Events and Indicators of Threats: The Aldrich Ames Espionage

3-1 Journal: Events and Indicators of Threats One event that was a major security risk for the United States was the Aldrich Ames Espionage Case. A big indicator in this case was the unexplained wealth that this agent had despite his job as a federal agent. "Ames was a CIA case officer, who spoke Russian and specialized in the Russian intelligence services, including the KGB, the USSR's foreign intelligence service" (FBI, 2016). Ames received more than $1 million in compensation for giving the KGB classified information between 1985 and 1993. At least 10 CIA agents within the Soviet Union were executed as a result of Ames's spying; ultimately, he revealed the name of every U.S. agent operating in the Soviet Union (Britannica, 2022). Although the CIA was aware of a problem, they were hesitant to contemplate the possibility of an inside spy within their organization. Eventually, the CIA and FBI opened an investigation on Ames. "Searches of Ames's residence revealed documents and other information linking Ames to the Russian foreign intelligence service" (FBI, 2016). In the end, Ames was convicted of espionage and sentenced to incarceration for life without the possibility of parole. I believe different steps should have been taken. Since the CIA was aware of a security risk and knew there was a potential spy in their organization, their top priority should have been finding the person who was responsible for the leaks of classified information. Another step that should've been taken was that since Ames was a federal agent with access to classified information, the CIA should've been able to figure out who had the high security clearance to get the classified information without being noticed.