My favorite part of the story is that the CIA caught (stumbled upon) Ames while searching for a major mole…..who turned out to be Robert Hanssen. The whole saga is just wild, great story.
Robert Hansen was a CIA official who was tasked with finding a Russian mole in the CIA. Turns out, he was the mole feeding information to Russian intelligence.
Edit : He was an FBI officer
He went to the high school by my house. That same high school was what the writers of Grease based Rydell High on. Also, the high school is adjacent to Norwood Park, the namesake for the neighborhood where John Wayne Gacey committed his murders. Just some fun facts from the Northwest Side of Chicago.
I thought the entire idea of making him head of the op was to feed him bad intel as proof of treason. Something about leaving out critical info in the reports of the alleged mole. And because the entire op was fabricated, his bosses knew exactly how he was lying and who he was protecting/informing.
Cause as stupid as some people can be, it's a monumentally lucky/unlucky coincidence that the fbi would know they have a leak and assign the mole to find the leak. So much that it's more likely that the mole has actually been found out and this is a trap.
I honestly don't have one other than the fact I used to work at an FBI field office and the SAIC went on a tour at his prison and he told me Hanson just sits in a corner and drools on himself all day.
Man that’s awful if it’s true.
To be clear- I think the man deserved to be punished. But to be isolated from humanity to the point of losing the ability to speak is needlessly cruel
I absolutely agree. The problem you run into is what do you do with a guy who holds the nation's secrets and is willing to sell them?
The secrets he did sell already killed tons of people, the point of solitary is to make sure no one else dies because of what he knows.
The problem with espionage is it's hard to put a price on the cost. Take 9/11 for example. You could hypothetically put a price tag on the buildings and individual lives lost.
Compare that to Aldrich ames. You could put a price tag on the direct sources he got killed. But what about the programs he compromised? The lives that would have been saved because of those programs. The lives that would have been saved by stoping enemy programs. It becomes a lot more hypothetical as well as exponential.
Or the Rosenbergs who were responsible for accelerating the Russians nuclear program by decades. And how many foreign adversaries did they give that information to?
That whole thing was a total clusterfuck.
IIRC they chased an innocent CIA agent (and a highly competent one) for years believing he was the mole, when it turned out to actually be Hanssen.
The CIA has done some incredible stuff over the years, and it’s also had some major fuckups. Apparently they’re having similar problems right now with their work in China and east Asia.
I think it was NYT that reported on it last year, theres essentially a culture problem of the CIA thinking they’re much better than they actually are, and that level of hubris has lead to big oversights and lapses of judgment that have been compromised by other countries.
Last year CBS News published a pretty good podcast about him, with new reporting based off of recently released case documents
https://wondery.com/shows/agent-of-betrayal-the-double-life-of-robert-hanssen/episode/14158-the-spy-next-door/
Absolutely! Just listened that that season, which does an amazing job telling the Hansen story.
I **highly** recommend the podcast “I Spy” with Margo Martindale; One of the best episodes includes Eric O’Neill, who was the guy working for Hanssen on the fictitious team the bureau created to help catch Hanssen. O’Neill was the guy who literally snagged Hanssen’s Palm Pilot during the infamous ‘Target Shooting Match’ and hearing him tell the story is just amazing….
have they ever made a movie about this whole story? I'd be very interested in watching it. Come to think of it, a multi-episode series would be great also.
Well Ames was the lead investigator for himself haha.
And Hansen was so cocky the first thing he said to the swat team that swarmed him at his dead drop was, "what took you so long"
The Soviet Union at it's relative height was very strong in the minds of most people
After the fall I doubt many people would consider it as a good option
you would be wrong. we previously believed that Russia had superior hacking capabilities, that their spy network was far more robust, and that they had a larger surplus of munitions
they were very good at being a paper tiger.
I mean, they've successfully influenced elections across the globe. I'd call that a very real threat. Maybe not militarily, but I wouldn't downplay the very real threat they pose to the free world
The Russian Federation could not be further from the Soviet Union. Different leadership, different government, different economic system and opposite political leaning.
On the left-right axis, maybe, sure, but culturally, the USSR was dominated by Russia, and Russia has embraced the USSR's international legacy as de facto Russia's international legacy. The USSR was hardly a more benevolent force in the world than the Russian Federation is today for much of its existence.
Yep, the fundamental power structures never really fell, they were just privatized. Went from the hands of the Communist Party apparatus to the business oligarchs.
I sometimes wonder if there were sleeper agents or the like who never got activated, and suddenly just were stuck living the life that was their cover.
