The CIA Mole Who Brought US Intelligence to its Knees | True Life Spy Stories

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In the shadowy world of espionage during the Cold War, one man's actions would send shockwaves through the American intelligence community. This video is a chilling exploration of the life and crimes of CIA mole Aldrich Ames, a seemingly unremarkable CIA officer who would become one of the most damaging spies in US history.
From his early life in Wisconsin to his recruitment into the CIA, the documentary delves into the psyche of a man who would betray his country for money and a lavish lifestyle. As a counterintelligence officer, Ames had access to the CIA's most sensitive information. Yet, unbeknownst to his colleagues, he was also a spy for the Soviet Union, compromising more highly classified CIA assets than any other officer until his arrest in 1994.
This video explores Ames' relationship with Maria del Rosario Casas Dupuy, a Colombian national and his second wife, whose extravagant spending habits played a role in Ames's decision to sell secrets to the Soviets. It also examines the devastating impact of his betrayal, which led to the execution of at least ten sources and compromised numerous intelligence operations.
The life of Aldrich Ames is a tale of deception, espionage, and treachery, set against the backdrop of global politics and the Cold War. It's a story that asks how a man sworn to protect his country could turn against it, and how the institutions designed to safeguard the nation failed to detect his deception for so long. This is the story of Aldrich Ames, the spy who hid in plain sight.
#spystories #philipthompson #espionage
References:
• An Assessment of the Aldrich H. Ames Espionage Case and Its Implications for U.S. Intelligence: Report Prepared by the Staff of the Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate
• Betrayal: The Story of Aldrich Ames, an American Spy - Tim Weiner & Others
• Circle of Treason - Sandra Grimes & Another
• The Spy and the Traitor - Ben MacIntyre (limited excerpts relating to Gordievsky's betrayal)
• Various web articles
• Wikipedia entry on Aldrich Ames (relied on extensively as the article is comprehensive and cites many of the above sources).

[@PhilipThompson]

Go to sponsr.is/cs_philip and use code PHILIP to save 25% off today. Thanks to Curiosity Stream for sponsoring today’s video.

[@FOnewmike]

British limey

[@atokishesema9511]

😊

[@saram600]

@@FOnewmike😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@rustcohle6149]

I bet he's jewish

[@shawnprivate5322]

🤨 are u serious...Cams back then was snowy at best

[@plutover9]

Throughout the video, the narrator repeatedly states that Aims is a mediocre and average spy who was promoted solely by chance, but the CIA still took this long to figure out who the mole was, suggesting that perhaps he was a great spy after all, but the CIA doesn't want anyone to know this because it will harm their image.

[@lightbringer9940]

Yeah I would think the greatest spies would be the ones that are invisible or mediocre

[@Rainbow-mi3kw]

Their image will always be evil and crooked both by their enemies and fellow americans. But for those who sacrificed their lives and lived with their code,the badge of honor will never be forgotten.

[@sakilengwenya4472]

Absolutely. Going out of his way to make him Ames look crazy, obviously also beat the polygraph test

[@titorex]

ofc they wont recognize him, pride comes first XD

[@simonemeekins8389]

A lot of it was because the CIA didn't WANT to believe they had a mole. For some reason, it was almost as if they thought they were completely immune to that kind of treachery and betrayal.

[@oro7114]

I love that in this time you could start a job as a painter and decorator and work your way up to being a full blown spy

[@Der_Dolmetscher]

You’d be surprised where and how informants are groomed all over the globe today.

[@geoffreyparker926]

It makes the whole profession seem very amateurish, doesn't it? And I think they took so long to wake up to Ames that it must be so! Read Pete Earley's book, "Confessions of a Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames", ISBN 0-399-14188-X. In it a woman in the CIA (not any of the names in the team shown here: Jeanne Vertefeuille, in fact, who spent ten fruitless years trying to find the mole). She got all the credit, but the travesty and tragedy is that after all that time she hired a young tyro, fresh into the team, and put him on the job of investigating Ames. He decided to start by looking for the money trail, and in three weeks had nailed Ames when he traced the KGB's payments into an account for him, (in Colombia), if I remember correctly. Her team wasted ten years, so many lives, and lost so much vital information passed by Ames, and the new guy in their team did the job in three weeks! And she was the one presented to Clinton, who got all the accolades, when she had been a complete Donkey on the job. And the fact that this ceremony of congratulations took place at all in the face of such a debacle was a travesty and a complete disgrace to the CIA, actually celebrated by a disgrace of a President! What a disgusting outcome, with all the lives of those betrayed by Ames lost, and data vital to National Security lost as well. The young tyro remained unacknowledged, with the exception perhaps of the acknowledgement by Pete Earley of his smart, down to earth, common sense!

[@robinstewart2506]

For a spy to be effective, I would think having working knowledge in several areas would be helpful.

