bad call on a promotion. 00:07:07.899 --> 00:07:10.319 it highlights a massive systemic vulnerability. 00:07:10.660 --> 00:07:13.259 Because it kept happening. Right. The CIA was 00:07:13.259 --> 00:07:15.560 an incredibly insular culture, almost like a 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:17.819 fraternity. They protected their own. Oh, I see. 00:07:17.980 --> 00:07:20.819 They viewed Ames' glaring flaws, the drinking, 00:07:21.019 --> 00:07:23.839 the profound sloppiness, the poor judgment, as 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:27.000 quirky personal failings rather than severe national 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.079 security risks. That is so dangerous. They simply 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:32.139 couldn't conceive that one of their own club 00:07:32.139 --> 00:07:35.019 members, a guy whose dad worked there, could 00:07:35.019 --> 00:07:37.240 ever be a genuine threat. Well, here's where... 00:07:37.259 --> 00:07:40.709 it's really interesting because The catalyst 00:07:40.709 --> 00:07:44.990 that turns this mediocre, sloppy employee into 00:07:44.990 --> 00:07:48.389 the deadliest traitor in CIA history wasn't an 00:07:48.389 --> 00:07:53.050 ideology. It was cold, hard cash. Ames formally 00:07:53.050 --> 00:07:55.790 separates from his wife, Nancy, who was also 00:07:55.790 --> 00:07:58.769 a CIA officer. As part of their divorce settlement, 00:07:59.089 --> 00:08:01.310 he's saddled with their accrued debts and has 00:08:01.310 --> 00:08:05.750 to pay monthly support. It totals about $46 ,000. 00:08:05.970 --> 00:08:08.370 To put that in perspective, in today's money, 00:08:08.470 --> 00:08:12.850 that's roughly $100 ,000. That's a massive burden 00:08:12.850 --> 00:08:15.709 on a government salary. Ames is absolutely terrified 00:08:15.709 --> 00:08:18.829 of bankruptcy. And compounding that immense financial 00:08:18.829 --> 00:08:21.910 pressure, he's now deeply involved with Rosario, 00:08:22.069 --> 00:08:25.029 who becomes his second wife in 1985. Right. And 00:08:25.029 --> 00:08:27.910 Rosario had what we might generously call extravagant 00:08:27.910 --> 00:08:30.589 tastes. That is the understatement of the century. 00:08:30.610 --> 00:08:33.070 It really is. The inventory of her spending habits 00:08:33.070 --> 00:08:35.870 is jaw -dropping. We're talking about a woman 00:08:35.870 --> 00:08:38.909 who is spending $5 ,000 a month just on... telephone 00:08:38.909 --> 00:08:41.950 calls to her family in Colombia. 5 ,000 a month. 00:08:42.490 --> 00:08:45.789 In the 80s. Just on phone calls. When the FBI 00:08:45.789 --> 00:08:47.769 eventually searched their house years later, 00:08:47.970 --> 00:08:50.909 the sheer volume of luxury goods they found was 00:08:50.909 --> 00:08:54.830 surreal. I remember this list. 60 purses, more 00:08:54.830 --> 00:09:00.169 than 500 pairs of shoes, 165 unopened boxes of 00:09:00.169 --> 00:09:03.009 pantyhose, multiple designer dresses hanging 00:09:03.009 --> 00:09:05.370 in the closets with the price tag still on them, 00:09:05.450 --> 00:09:08.549 and six Rolex watches. It paints a very vivid 00:09:08.549 --> 00:09:11.250 picture of a lifestyle that was completely unmoored 00:09:11.250 --> 00:09:13.659 from reality. especially the reality of a mid 00:09:13.659 --> 00:09:16.139 -level civil servant salary. Entirely unmoored. 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:18.220 And that pressure cooker, the combination of 00:09:18.220 --> 00:09:21.059 looming debt and relentless insatiable consumerism, 00:09:21.059 --> 00:09:23.820 is what finally pushes Ames over the edge. Yeah. 00:09:24.179 --> 00:09:26.899 In April 1985, he decides to play an incredibly 00:09:26.899 --> 00:09:29.220 dangerous game. He reaches out to the Soviet 00:09:29.220 --> 00:09:31.399 embassy. He literally walks in and offers them 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:34.519 information on two specific CIA agents. Now, 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:36.779 Ames actually believed the information he was 00:09:36.779 --> 00:09:38.820 handing over was essentially valueless to the 00:09:38.820 --> 00:09:42.080 Soviets. But he needed to... prove he was a real 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:44.360 CIA insider. Right, building his credibility. 