Aldrich Ames Born : May 26, 1941 Browse All Authors Top 32 quotes by Aldrich Ames 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. Aldrich Ames betrayal espionage giving Foreign Ministry guys don't become agents. Party officials, the Foreign Ministry nerds, tend not to volunteer to Western intelligence agencies. Aldrich Ames volunteer agency party I knew quite well, when I gave the names of our agents in the Soviet Union, that I was exposing them to the full machinery of counterespionage and the law, and then prosecution and capital punishment. Aldrich Ames punishment law names I handed over names and compromised so many CIA agents in the Soviet Union. Aldrich Ames cia-agents unions names 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. Aldrich Ames unions effort political Historians don't really like to carry on speculative debates, but you could certainly argue that the likelihood of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe was extremely, extremely low. Aldrich Ames gdp invasion europe My little scam in April '85 went like this: Give me $50,000; here's some names of some people we've recruited. Aldrich Ames names giving people You might as well ask why a middle-aged man with no criminal record might put a paper bag over his head and rob a bank. I acted out of personal desperation. Aldrich Ames criminals might men 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. Aldrich Ames agency attitude ideas The only thing I ever withheld from the KGB were the names of two agents whom I personally had known and handled and had a particular feeling for. Aldrich Ames kgb names two The Soviet Union did not achieve victory over the West, so was my information inadequate to help them to victory, or did it play no particular role in their failure to achieve victory? Aldrich Ames victory roles play The national security state has many unfair and cruel weapons in its arsenal, but that of junk science is one which can be fought and perhaps defeated. Aldrich Ames junk defeated weapons