[@mangos2888]

Not possible today!

[@eggysmelly]

twas ever thus

[@DCfreerunner]

Either the luckiest guy alive or the CIA is massively more incompetent than I thought

[@olliegoria]

Dad's old army unit called them "Clowns In Action"

[@geoffreyparker926]

The answer is both! 🫵🏼👍🏼❤️🤠

[@WazZappening]

I was conviced that the CIA was behind the kennedy assasination, and then I atched this...and I have my doubts now lol

[@moxictasculinity]

*was incompetent

[@testingmysoup5678]

​@@moxictasculinityit's much more incompetent now than it was, we rely on British intelligence cause they've gone down hill so much. And British intelligence is truly terrible

[@kateoconnor30030]

My great uncle, Rodney Carlson- CIA head of counter-Soviet intelligence during the 1980s was one of the men responsible for hiring Ames. I never met him but he always saw Ames’ betrayal as one of the worst things to occur in his life and career. Great video.

[@PhilipThompson]

Thanks for sharing that, very interesting!

[@jvaliente9094]

wow small world

[@69Deez_Nutz69]

😂did you just admit for your great uncle's guilt?

[@kateoconnor30030]

@@69Deez_Nutz69 to the contrary, he had no involvement or knowledge of Ames’ betrayal while it occurred. Ames didn’t become such a notorious double agent through having American co-conspirators, we must remember this.

[@El_L38]

@@kateoconnor30030tell me you love me

[@UnquietSlumber]

My neighbor is a former "analyst". I once asked her if she knew him, she said, "Know him? He was head of my branch". She said he was a jerk in person. I guess so!

[@George_Soros.]

You must live in Florida , close enough to the beach 😮

[@tipsywizard7865]

@@George_Soros.😂👌🏻

[@AdventureSam]

‘Former’ - there’s no such thing as ‘former’ CIA 🤣

[@Eatingsundew499]

To think, if Ames just lived within his means he might have never been caught. Poetic but scary none the less

[@thegoat5141]

What I found funny was the jealousy of his superiors to his improved standard of living drew suspicion to him.

[@jacob_90s]

Complacency and overconfidence are deadly

[@sssspider]

@@thegoat5141it’s not necessarily jealousy. If you have a security clearance, you’ll occasionally be required to take security training on how to identify people who may be security risks, and one of the signs is someone suddenly attaining unexplained wealth.

[@slappy8941]

True, but "nonetheless" is one word. Literacy is important.

[@Sunluvr1]

⁠@@slappy8941 I completely agree with you .

[@uriel7203]

This makes me lose all confidence in the CIA. The guy was basically telling everyone that he was involved in illegal activities at best.

[@donsolos]

CIA needs secret money to fund secret operations. Go watch the movie American made with tom cruise

[@terminalpreppie8439]

So when the CIA funded the mass murder of peasants in multiple South American and South East Asian countries, poisoned thousands of American civilians with psychedelics, funded and trained death squads in Afghanistan that murdered room fulls of children, funded Mujahideen, enacted tens of coups of democratically elected leaders throughout the world, that was all fine to you? This is where you draw the line? Hate to break it to ya, but the reason the CIA didn't care this guy was doing illegal shit is because everyone in the CIA does illegal shit. And even if the crimes they commit are technically "legal", it doesn't take away the fact they are a terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of millions since their inception

[@njones8791]

Robert Hanseen the FBI double agent who just died at ADX, outdid this man.

[@criticaljacques2237]

Intel agents, writ large, basically have a license to break most laws that the general citizenry are expected/required to obey... up to and including murder. A lot of their training involves learning skills to avoid being caught (and/or identified) while breaking the law. If they do happen to get caught, their handlers can either bail them out or disown them completely, in which case the agent is on their own... this depends on the nature and necessity (to the mission) of the crime. It's like in the movie 'American Made' (based on the true story of Barry Seal) when SHTF, the protagonist's handler acted as though he had no idea who he was. Washed his hands of him completely.

[@gobblegobble239]

Lmao you had confidence in the CIA? I don't believe it.

[@2jsanc681]

Someone was advancing his career. His story is filled with tons of psychological red flags. Instead he got promotion after promotion.

[@Essdyn]

It's a common thing in corporate and public work structures. Those who underperform but still have some leverage for whatever reason (skills or nepotism) they get fired 'upward' to just get rid of them

[@VinnyUnion]

​@@Essdynit's the main character perk.

[@arandolph826tube]

Or just the routine upward stumble of a mediocre white man.

[@raptorhacker599]

​@@Essdyn😂😂

[@lv1543]

Fall upwards

[@jadams3427]

It is incredible how easily Ames, Hannson and Walker, did so much damage.

[@AJohnSmith]

Boomers did a number on this country.

[@terry4137]

@@AJohnSmithknow your history. This shit was happening and planned way before the boomers came along.