00:09:44.700 --> 00:09:48.740 Exactly. He asked for $50 ,000, just enough to 00:09:48.740 --> 00:09:51.419 clear his immediate debts. In his mind, he's 00:09:51.419 --> 00:09:53.740 rationalizing this as a one -time con game. He 00:09:53.740 --> 00:09:55.840 thinks he can just dip his toe in. He gets the 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:58.179 cash, pays off his divorce settlement, and walks 00:09:58.179 --> 00:10:01.080 away. That was the plan. But the Soviets, of 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:04.039 course, pay him quickly. And then the psychological 00:10:04.039 --> 00:10:07.779 reality sets in. Yes, the traps shut. Ames later 00:10:07.779 --> 00:10:09.620 admitted that once he made that first exchange, 00:10:09.899 --> 00:10:13.240 the illusion of the one -time con vanished. He 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:15.620 knew what he was doing. He realized he had crossed 00:10:15.620 --> 00:10:18.120 a line he could never step back from. He had 00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:21.200 committed high treason. Wow. And once he realized 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:23.059 the Soviets were not only willing to pay, but 00:10:23.059 --> 00:10:25.919 willing to pay handsomely, his mindset shifted. 00:10:26.179 --> 00:10:29.200 It went from simple survival to absolute greed, 00:10:29.480 --> 00:10:31.980 coupled with a terrifying need for self -preservation. 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:34.240 Right, because he figures out that if he's going 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:36.500 to be a spy, the safest way to hide his tracks 00:10:36.500 --> 00:10:39.220 is to eliminate anyone who could possibly catch 00:10:39.220 --> 00:10:42.750 him. Exactly. So he just opens the floodgates. 00:10:42.769 --> 00:10:45.350 He starts handing over the names of every Soviet 00:10:45.350 --> 00:10:48.389 source the CIA has. He eventually receives $4 00:10:48.389 --> 00:10:51.009 .6 million from the Soviets over the course of 00:10:51.009 --> 00:10:54.850 his espionage. $4 .6 million. But the human cost 00:10:54.850 --> 00:10:58.269 of that money was unimaginable. Truly unimaginable. 00:10:58.350 --> 00:11:00.690 He compromised at least 100 American intelligence 00:11:00.690 --> 00:11:04.029 operations, and his direct actions led to the 00:11:04.029 --> 00:11:07.730 execution of at least 10 top -level CIA and FBI 00:11:07.730 --> 00:11:10.690 sources. This is where the narrative shifts from 00:11:10.690 --> 00:11:13.710 a sort of bureaucratic farce into a profound, 00:11:13.990 --> 00:11:17.299 devastating human tragedy. It really is heartbreaking. 00:11:17.700 --> 00:11:19.960 The people Ames betrayed weren't just abstract 00:11:19.960 --> 00:11:22.419 code names on a file folder. They were human 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:24.940 beings taking massive personal risks. Right. 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:27.879 Take Major General Dmitry Polyakov, for instance. 00:11:28.139 --> 00:11:30.820 He was the highest ranking official in the GRU, 00:11:30.919 --> 00:11:33.379 which is Soviet military intelligence, to ever 00:11:33.379 --> 00:11:35.899 spy for the United States. He was so valuable. 00:11:36.220 --> 00:11:38.740 Incredibly valuable. A CIA official specifically 00:11:38.740 --> 00:11:41.039 noted that Polyakov didn't do it for the money. 00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:43.779 He insisted on staying in place in Moscow because 00:11:43.779 --> 00:11:46.019 he genuinely wanted to help the West. And because 00:11:46.019 --> 00:11:50.080 of Ames' greed, Polykov was executed. Yes, executed. 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:53.039 You also have Adolf Polkachov, an electrical 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:56.059 engineer who passed vital radar and avionics 00:11:56.059 --> 00:11:58.779 secrets to the CIA. This wasn't low -level gossip. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:01.460 No, this was technical data that gave the U .S. 00:12:01.460 --> 00:12:04.220 military a massive edge and saved billions in 00:12:04.220 --> 00:12:07.039 research and development. also executed. It's 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:09.000 devastating. And then there's the story of Sergey 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:12.039 Fedorenko, which is just heartbreaking. Fedorenko 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:15.460 was a nuclear weapons expert. He and Ames actually 00:12:15.460 --> 00:12:18.440 became good friends while Ames was his handler 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:21.600 in New York. They were close. Very close. The 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:24.159 details show they hugged before Fedorenko went 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:27.460 back to Moscow. Ames told him, we trusted each 00:12:27.460 --> 00:12:29.620 other completely. And then Ames betrays him. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:32.279 Betrays him to the KGB, later claiming he did 00:12:32.279 --> 00:12:35.159 it just to do a good job for his new Soviet bosses. 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:37.539 The cruelty of the Fedorenko story doesn't even 00:12:37.539 --> 00:12:40.700 stop there. No, it gets worse. Fedorenko miraculously 00:12:40.700 --> 00:12:42.919 manages to use political connections to avoid 00:12:42.919 --> 00:12:45.960 execution the first time. Years later, under 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:48.879 a different political climate, he actually reunites 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:51.940 with Ames in New York. They meet up again. They 00:12:51.940 --> 00:12:54.679 have an emotional lunch. Fedorenko tells his 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:56.379 old friend he wants to move to the U .S. for 00:12:56.379 --> 00:12:59.059 good, and Ames looks him in the eye and promises 00:12:59.059 --> 00:13:02.059 to help him. And what does Ames do? He betrays 00:13:02.059 --> 00:13:03.980 him to the KGB a second time. That makes you 00:13:03.980 --> 00:13:07.080 sick. Thankfully, Fedorenko managed to escape 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:10.220 and eventually defected, but the sheer sociopathy 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:13.139 of that double betrayal is chilling. It really 00:13:13.139 --> 00:13:16.539 is. You also have Oleg Gordievsky, the KGB chief 00:13:16.539 --> 00:13:18.960 of station in London who was secretly spying 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:22.659 for British intelligence, MI6. Right. After Ames 00:13:22.659 --> 00:13:24.799 hands over his name, Gordievsky gets recalled 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:27.840 to Moscow where he's drugged and interrogated. 00:13:28.340 --> 00:13:30.899 Terrifying. He only barely managed to survive 00:13:30.899 --> 00:13:34.200 through a daring movie -like escape across the 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:36.960 Finnish border orchestrated by MI6. It really 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:39.820 was like a movie. So while all these elite, highly 00:13:39.820 --> 00:13:42.259 placed agents are suddenly disappearing, or being 00:13:42.259 --> 00:13:45.679 executed, what exactly is the CIA doing? They 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:47.820 are completely baffled. Baffled. The loss of 00:13:47.820 --> 00:13:50.620 assets was so rapid, so widespread, and so reckless 00:13:50.620 --> 00:13:53.919 that it violated all the known rules of counterespionage. 00:13:54.100 --> 00:13:56.940 Usually, if a foreign agency has a mole, they 00:13:56.940 --> 00:13:58.960 don't wrap up all the compromised agents at once 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:02.320 because doing so makes it glaringly obvious that 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.440 a mole exists. Oh, that makes sense. It draws 00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:07.500 too much attention. Exactly. In fact, Ames' KGB 00:14:07.500 --> 00:14:10.299 handlers actually apologized to him for it. The 00:14:10.299 --> 00:14:14.000 KGB apologized to an American spy? Yes. They 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.360 completely disagreed with the aggressive roundup 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:19.919 because it put Ames in incredible danger. But 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:22.419 the order to execute those assets had come from 00:14:22.419 --> 00:14:24.460 the absolute highest political levels in the 00:14:24.460 --> 00:14:27.409 Soviet Union. Wow. So to protect their million 00:14:27.409 --> 00:14:30.190 -dollar investment in Ames, the KGB creates an 00:14:30.190 --> 00:14:32.889 elaborate diversion. Right. A Soviet case officer 00:14:32.889 --> 00:14:35.750 intentionally feeds a false story to a CIA contact, 00:14:36.190 --> 00:14:38.169 claiming the mole they're looking for is actually 00:14:38.169 --> 00:14:39.909 stationed at the Warrington Training Center, 00:14:40.110 --> 00:14:42.529 a secret communications facility in Virginia. 