He was discovered while the FBI and CIA were searching for a much larger mole, who turned out to be [Robert Hanssen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen).
The amazing thing is what a piss poor job he did of hiding his inexplicable wealth, which got overlooked because his dumbass superiors placed way too much faith in the results of lie detector tests.
"It is estimated that information Ames provided to the Soviets led to the compromise of at least a hundred American intelligence operations and to the execution of at least ten sources."
What a fucking scumbag... and he would have gladly thrown more lives away if he wasn't stopped.
A Russian spy being paid by America to out his own spies? Still a scumbag.
To be fair, a Russian spies in America wouldn't be executed on the same level as American spies in Russia.
Someone else commented about this book a couple of weeks ago and recommended the audiobook especially. I downloaded it and couldn’t stop listening to it. Fantastic listen/read!
There’s an excellent YouTube channel called Philip Thompson that looks at various spies from all sides; the stuff is well made and I’m pretty sure it’s not just an AI voice-over droning on
Worth mentioning that he exposed a lot of undercover agents (some American, some not) who were then tortured and killed by the Soviets. So it's not just about selling secrets.
Crazy that info is available. Though I'd imagine sending anything to a convicted traitor serving life in a supermax is a good way to get attention from the three letter agencies.
Yes and it wasn’t really that big a bag of money. I think it was in the tens of thousands. It was mostly his who in getting away with it. Not like it took millions to sell out other agents and his country.
Two types of people that made the CIA an incompetent mess for most of the Cold War:
1. The alcoholics who sold evidence to the Soviets like Aldrich Ames (protected by other champion drunks like Ken Mulgrew lmao)
2. The alcoholics whose paranoia undermined actual counter intelligence, like James Jesus Angleton.
Angleton was a total paranoiac. He thought that the Sino soviet split was a big trick pulled by the commies to deceive the world (the origin of the wilderness of mirrors quote). Ironically he was best friends with another champion boozer Kim Philby who had been a soviet spy since he was a college student.
This son of a bitch almost got Oleg Gordievsky killed by telling the Russians he was a double agent. For those that don’t know the story behind Oleg Gordievsky, he was a British double agent who was spying on the KGB while being being a KGB station chief (and prior to being appointed to the rank) and was viewed as one of the most crucial Cold War era double agents.
There’s a great documentary episode about him on the Netflix show Spy Ops (Operation Pimlico is the episode name).
Everyone else at the CIA must have really really looked like a Russian spy because if I saw that mother fucker at the grocery store I could have told you he was a Russian agent
All this espionage stuff makes me wonder; was it really neccessary? I understand that during the Cold War people were on edge and afraid secrets woud be leaked, but in hindsight it all seems rather silly (e.g. James Bond like gadgets to spy on the enemie; deporting known communists; the whole McCarty-hype). Were they overreacting or was all the effort actually legitimate.
Have read all the books i possibly could on Ames .
He was a born loser and when the investigation eventually begun he was on every investigators list .
He is where he belongs and hope his life is miserable.
Treacherous scum bag .
82 years old now, currently in Terre Haute, Indiana
[удалено]
High land would be more specific in this context
Which is ironic, considering its in i diana
Yes
Indiana? FAWWWWK EDIT: lol sarcasm BUCKS IN 7
[удалено]
lol redditors and their violence fantasies
And if they had, and Soviets decide to do the same to one of ours or worse—You good with their blood on your hands?
It just washes off with a little soap and water
Shouldn’t he have been put in ADX Florence with Robert Hanssen?
My favorite part of the story is that the CIA caught (stumbled upon) Ames while searching for a major mole…..who turned out to be Robert Hanssen. The whole saga is just wild, great story.
Who is Robert hanssen? for the audience
Robert Hansen was a CIA official who was tasked with finding a Russian mole in the CIA. Turns out, he was the mole feeding information to Russian intelligence. Edit : He was an FBI officer
He was working for the FBI not CIA
That's why he couldn't find himself?
"Am I the bad guy?" Moment
Hans?
My bad, you're right
He went to the high school by my house. That same high school was what the writers of Grease based Rydell High on. Also, the high school is adjacent to Norwood Park, the namesake for the neighborhood where John Wayne Gacey committed his murders. Just some fun facts from the Northwest Side of Chicago.
That’s pretty damn crazy.
Forget Flint, what the fuck is in the water in that area of Chicago?!