[@ManishKumar-kh1fo]

There may have been someone else in CIA who could have protected Ames all throughout.

[@Hashi88.]

Traitor are killers with immoral and looser are most likely to be deceptive their country and financial greedy can also cause to be in that dirty job. ames is a big Traitor but for how long was he hiding himself impossible there some other CIA officials who were protecting his Espionage acts of betrayal.

[@jamesamelia2812]

The Fourth Man?

[@mmusimapheto2924]

You have a point here! Why would they turn a blind eye to so many daring signs….

[@jamesamelia2812]

@@mmusimapheto2924 I'll tell you why...James Angleton! That deranged @sshole may have been gone for more than a decade but he severly damaged the SE Division and he chased away anyone in counterintelligence who disagreed with his delusional @ss! That is why the Cubans had double agents passing us chickenfeed!

[@BeMa3000]

17:29 ?

[@simearsov]

CIA: Oh look, this dude we arent paying enough to risk his life is living very good, thats weird.

[@HOLYOKEFLATS]

BINGO WHAT A BUNCH OF CLOWN FEKLE

[@TheItchyDani3l]

Are we really surprised that our double agents were exposed by a Soviet double agent? There's something dumbly poetic about this story.

[@modestrocker1]

its almost as if 2 totalitarian nations are pointing fingers at each other and going "no your the bad guy"

[@rmilleriv1]

Lots of folks much better then you died over this, have an ounce of class

[@mohamedsalah6580]

@@rmilleriv1lots of folks on either side have died for the same very thing. What side you’re on just depends on your perspective. He is no better or worse than any soviet spying for the US.

[@krokosaur777]

@@rmilleriv1"have an ounce of class" 🤓🤓🤓

[@MadAtMax.300Blackout]

​@@krokosaur777the narrator rubbed off on him lol

[@bobruiz1242]

He did this all for a woman that xould care less about him just his money what a bozo

[@olliegoria]

the ultimate simp

[@nightfoxh5]

Latinas… ahhh

[@SteRDLK]

Could care less? You mean couldn't, right?

[@amanullahkariapper2503]

Ames seems to have been the perfect traitor, from a communist, ideological perspective. He was a capitalist so short-sighted that he endangered the very system that set up his scale of values (entirely based on matter, it would seem). Just as those Soviet citizens who spied for the West out of ideological conviction that capitalism was, on balance, better, were perfect from the perspective of the West. There would have to be more than just KGB distraction and deception operations behind the impunity with which Ames was able to work for them for so many years. A more senior mole seems very likely. Thank you for this excellent documentary.

[@Jonnybarbs]

Amazing well written

[@colinstewart1432]

Your forgetting one thing : That Ames was counterintelligence. This means he knew how the CIA operated as an insider.

[@amanullahkariapper2503]

@@colinstewart1432 yes, that would definitely have helped him a lot!

[@paulbrown3302]

He became the guy that should’ve caught the guy giving away intelligence…that was the issue here

[@skepziev2565]

CIA agents makes around 60k a year according to google. This is just a recipe for agents to defect. Actually crazy how they are working for one of the most lucrative organizations and getting paid the same as an amazon delivery man. 😭

[@HOLYOKEFLATS]

i was looking for this comment ain’t no way i hell i risk my neck for that tick that u telling me the hair dresser at the mall with lots of clients makes me look like chump change as operative and i’m intelligence .😬😐😕

[@salmanyare2103]

$60K a year in 1980s was satisfactory

[@certifiedyaminspector-dadd6224]

Avg CIA salary is $95k. I'm pretty sure a spy gets paid a lot more

[@karmakile]

thats the whole point...they want people who do it for love or loyalty.. people who aspire to job for a high salary will be easiest to bribe

[@jackschitt6235]

​@@salmanyare2103My brother started with 70K about 30 years ago with the second largest law firm in the USA after finishing second in his law school class. He left for the government after a few years and is still with them. What he does is interesting and important but his salary isn't all that impressive really by today's standards. 30 years after law school and I believe he's still closer to 100K than 200k. U don't get rich as a government employee if if what u r doing is important etc. End of (true) story.

[@blessedjosh4805]

There is a woman behind every great man’s story

[@greenhat7618]

The story of Oleg Gordievsky is written into the book The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, which is quite worth a read, or listening to.

[@rl945]

I read it, an excellent book, a fascinating story that made me hate Aimes with all my guts.

[@jeremiahwilliams7031]

Maybe the CIA had many agents suddenly becoming rich from their association with Colombians. Maybe that’s why no one was dismissed.

[@Blake_.Dryden]

I would’ve left this comment if you hadn’t...😂 I know a Jeremiah Williams from Virginia, very good guy.