00:14:42.750 --> 00:14:45.169 And the CIA fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker. 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:48.120 The CIA's mole hunters swallowed the bait and 00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:50.659 spent almost a year investigating 90 totally 00:14:50.659 --> 00:14:53.360 innocent employees there, just chasing ghosts. 00:14:53.700 --> 00:14:56.259 And as a quick aside on the sheer chaos this 00:14:56.259 --> 00:14:59.320 caused, the historical documents offer an intriguing 00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:01.879 alternate perspective on this era. Let's hear 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:05.750 it. the Israeli handler for Jonathan Pollard, 00:15:05.850 --> 00:15:08.210 who was famously convicted of spying for Israel, 00:15:08.389 --> 00:15:11.929 claimed that Ames actually framed Pollard for 00:15:11.929 --> 00:15:14.529 exposing some of these Soviet agents. Framed 00:15:14.529 --> 00:15:17.309 Pollard. That's the claim. Agents' assertion 00:15:17.309 --> 00:15:19.710 is that Pollard never exposed American agents 00:15:19.710 --> 00:15:22.809 in the Soviet Union and that Ames used the fallout 00:15:22.809 --> 00:15:25.570 from Pollard's arrest as a convenient scapegoat 00:15:25.570 --> 00:15:28.679 to cover his own tracks. While it's presented 00:15:28.679 --> 00:15:31.019 as Eden's claim rather than established fact, 00:15:31.299 --> 00:15:33.860 it highlights just how muddy the waters were 00:15:33.860 --> 00:15:36.860 and how Ames' actions destabilized the entire 00:15:36.860 --> 00:15:39.649 global intelligence community. That brings us 00:15:39.649 --> 00:15:42.549 to the mole hunt itself and how the agency missed 00:15:42.549 --> 00:15:44.690 what was right in front of them. Oh, this part 00:15:44.690 --> 00:15:46.710 is incredibly frustrating. You hear about all 00:15:46.710 --> 00:15:48.809 this sophisticated counterintelligence chasing 00:15:48.809 --> 00:15:51.789 false leads in Virginia, looking into Pollard. 00:15:51.929 --> 00:15:55.850 But the actual clues Ames was leaving were painfully, 00:15:55.850 --> 00:15:58.429 almost insultingly obvious. Painfully obvious? 00:15:58.529 --> 00:16:01.950 The guy is making about $60 ,000 a year. Suddenly, 00:16:01.950 --> 00:16:05.490 he buys a $540 ,000 house in Arlington, Virginia. 00:16:05.809 --> 00:16:07.990 And he doesn't take out a massive mortgage? No. 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:12.059 He pays for it in cash. Cash. He also buys a 00:16:12.059 --> 00:16:15.720 $50 ,000 Jaguar luxury car. Just casually parks 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:19.240 it at the CIA. Right. He drops $99 ,000 on home 00:16:19.240 --> 00:16:22.019 remodeling. Yeah. He even gets his yellow smoker's 00:16:22.019 --> 00:16:24.379 teeth cosmetically capped and starts showing 00:16:24.379 --> 00:16:26.659 up to the office wearing premium tailor -made 00:16:26.659 --> 00:16:29.299 suits that his own bosses couldn't afford. My 00:16:29.299 --> 00:16:32.320 favorite detail in this whole absurd saga is 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:36.480 the story about the drapes. Diana Worthen, who 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:38.620 was actually a member of the CIA's mole hunt 00:16:38.620 --> 00:16:41.740 team, knew Rosario Ames personally before she 00:16:41.740 --> 00:16:44.269 married Aldrich. Right. They're talking one day 00:16:44.269 --> 00:16:47.009 about installing drapes. Worthen knows custom 00:16:47.009 --> 00:16:49.690 drapes are notoriously expensive, so she asks 00:16:49.690 --> 00:16:51.990 Rosario which room she's going to focus on first. 00:16:52.250 --> 00:16:54.610 A normal question for someone on a budget. Exactly. 00:16:54.649 --> 00:16:56.970 And Rosario just laughs and says, do not worry 00:16:56.970 --> 00:16:58.470 about the price. We're going to have the whole 00:16:58.470 --> 00:17:00.629 house done at once. Keep in mind, this is a woman 00:17:00.629 --> 00:17:03.149 whose family in Colombia, the CIA, knew to be 00:17:03.149 --> 00:17:06.710 relatively poor. Right. And yet the investigation 00:17:06.710 --> 00:17:10.049 into Ames moved at an absolute snail's pace. 00:17:10.430 --> 00:17:13.410 It did. And you might naturally wonder, If they 00:17:13.410 --> 00:17:15.289 had all these suspicions, didn't they just polygraph 00:17:15.289 --> 00:17:17.970 him again? I would hope so. They did. Twice. 