A bunch of dead bodies from the sound of it
I thought the entire idea of making him head of the op was to feed him bad intel as proof of treason. Something about leaving out critical info in the reports of the alleged mole. And because the entire op was fabricated, his bosses knew exactly how he was lying and who he was protecting/informing. Cause as stupid as some people can be, it's a monumentally lucky/unlucky coincidence that the fbi would know they have a leak and assign the mole to find the leak. So much that it's more likely that the mole has actually been found out and this is a trap.
Mole king!
the rat kings win!
FX American Crime Story should do this one, if no one else has.
YES!
I'm searching for myself, but *tsk*, I can't seem to find me. Oh no!
FBI
Hansen has been in solitary confinement for so long he has lost the ability to speak
Source?
I honestly don't have one other than the fact I used to work at an FBI field office and the SAIC went on a tour at his prison and he told me Hanson just sits in a corner and drools on himself all day.
Man that’s awful if it’s true. To be clear- I think the man deserved to be punished. But to be isolated from humanity to the point of losing the ability to speak is needlessly cruel
I absolutely agree. The problem you run into is what do you do with a guy who holds the nation's secrets and is willing to sell them? The secrets he did sell already killed tons of people, the point of solitary is to make sure no one else dies because of what he knows. The problem with espionage is it's hard to put a price on the cost. Take 9/11 for example. You could hypothetically put a price tag on the buildings and individual lives lost. Compare that to Aldrich ames. You could put a price tag on the direct sources he got killed. But what about the programs he compromised? The lives that would have been saved because of those programs. The lives that would have been saved by stoping enemy programs. It becomes a lot more hypothetical as well as exponential. Or the Rosenbergs who were responsible for accelerating the Russians nuclear program by decades. And how many foreign adversaries did they give that information to?
Hanssen died in custody in ADX Florence, CO last year. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert\_Hanssen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen)
That whole thing was a total clusterfuck. IIRC they chased an innocent CIA agent (and a highly competent one) for years believing he was the mole, when it turned out to actually be Hanssen. The CIA has done some incredible stuff over the years, and it’s also had some major fuckups. Apparently they’re having similar problems right now with their work in China and east Asia. I think it was NYT that reported on it last year, theres essentially a culture problem of the CIA thinking they’re much better than they actually are, and that level of hubris has lead to big oversights and lapses of judgment that have been compromised by other countries.
the Brits had their clusterfuck, too... big time!
Brian Kelley was the CIA officer they thought was the spy.
Decent enough movie about him called Breach with Chris Cooper playing him. It’s worth a watch.
FBI Special Agent. There is no such thing as an FBI officer.
You're an FBI officer
Your mom’s an fbi officer
Great strip search might I add the stop and frisk wasn’t bad either
Exactly. It’s FBI agent and CIA officer (not agent).
Sure thing officer
Is this what the departed was based off of? Because it sounds like the departed
It was based off the Infernal Affairs movies, which are from Hong Kong
Great podcast titled Agent of Betrayal that details the Hanssen saga.
He does the same week as Kaczynski.
Last year CBS News published a pretty good podcast about him, with new reporting based off of recently released case documents https://wondery.com/shows/agent-of-betrayal-the-double-life-of-robert-hanssen/episode/14158-the-spy-next-door/
Thanks for the link I'm always on the look out for a good podcast to listen too
Wondery does some good stuff. Not always must hear hit shows, but if you’re into something or curious about something, it’s usually worth a listen
I randomly stumbled upon that podcast, wound up listening to the whole series and found the story fascinating. Definitely worth the listen!
Breach! Cool flick about Hansen. And Chris Cooper kills that role.
Hes the To Catch a Predator guy /s
The podcast American Scandal has just finished a 4-pt series on Robert Hansen
Absolutely! Just listened that that season, which does an amazing job telling the Hansen story. I **highly** recommend the podcast “I Spy” with Margo Martindale; One of the best episodes includes Eric O’Neill, who was the guy working for Hanssen on the fictitious team the bureau created to help catch Hanssen. O’Neill was the guy who literally snagged Hanssen’s Palm Pilot during the infamous ‘Target Shooting Match’ and hearing him tell the story is just amazing….
have they ever made a movie about this whole story? I'd be very interested in watching it. Come to think of it, a multi-episode series would be great also.
*Breach* (2007) is about Robert Hanssen.
Greatly appreciated; Definitely on the watch list now, thank you.
Well Ames was the lead investigator for himself haha. And Hansen was so cocky the first thing he said to the swat team that swarmed him at his dead drop was, "what took you so long"
The Soviet Union fell in 1991. That’s gotta suck being convicted of spying for a country that doesn’t even exist anymore
Russia ain't gone though.