[@olliegoria]

US Govt to white kids: "say no to drugs" US Govt to black kids: "today we learning how to cook rock"

[@modestrocker1]

you mean funding the contras that lead the crack epidemic? seems like you missed the important part

[@modestrocker1]

@@olliegoria more like dealers but sure

[@yacined4190]

@@olliegoria muh racsim

[@dantheman5745]

One million views. Congratulations! I've only recently discovered your channel, and have found your presentations utterly engrossing and absolutely top shelf.

[@PhilipThompson]

Thanks so much!

[@jonasghafur4940]

i find it extremely jarring that polygraphs are still held to such a degree of usefulness in US defense, law enforcement and so on. Not only is their efficacy questionable and highly dependent on the operator in the first place, but there are literally boatloads of ways to famoose your way around them. Propanolol and other non-cardioselective beta-adrenergic antagonists (read: old betablockers) can be used to suppress physical symptoms of stress and overexcitement. It’s so good, it’s prescribed off label for stage fright and is used as a doping agent in billiards, pool and snooker. Commonly used sedatives and anxiolytics like Benzodiazepines (Valium, Xanax, Ativan etc.), barbiturates for vet use, as well as narcolepsy and epilepsy medications are even more effective at that. It’s also reported that people make polygraph results unusable by provoking false-positives with stimulants like caffeine, Adderall or Ritalin. Those drugs induce constant activation of the sympathetic nervous system, so the lies are drowned out in the noise of having your heart race from the get go. People even dodged draft like that, devour a whole pack of caffeine tablets before your medical and claim your have anxiety and cardiovascular issues lmfao

[@barkingmad7407]

Reading your remarks is the only redeeming part of watching this appalling train-wreck by the US Intelligence community. Unfortunately, your astute observations will surely be ignored, as they are based on a reasonable and prudent approach.

[@jonasghafur4940]

@@barkingmad7407 thank you for your kind words sir. Due to the fact that i am not a US citizen, i respectfully refrain from joining in on your criticism out of admiration for the one-of-a-kind experiment that are the United States, but i will say that i most definitely get where you are coming from. No doubt about that.

[@maxdorey6713]

Not to mention that when it does catch an actual criminal spy it was disregarded

[@toochangz]

Hire a good lawyer and no judge will side against them on a polygraph. - F Lee Bailey

[@3mhotep]

You would think a CIA administrator like Ames would know polygraph is theater.

[@athensronyrony4083]

he was not a single mole ...someone was helping him...

[@meghan3713]

There always is.

[@MrRyan-wu4jx]

Don’t forget the Soviets did everything they could to keep suspicion away from Ames, that may have been enough on its own for awhile.

[@DM-mq6hx]

Lots of Russian resources

[@etherealenergy9471]

Probably Robert Hannsen I wouldn't be surprised.

[@areaxisthegurkha]

​@@DM-mq6hxresources that exist in the CIA.. Another mole obviously

[@nicolekarmah7103]

The moment he became a drunkard, he had to be laid off. Money is indeed a source of evil. This narration is so great, no uncalled for background voices, he's so calm telling the story. Let me subscribe now

[@hectormunoz6052]

Money is NOT the root of all evil . The LOVE of money is

[@caezero2072]

​@@hectormunoz6052there are many stories of poor parents who become robbers just so their child has money to go to school or things like paying hospital bills... do you think those people love money? So yeah money is the root of evil.

[@jarrodpairgin6886]

Bro everybody in law enforcement is a drunk tf are you talking about. Lol His greed and marrying a gold digger is what got him not the alcoholism.

[@rianweston-dodds6247]

No, we will not let you

[@leexingha]

its like ur also saying woman is a source of evil

[@AdamDylanFoley]

one different perspective would be to think of Ames as a hitman that charges a quarter mill per contract, because of him 10 men died and he was paid $2.5 million so 250k per person, I bet you in a million year he would never view himself in this manner, he didn't kill them directly but he did in-directly and got paid for it so in effect he was kinda like a hitman.

[@RossKempOnYourMum01]

He spent their lives on shoes and handbags for his wife.

[@olliegoria]

​@@RossKempOnYourMum01imagine becoming one of the best spies the US has ever known only to get merked so some Colombian woman can eat lobster

[@eveei]

Weird way of thinking about it

[@dixen9116]

@@eveeiWhy weird? Pretty accurate

[@eveei]

@@dixen9116 It just seems weird, he's nowhere close to a hitman or anything like it. I just don't agree.

[@psmith9789]

There were no CIA cameras pointed at the USSR embassy to catch Ames on his FIRST visit? WHY?!

[@Eloquence00]

The amount of people who go in and out of some embassies is astronomical. There just isn't enough manpower to carefully comb through every piece of information you could gain.

