Overview
- A U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesperson confirmed Ames died Monday in a Maryland facility at age 84, with the cause to be determined by autopsy.
- Ames, a 31-year CIA veteran, pleaded guilty in 1994 and received life without parole for spying for Moscow from 1985 until his arrest.
- Prosecutors and the Justice Department say his disclosures compromised operations and led to the deaths of about a dozen double agents.
- He admitted receiving roughly $2.5 million, with conspicuous spending that helped trigger the FBI probe, which documented chalk signals, a Bogotá meeting, and secret home searches before his Feb. 21, 1994 arrest.
- His wife, Rosario, pleaded guilty to assisting and served 63 months, while the scandal prompted CIA leadership upheaval, including Director James Woolsey’s resignation and related diplomatic expulsions.