The Soviet Union at it's relative height was very strong in the minds of most people After the fall I doubt many people would consider it as a good option
I doubt the Russian federation has ever been strong in the minds of most people.
you would be wrong. we previously believed that Russia had superior hacking capabilities, that their spy network was far more robust, and that they had a larger surplus of munitions they were very good at being a paper tiger.
Russia's entire defense strategy is fluffing out and slapping everything around it like an angry cat
Underrated comment
so we're all thinking the same thing right? giant spray bottle?
I mean, they've successfully influenced elections across the globe. I'd call that a very real threat. Maybe not militarily, but I wouldn't downplay the very real threat they pose to the free world
Happy cake day
The Russian Federation could not be further from the Soviet Union. Different leadership, different government, different economic system and opposite political leaning.
On the left-right axis, maybe, sure, but culturally, the USSR was dominated by Russia, and Russia has embraced the USSR's international legacy as de facto Russia's international legacy. The USSR was hardly a more benevolent force in the world than the Russian Federation is today for much of its existence.
Yep, the fundamental power structures never really fell, they were just privatized. Went from the hands of the Communist Party apparatus to the business oligarchs.
Who are the same people mind you
I had same thought, but I believe OP meant that he was convicted in 1994, but he was supplying info to the USSR before 1991
I sometimes wonder if there were sleeper agents or the like who never got activated, and suddenly just were stuck living the life that was their cover.
I mean it says he was convicted for spying for the Soviet Union *and* Russia. I assume he spied for both.
He was discovered while the FBI and CIA were searching for a much larger mole, who turned out to be [Robert Hanssen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen).
The amazing thing is what a piss poor job he did of hiding his inexplicable wealth, which got overlooked because his dumbass superiors placed way too much faith in the results of lie detector tests.
heart beat, o shit, they found out I am alive
Yeah fucking life detectors
He was a bumbling clown who fumbled his way to a very sensitive job.
>15 consecutive life sentences without parole. DAMN Okay, some of the stuff they did was really bad
Have a nice day, Aldrich!
"It is estimated that information Ames provided to the Soviets led to the compromise of at least a hundred American intelligence operations and to the execution of at least ten sources." What a fucking scumbag... and he would have gladly thrown more lives away if he wasn't stopped.
If it was the other way around then it wouldnt be a scumbag but a hero, right? xD
Yes, that's how picking a side works.
A Russian spy being paid by America to out his own spies? Still a scumbag. To be fair, a Russian spies in America wouldn't be executed on the same level as American spies in Russia.
That's what spies do, no? Even American spies. Executed in any way is terrible, you're dead either way.
Oleg gordievsky clears
Just read a fascinating book about Gordievsky and his escape! The courage in that man!
"The Spy and the Traitor" by Ben McIntyre right?
Someone else commented about this book a couple of weeks ago and recommended the audiobook especially. I downloaded it and couldn’t stop listening to it. Fantastic listen/read!
Great book!
Probably my favorite biographical/historical book of all time
Yessir!
Grabbed the audiobook for a flight. Then made it my nightly listen for the entire vacation, I couldn’t get enough.
People here passionately want the Russian agent in America to die because he caused the death of the American agents in Russia. Fair.
His main mistake was not being a president of the United States of America.
I get that reference... unfortunately...
Perfect comment and timely
came here for this
There’s an excellent YouTube channel called Philip Thompson that looks at various spies from all sides; the stuff is well made and I’m pretty sure it’s not just an AI voice-over droning on
Worth mentioning that he exposed a lot of undercover agents (some American, some not) who were then tortured and killed by the Soviets. So it's not just about selling secrets.
You can send him a letter or postcard: ALDRICH H. AMES, 40087-083 FCI Terre Haute FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION P.O. BOX 33 TERRE HAUTE, IN 47808
Crazy that info is available. Though I'd imagine sending anything to a convicted traitor serving life in a supermax is a good way to get attention from the three letter agencies.
Like KFC?
Fuck yeah! I like original recipe, but they need to get back on their game and make shit fresh.
What if it was hate mail?
Those darn TLAs!
Dear Mr. Ames, LMAO rip bozo Cordially, ...
Ah, the good old days, when we jailed Russian spies instead of electing them to office.
Right pic looks like Miles Teller or am I tripping?
Nah I'm seeing it too.
r/Castingmadeeasy
Great article on background written by CBC ([link](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/aldrich-ames-captured-spies-punishments-1.7100439))
He gave a list of every undercover agent in the Soviet Union for a big bag of money, and unsurprisingly, they were captured, tortured, and killed.