[@lightofchicagoproductionz9012]

Somebody wanted it to hapoen

[@Alphoric]

Genuinely one of the dumbest comments on this platform

[@thomascrabtree]

CCTV was terrible quality back in 80’s, 4 megapixel only became standard now in 2023… Also it was only black and white. You could barely see anything

[@scottashe984]

Still waiting to see the attack on the Pentagon in 2001. They released 4 frames that don't show a jet and they confiscated cctv from the adjacent gas station. The 4 frames weren't released until years later. Maybe they are hiding something... Hmm just maybe..

[@bigfootwojak4393]

There should be the death penalty for this. His greed cost ten men their lives. Deaths that surely involved many hours of torture.

[@wildpleasureswildpleasures2355]

You’re not wrong safe to assume people got injured from this, but then again isn’t it what happens when you work for the devil?

[@HOLYOKEFLATS]

10 men they counted i know more were affected than that

[@daisys8052]

The last few lines about a second-hand jaguar and handbags were an apt summing up of the cynical and unthinking actions of Aims. Humans can be so uncaring about other lives. Incredible, but true.

[@peterj5106]

Not the first & doubtful if he'll be the last either.

[@cct7558]

Okay, now that America is in the full swing of wokeism do you really think it is the best country in the world??? What a fucking joke that country is!

[@rocinante4488]

The spies who were executed by the Soviet Union because of Ames were doing the same, immoral, greedy thing that Ames was. They were Soviet citizens in privileged positions accepting money from the CIA to damage the interests of their country. AKA: “traitors”. Don’t feel bad for them

[@creativeideas012]

Like the see-eye-ay cares for the general public?!

[@danielbakergill]

Oh no, those poor poor traitors.

[@markswift]

No one fired or demoted in the CIA. Typical D.C. and the incompetence that goes on till this day.

[@Jason_The_Man]

So true.

[@So-I-Said]

I've already dealt with my thoughts and feelings regarding Ames yet there were still some surprises in this well-narrated post, thank you.

[@MadelineParker-s8h]

0 accountability for the ones who overlooked and underestimated this dangerous criminal.. The production value here is off the charts .

[@terrygerhart1485]

Reason it took so long to find Aimes is the same why UK MI6 could not see the Cambridge 5. If you do not want to see something you will disregard reality.

[@TerrificLittleSunday]

Some things are too devastating to acknowledge.

[@jalermaling8736]

Excellent comment.

[@hughratsch8879]

0 accountability for the ones who overlooked and underestimated this dangerous criminal.

[@akashbhasin788]

We need to think outside the box. Let me tell you if anyone was dismissed or demoted, KGB would ve tried to poach em. That's why most intelligence agencies avoid upsetting their assets.

[@rasalghul1904]

He did the same everyone else did, just the victims were different. Not rly something to condemn but rather to encourage

[@enzomauro9889]

dangerous criminal? you are delusional, the CIA is the biggest criminal organization in the world after the Mossad

[@AbdullahHashi-kw3qj]

CIA has been involved in many many activities that amount to war crimes over the past 50 yrs, so it is criminal organisation from the legal stand point of many many countries

[@chesspiece81]

For the Central "Intelligence " Agency they were dumb as shit for FAR too long. To me a 5 year polygraph schedule seems way too lenient.

[@bryandsouza9905]

Exactly

[@SimianIndustries]

That's not what intelligence means here

[@nightfire_CSGO]

They also let him fail upwards from being a bloody PAINTER to this sort of position??? Let him keep working as a known alcohol abuser? They were using a polygraph test conductor who was known to be lax or even incompetent?

[@schoeyy5468]

Polygraphs don't work

[@drewv6852]

Fr people who believe in polygraph are dumb as rocks

[@galt67]

Excellent presentation and superb voice over. Thanks for sharing!😊

[@Weeks.]

The voice over is AI...

[@touchofgrey5372]

To me, this lowlife was the most damaging spy in CIA's history. Not only that, but after he was caught his demeanor was still the most arrogant, cynical and spiteful of all. Just by looking at him one can tell how narcissistic he is!

[@KCS-01]

I’m sure it’s not because he knows what the west is really like right?

[@WeWillAlwaysHaveVALIS]

Given the global damage that the organisation has wrought, the phrase "turn about is fair play" comes to mind.

[@areaxisthegurkha]

No couldn't tell, you're just saying it now because he was caught red handed but back then nobody would've known it was him.

[@RocketPropelledWombat]

Defo had some kind of disorder (sociopath / narcissist etc.). I don't know which, but he was definitely a wrong'un.

[@HoldTheDark-o8e]

CIA is a pretty deceptive agency too that causes a lot of mayhem around the world.

[@mancroft]

Excellent. Love the illustrations!

[@leolion6012]

Obviously he was Getting More Layers of Protection than he actually knew he had !! Someone, most likely either the Polygraph tester or someone much higher in Rank was keeping an extra Bubble around him until the heat came on them and then they would give him up!!