00:17:18.430 --> 00:17:22.309 In 1986 and 1991, while he was actively receiving 00:17:22.309 --> 00:17:26.069 millions from the KGB. And? And he passed both 00:17:26.069 --> 00:17:29.130 times. How does he pass a lie detector test while 00:17:29.130 --> 00:17:32.089 actively spying? Ames later gave a chillingly 00:17:32.089 --> 00:17:34.029 simple explanation for how he beat the machine. 00:17:34.789 --> 00:17:37.269 He said there's no secret magic to it, no high 00:17:37.269 --> 00:17:39.890 -tech trickery. It is entirely about confidence 00:17:39.890 --> 00:17:42.170 and building rapport with the examiner. Really? 00:17:42.779 --> 00:17:45.920 Just confidence. He said you smile, make them 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:47.920 think you genuinely like them, and make them 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:50.180 believe the exam has absolutely no importance 00:17:50.180 --> 00:17:53.579 to you. The CIA later had to embarrassingly admit 00:17:53.579 --> 00:17:55.960 that the examiners who tested him were, quote, 00:17:56.039 --> 00:17:58.779 overly friendly. He literally charmed his way 00:17:58.779 --> 00:18:00.960 through a lie detector test using basic social 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:03.480 skills while millions of dollars in illicit cash 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:05.319 were sitting in his bank accounts. If we connect 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:07.500 this to the bigger picture, what you are seeing 00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:10.420 here is profound cognitive dissonance within 00:18:10.420 --> 00:18:12.960 the agency. Unpack that a bit. They were paralyzed 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:16.339 by the terror that a traitor existed within their 00:18:16.339 --> 00:18:19.819 elite inner ranks. It's a massive blow to the 00:18:19.819 --> 00:18:22.019 institutional ego. Yeah, nobody wants to believe 00:18:22.019 --> 00:18:25.299 it's their friend. Exactly. So instead of looking 00:18:25.299 --> 00:18:28.460 objectively at the mediocre guy down the hall 00:18:28.460 --> 00:18:31.140 who certainly drives a Jaguar and pays cash for 00:18:31.140 --> 00:18:35.019 mansions, they preferred to investigate complex 00:18:35.019 --> 00:18:39.000 cinematic theories. Right. They looked for phantom 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:42.390 high -tech Soviet bugs in the embassy. Or they 00:18:42.390 --> 00:18:45.329 chased false stories about Soviet -born employees 00:18:45.329 --> 00:18:48.009 infiltrating the ranks. They just couldn't see 00:18:48.009 --> 00:18:50.369 it. They were completely blind to the banality 00:18:50.369 --> 00:18:52.470 of the evil right in front of them because accepting 00:18:52.470 --> 00:18:54.900 it meant... accepting that their entire security 00:18:54.900 --> 00:18:57.359 apparatus was fundamentally broken. Finally, 00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:59.819 though, the blinders do come off. By March 1993, 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:03.019 the CIA and FBI launch an intensive, targeted 00:19:03.019 --> 00:19:05.420 investigation into Ames. They finally start doing 00:19:05.420 --> 00:19:07.380 the real work. They're tracking his car, they're 00:19:07.380 --> 00:19:08.900 combing through his trash in the middle of the 00:19:08.900 --> 00:19:11.099 night, they're watching his every move, and they 00:19:11.099 --> 00:19:13.859 finally find physical evidence of his spy crash. 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:16.980 It's a chalk marks. Yes. He was using a mailbox 00:19:16.980 --> 00:19:20.759 at 37th and R Streets in Washington, D .C., leaving 00:19:20.759 --> 00:19:24.299 a horizontal chalk mark above the USPS logo to 00:19:24.299 --> 00:19:26.700 signal to his Soviet handlers that he needed 00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:30.160 a meeting. The net finally closed on February 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:34.920 20, 1994. Ames and his wife were arrested just 00:19:34.920 --> 00:19:36.839 before he was scheduled to attend a conference 00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:39.279 in Moscow. They couldn't let him leave. No, the 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:41.220 FBI knew they couldn't risk letting him leave 00:19:41.220 --> 00:19:43.559 the country, fearing he would defect and disappear 00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:46.259 forever. When they swarmed his car and arrested 00:19:46.259 --> 00:19:48.839 him, Ames actually shouted, You're making a big 00:19:48.839 --> 00:19:50.779 mistake. You must have the wrong man. But of 00:19:50.779 --> 00:19:52.839 course they didn't. No. Faced with overwhelming 00:19:52.839 --> 00:19:55.519 evidence, he pleaded guilty to espionage and 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:57.980 tax evasion. He was sentenced to life in prison 00:19:57.980 --> 00:20:00.690 without the possibility of... parole. And Rosario. 