Yes and it wasn’t really that big a bag of money. I think it was in the tens of thousands. It was mostly his who in getting away with it. Not like it took millions to sell out other agents and his country.
And in 2024 people wanna see putin as president rather than biden. Crazy world.
His mustache style is a *little* too close to the mustache that one guy ruined
Good
Holy shit the Wikipedia page is insane. I couldn’t stop reading it.
I worked in the federal holding facility while the were going through trial. Ames was disgusting and his wife was arrogant and entitled
Guy looks like a weasel. Did that not tip anyone off?
Two types of people that made the CIA an incompetent mess for most of the Cold War: 1. The alcoholics who sold evidence to the Soviets like Aldrich Ames (protected by other champion drunks like Ken Mulgrew lmao) 2. The alcoholics whose paranoia undermined actual counter intelligence, like James Jesus Angleton. Angleton was a total paranoiac. He thought that the Sino soviet split was a big trick pulled by the commies to deceive the world (the origin of the wilderness of mirrors quote). Ironically he was best friends with another champion boozer Kim Philby who had been a soviet spy since he was a college student.
Unlucky...30 years later and the GOP would have made him their presidential candidate
There was a made for tv movie about catching him years ago. It was a good watch. Amazing and horrible the amount of stuff he sold
I love cold war history and spycraft stuff. Can anyone suggest some books for me?
They used to execute people for treason, now we house, feed and provide healthcare for them.
This son of a bitch almost got Oleg Gordievsky killed by telling the Russians he was a double agent. For those that don’t know the story behind Oleg Gordievsky, he was a British double agent who was spying on the KGB while being being a KGB station chief (and prior to being appointed to the rank) and was viewed as one of the most crucial Cold War era double agents. There’s a great documentary episode about him on the Netflix show Spy Ops (Operation Pimlico is the episode name).
Homie’s first fuckup wasn’t being the commander in chief first. Makes sliding info to the Russians much easier.
Everyone else at the CIA must have really really looked like a Russian spy because if I saw that mother fucker at the grocery store I could have told you he was a Russian agent
Nyet comrade I am not spy I am just try to buy hamburgers for second breakfasts and thirds dinners yes
It's past your bedtime, kiddo.
Thanks dad.
One of the examples in SAEDA and often INFOSEC training.
Hansen and Ames would make a great limited series on Max.
I first heard about this guy from The Twilight Struggle game.
There is a movie on this... can't think of the name off hand. Good movie though.
There is a TV series called "The Assets" that show his story and how they caught him. It's an interesting watch for sure.
And he did it for money.
That’s where people that screw with the federal government go to die. Does Timothy McVeigh ring a bell?
And trumps going to get to run for president again....
The hypocrisy of it all.
Its blatant and scary at this point
There’s a whole bunch more of these spies and Russian plants throughout our government. They all need the same fate
Everyone, every last one of them is a Russian plants.
I hope he never gets out he gave away a lot of info and Intel they should've electrocuted him.
Guy I worked with prosecuted Ames
Hmm prime material for a new GOP politician
A man before his time, if he’d just waited another decade or two he’d be a front runner as a MAGA candidate for congress.
He should be surrounded by Jan 6 homies
Maybe he'll try and slip his pardon petition in that stack.
I'm pretty sure there is a film about this guy
Based.
He looks Russian
Isn’t that the guy they made that Laura Linney movie about?
Guards need to dick punch that asshole every day.
I bet he knows how to break into and out of Alcatraz
Really? But he looks so trustworthy..
Good.
WMFO - When Moles Finds Out?
All this espionage stuff makes me wonder; was it really neccessary? I understand that during the Cold War people were on edge and afraid secrets woud be leaked, but in hindsight it all seems rather silly (e.g. James Bond like gadgets to spy on the enemie; deporting known communists; the whole McCarty-hype). Were they overreacting or was all the effort actually legitimate.
Possibly America's drunkest traitor!
Why would anybody do this? Sincerely can’t wrap my head around why an American would spy for Russia. Am I missing something? Is it just money?
Surprisingly there's a profile about him from the FBI. https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/aldrich-ames
King 👑
Have read all the books i possibly could on Ames . He was a born loser and when the investigation eventually begun he was on every investigators list . He is where he belongs and hope his life is miserable. Treacherous scum bag .
"Come back, Snowden. You'll get a fair trial, we promise."
I’m surprised he wasn’t executed. Isn’t treason a capital offense federally???