[@friskjidjidoglu7415]

To be fair polygraph tests are unreliable, which is why they are inadmissible in court. What if you take one and you just get very nervous because of the pressure of the thing?

[@DeadAndAliveCat]

Every time a polygraph is mentioned some redditor stumbles out of the woodwork yelling "UHMM ACKSHUALLY DID YOU KNOW POLYGRAPHS ARE INADMISSIBLE IN COURT??" We know. Everyone knows. It's common knowledge.

[@Krunkeridleios]

How can something so little brother you that much? You need some help man​@@DeadAndAliveCat

[@datmonkey5680]

@@DeadAndAliveCatit’s not common knowledge, or else he wouldn’t have to explain it, chill out.

[@DeadAndAliveCat]

@@datmonkey5680 "or else he wouldn’t have to explain it" lmao, yes, he in fact didn't have to explain it.

[@greenockscatman]

@@DeadAndAliveCat it's noteworthy that an intelligence agency would use something akin to reading tea leaves to root out suspected moles

[@con1q2w]

What an absolute legend.

[@wildpleasureswildpleasures2355]

Not all heroes were capes…

[@MrRyan-wu4jx]

He’s an idiot who got people killed because he was a simp for a Brazilian woman who didn’t care about him. You need better role models.

[@con1q2w]

@@wildpleasureswildpleasures2355 One man's freedom fighter is another man's 'terrorist'... and we can all watch Star Wars and realize the Rebellion are the good guys....

[@emilyadams1674]

He caused several people to be killed

[@wildpleasureswildpleasures2355]

@@con1q2w I salute Mr Ames for his service

[@pullt]

The morality of the spy/counter spy systems are always interesting to me. Ames is a traitor, a shitbags, the worst guy ever.....but he's basically only burning assets doing the exact same thing he is doing.

[@modestrocker1]

the american government and the departments that work in their interests are hypocrites at best.

[@bobbyallen4555]

I think he is an American Hero...remember Americans betrayed the British Empire and most Americans are White trash that fled the problems in their homeland to take apart of European colonization and imperialism.

[@typerez8132]

You can't really judge a spy on morality

[@pullt]

@@chickenlittle2206 You missed several phrases: "at the end of the day" and "might makes right" would have made your word salad bulkier....

[@typerez8132]

@chickenlittle2206 is keeping an oath designed to brain wash morale tho? Look at the pledge of allegiance its designed to brain was kids

[@cattandneil1504]

Great documentary! Very informative!

[@Lolie.h63]

Finally a great CONTENT without music, thank you 😊

[@crucialmatt]

Crazy he’s still alive 82 years old now

[@HOLYOKEFLATS]

u know what jail?

[@juvezhang1715]

Ransom from overseas keep him living😂

[@Blackcat12853]

Why crazy???? 🤡🤡🤡

[@ganjuhman]

Insane how often he showed / flaunted his deceptive counterpart .. they just weren’t communicating well with other operatives ?? Like how do you send a man to a lie detector over 3 times and flagged positive for deception but the test taker saw this and just let him go about because they thought he was a ‘ good guy ‘ ? That’ll never happen again ..

[@AyoKeyloGaming]

The level of incompetence, makes me think it had to be somebody else in CIA or higher up allowing him to slip pass for so long, but could be plain old ignorance😔

[@colmcillegardner2144]

Ignorance is said to be the most dangerous thing on the planet.

[@orangejjay]

​@@colmcillegardner2144Ignorance is bliss.

[@anonymous-lt3yd]

Why is this not a movie!!? The 2nd best non-fiction narrative I ever read was about this story, "The Spy and the Traitor".

[@tommybahama5656]

Considering the terrible things the CIA have done to their own citizens....

[@sandrasue44]

Covert Operation CIA COINTELPRO , spying on ,even bedrooms and torturing just citizens worldwide. Done as an experiment...nothing but a gestapo training program. MKULTRA, Mind control study on children. Operation Paperclip.

[@deaswe1]

Explain.

[@shoeofobama6091]

and foreign citizens

[@JacobMichaelDavidBenson]

What he did too his own son is evidence enough, his soul only cared about himself, and his ego.

[@teztez9145]

Some people are worth the death penalty. This POS delivered so many people to death he needed the same punishment.

[@eversnajera]

The CIA deals in death, why are you so upset when agents go missing under the same circumstances they have disappeared others?

[@peachtime]

I think it was funny and america deserves it

[@pigslam]

​@@peachtimebased

[@HoldTheDark-o8e]

The people that died were doing the same thing as him. They were in the same game and knew what they were involved in.

[@ariadneschild8460]

This is a great series!

[@anindaahsan454]

This level of incompetence from worlds most supreme intellegencia 😂😂😂

[@MaziarYousefi]

Narration and story telling was great.