00:20:00.869 --> 00:20:03.349 Rosario got a lesser sentence of five years as 00:20:03.349 --> 00:20:05.710 part of a plea bargain for her complicity. And 00:20:05.710 --> 00:20:07.609 as we mentioned at the top of the show just recently, 00:20:07.750 --> 00:20:11.470 on January 5, 2026, Aldrich Ames died at the 00:20:11.470 --> 00:20:13.549 Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, 00:20:13.650 --> 00:20:16.930 Maryland, at the age of 84. His legacy is a permanent, 00:20:17.009 --> 00:20:19.250 devastating scar on the intelligence community. 00:20:19.609 --> 00:20:22.509 Undeniably. And the immediate aftermath of his 00:20:22.509 --> 00:20:25.970 arrest was incredibly controversial. There was 00:20:25.970 --> 00:20:28.190 massive public and political pressure on the 00:20:28.190 --> 00:20:31.410 CIA to hold its leadership accountable for missing 00:20:31.410 --> 00:20:34.089 such glaring red flags for almost a decade. Of 00:20:34.089 --> 00:20:37.849 course there was. But CIA Director James Woolsey 00:20:37.849 --> 00:20:41.289 refused to fire or even demote anyone involved 00:20:41.289 --> 00:20:43.769 in the oversight failures. You're kidding. He 00:20:43.769 --> 00:20:50.859 infamously told Congress, Wow. Yeah. Woolsey 00:20:50.859 --> 00:20:53.220 ended up resigning under immense pressure shortly 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:55.539 after making that statement. It's just a staggering 00:20:55.539 --> 00:20:58.079 failure of oversight from top to bottom. Completely. 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:00.000 So what does this all mean? When you look at 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:02.500 the entirety of the Aldrich Ames timeline, the 00:21:02.500 --> 00:21:04.539 biggest takeaway for you listening right now 00:21:04.539 --> 00:21:07.880 is that Ames was not some brilliant, untouchable 00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:10.460 mastermind. He wasn't playing 4D chess against 00:21:10.460 --> 00:21:12.740 the world's greatest spy catcher. Exactly. He 00:21:12.740 --> 00:21:15.680 was a deeply flawed, greedy, shockingly mediocre 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:18.920 employee who simply exploited a system that trusted 00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:21.539 him far too much. He proved that the greatest 00:21:21.539 --> 00:21:24.220 threat to a massive organization isn't always 00:21:24.220 --> 00:21:26.619 a genius hacker breaking through the firewall 00:21:26.619 --> 00:21:29.740 or a highly trained foreign operative. Sometimes 00:21:29.740 --> 00:21:32.259 the most destructive force is just the guy in 00:21:32.259 --> 00:21:34.140 the next cubicle trying to figure out how to 00:21:34.140 --> 00:21:36.539 pay off his credit card bills. It's a sobering 00:21:36.539 --> 00:21:39.259 reality about human nature and institutional 00:21:39.259 --> 00:21:42.259 trust. And it leaves us with something crucial 00:21:42.259 --> 00:21:45.339 to think about. What's that? Aldrich Ames was 00:21:45.339 --> 00:21:47.380 eventually caught because his greed made him 00:21:47.380 --> 00:21:50.430 sloppy. Buying half million dollar houses in 00:21:50.430 --> 00:21:53.390 cash, parking a bright luxury car in the agency 00:21:53.390 --> 00:21:56.529 lot and leaving physical chalk marks on mailboxes. 00:21:56.549 --> 00:21:58.269 Right. He was leaving physical clues everywhere. 00:21:58.609 --> 00:22:01.009 But in a modern world where we spend billions 00:22:01.009 --> 00:22:03.509 on digital security, this raises an important 00:22:03.509 --> 00:22:05.950 question. In a world where we spend billions 00:22:05.950 --> 00:22:08.170 on digital firewalls and high tech security, 00:22:08.529 --> 00:22:11.130 how much of our own security? in our businesses, 00:22:11.230 --> 00:22:14.289 our data, and our lives relies entirely on the 00:22:14.289 --> 00:22:16.509 dangerous assumption that the people already 00:22:16.509 --> 00:22:18.869 inside the building are inherently trustworthy.