During the Cold War, few betrayals shook the United States intelligence community like that of Aldrich Ames, a CIA counterintelligence officer who sold secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia. Ames’s espionage compromised countless agents, led to the execution of American assets, and dealt one of the harshest blows to U.S. intelligence in history. Ames joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1962 and rose through the ranks, specializing in Soviet counterintelligence. By the mid 1980s, frustrated by low pay, debt, and personal ambition, he began secretly contacting the KGB. He offered highly classified information in exchange for money, receiving more than two and a half million dollars over nine years, making him one of the highest paid foreign agents in Soviet history. He used the funds to buy a luxury home, expensive cars, and designer clothes, all while working at the heart of the CIA’s Soviet division. The consequences were devastating. Ten CIA sources inside the Soviet Union were arrested and executed. Entire networks were dismantled, and several long running operations collapsed almost overnight. Ames revealed the names of key double agents, the structure of U.S. intelligence in Moscow, and even details of surveillance technology, giving the KGB a deep advantage during a critical period of the Cold War. Despite his sudden wealth and declining work performance, internal oversight failed to flag him. His senior position, access to sensitive files, and the CIA’s culture of trust allowed him to operate freely for nearly a decade. In 1994, after a defector’s warning and a joint FBI and CIA investigation, Ames was arrested outside his home in Arlington, Virginia. He pled guilty and received a life sentence without parole. His wife, Rosario Ames, who had assisted him, was sentenced to five years. Ames’s case remains a symbol of how one man’s greed and arrogance can unravel an entire intelligence system. #History #USHistory #DomesticEspionage #USA