[@stevehartman1730]

My brother was Cia he told Mom quote they think they have a mole. In 1968 N Korea took the Pueblo. He worked as code breaker for 3 yrs in Mekong delta, Vietnam.

[@hornedgod2873]

The production value here is off the charts 🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@KristianBjotve]

Power point presentation, lol. But good story

[@morkusmorkus6040]

​@@KristianBjotve With a robo-voice no less.

[@Dr.Pepper001]

The love of money is the root of all evil.

[@sandrasue44]

😢 the love of a frivolous and foolish woman was his.

[@youmang]

Whoever kept giving him high level secretive positions after consecutive sub par performances, is highly suspect (best ratatouille impression)

[@lwells3937]

Just subscribed. This is very informative.

[@Wc_Ritchie]

Thr guys he outed were doing the same exact thing he was doing, leaking information from the other side😂😂

[@smrtguy6479]

This is fantastic, thank you!

[@55tranquility]

A dude who would come to work in bargain basement suits, was a heavy drinker and would get drunk on the job and at best was mediocre at his job, with a number of incidents like leaving official secrets on the subway, and drink driving on his record. Suddenly starts turning up in expensive tailor made suits, buys a Jaguar and openly flaunts this sudden wealth, gets an abnormal amount of calls to his work phone from Soviet Ambassadors, whilst not even bothering to lock his office safe - while at the same time US spies are suddenly taken out in the Soviet Union to the point it becomes impossible for them to recruit informers, moles and spies - and the CIAs response is to scratch its head and promote him. It's not until a Soviet Spy tells them, 'uh you guys need to check out these people they are spying for us' even then it takes them another 5 years to realise it's him!

[@dw1028000]

I came for the spy story, and ended up rewinding to admire the unusual art work. Nice expressive paintings. whoever did them (AI?) it was very well done.

[@PhilipThompson]

Yes, I used Midjourney to create them.

[@orangejjay]

I was noticing and thinking the same thing but then remembered that AI generative art is a thing these days. Looks nice!

[@signalsoldier]

The amount of passes that guy got his mind-boggling

[@daisys8052]

Great documentary! Thanks.

[@MemesNFacts]

Finally a loyal world citizen

[@tootzy-the-roll]

Aaah, governmental incompetence never disappoints.

[@sandrasue44]

😮ain't that the truth

[@roryodonovan4210]

The lady on the left in the picture at 17:33 is absolutely terrifying lmao

[@sawfumz9422]

Captivating narration, well crafted story and really excellent accompanying artwork. Thanks for your work, im going to watch the rest of your videos now

[@BlackEyes87]

29:19 he's like " u only live once " 😂😂

[@7071t6]

noticed even in the 1980's they had a head of cyber security etc? So just think what they have now, the NSA and CIA would have tabs on every single commnet placed on u tube and other platforms etc?

[@adelita2023]

Yes duh

[@vcoona]

Great episode. And a good voice for narration!

[@nightowl5475]

Well, my guess is, they overlooked this guy because he was probably judged as dim-witted and they taught, this guy is too much of an idiot to do that. But, eventually once they zeroed in on him, they knew, this could be our guy. They checked him out along with his wife. A guy making $60k a year, doesn’t live in a house like that and pay cash for it. And you know the irony of the whole thing, this broad he’s married to, couldn’t care less about where he was getting the money, as long as she got all of it. She’s not even all that! What a pathetic loser this guy turned out to be. He got a lot of key people in big trouble. You don’t wanna ever get caught being a traitor to the U.S.S.R. When that Russian double-agent got picked up by Russian Officials, he knew right then and there, he was a dead man. Take notice how they were holding him by the arms and legs. He went totally limp when caught.

[@kirkstable]

Can’t get more humble than naming your agency “center of intelligence” lol

[@jodrizzly1766]

I would personally sell out to any government for such a small amount of money compared to the amount that the heads of our (US) current government make from large corporations for doing their dirty work.

[@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe]

What happened to spies, even traitors able to hold their booze perhaps some loyalty at least to their colleagues and friends.

[@SalehSingħ88]

I second having being able to drink a 8th of jack Daniel’s and not burp to qualify 😂😂

[@asha4736]

Given what the CIA have done across the globe, good on Ames.

[@4thamendment237]

Good on Ames? Shame on Ames, more like. Given the damage that he did to this country he has made YOU less safe. The countermeasures that have to be employed now are going to cost the taxpayers even more, due to Ames. Treason and sabotage cost money.

[@criticaljacques2237]

Traitors are traitors

[@asha4736]

@@criticaljacques2237 he didn't betray my country so 🤷‍‍

[@XevLexa]

Exactly!

[@mmanacguy]

You think CIA can accomplish everything by being morale? I don't think so! You gotta do what you gotta do.

[@walterrudich2175]

What's so outrageous about espionage? Every country does it. As long as something gets hidden away others will go to unveil it.

[@bruno17289]

Holy fuck the CIA can be so incompetent sometimes, how many times they just let him go,veven tough they knew he was lying, he basically wore a I am traitor shirt.

[@javiazar]

Opulence has always been the downfall of every criminal. If he'd not spent so much money nobody would've noticed. All he had to do was keep a low profile.

[@SuperNoticer]

Great video!

[@zexatt]

Very nice video and narration.🎉

[@joncoats2719]

“he handed over copious amounts of cia documents in exchange for money and vodka” cia approves this message.

[@TheRealRusDaddy]

I love that having to pay his ex is what broke him to become a double agent 😂

[@GSXK4]

I lived in the same neighborhood as Ames in upper middle-class Arlington, VA. His house was a little odd because he had red colored window shutters.

[@BoboBadass-z5l]

😮no shit?

[@wisconsinfarmer4742]

wife's choice

[@johnnymac6242]

The fact he is alive shows how failed out country is. Treason was punishable by death at one point.

[@winstonsmith2235]

Many years ago I heard an interview with a former Russian FSB head (just when Ames was sentenced to life) and he was asked about Ames that basically, according to the US, he was working only for the money...I kind of remembered the Russian's reply: "never believe the other side when they are trying assign motivation to a person who betrayed them". Because after decades of watching American made documentaries I get an impression that all Russians working for the CIA are noble, altruistic freedom fighters and all CIA agents working for the Russians are greedy bastards...I don't buy it. The FSB chief was kind of right....Things are not that simple. Just look at Edward Snowden's case...And he was definitely a Russian spy.

[@PhilipThompson]

Fair point... Although in Ame's case it was absolutely about the money and not ideology. One of my recent videos is on Edward Snowden. I'd be interested to hear your take on that.

[@winstonsmith2235]

@@PhilipThompson in his case I have to agree...the evidence of his greed is overwhelming...I heard his interview from prison...he said so himself though I imagine every word of his interview had to be approved by the agency...But overall there is a lot of validity to what I wrote before. We clearly know now that the CIA and the US Government had done some God awful things around the world (and continues to do so) which is enough for some people on the inside to have an ideological grudge against the system. However it is more convenient and easier to portray them as "drunks", "gamblers" etc...soulless types...but the spies from the Russian side as heroic, sober, politically correct and morally sound individuals...I will say one more thing. Sorry for the lengthy rant...Today I can easily imagine some CIA or FBI agents might be disgusted by what they have to do (in light of insane wokeness for instance or American support for the Neo-Nazi regime in Kiev) and they maybe spying for Russia as we speak ...Years later they will be caught, sentenced and portrayed as drunken and immoral characters...

[@winstonsmith2235]

@@PhilipThompson forgot to thank you for your reply and will definitely wait for your take on Snowden. Also, as I understand, Kim Philby and his British buddies were ideological spies and it was basically admitted but only in passing (as I understood from some documentaries)...You should do one on that guy who recently died in prison...Hansen? The FBI guy...He was even bigger traitor than Ames...And more complicated.

[@WazZappening]

26:50 that guy was placed in the witness protection program and now moonlights as a famous hollywood actor named Robert Deniro. /s

[@raging100]

And now they are nothing but a criminal network of fools. What a time to be alive

[@Woodtyper]

So well done, from story line to the exceptionally well done illustrations. Could you identify the illustrator. I would love to be able to search for more work by that talented artist. Thank you.

[@PhilipThompson]

Hello! I made the illustrations myself using Midjourney. They are available on my Buy Me A Coffee page if you're interested :) www.buymeacoffee.com/philipthompson

[@МишаХопин]

7round, and so what 🤔🤷🏻‍♂️ can’t take masks 🎭 presentations anyways. Not my thing at all

[@jamalabdul825]

​@@МишаХопин❤

[@stakkteamofficial1704]

@@PhilipThompson wait you're charging for art you generated with ai???

[@PhilipThompson]

@@stakkteamofficial1704 a number of people have expressed interest in the images, so I made them available as a benefit for supporters of the channel. I've been open about my use of midjourney to create the images.

[@Elonmustard675]

This Curiosity stream you are talking about in the video does it need a main account to sign in or is it like a Subscription thing

[@PhilipThompson]

Hi there. Yes, it is a paid for online streaming service.

[@SiyabongaCebekhulu]

😂😂😂 these are all criminals though 😔 the fact that it was so easy for him to be in the CIA just says he believed he is untouchable

[@scotsrule08]

Great coverage

[@daniellimo4087]

Out of curiosity, did this fellows mistress add sugar in her thing because why didn't he drop her

[@AlexandraDelRio1]

😂😂😂

[@МишаХопин]

Потому-что « Влюблён в Монику» наверное😂

[@andyc9902]

Sex

[@HoldTheDark-o8e]

She gave it to him good in bed. There's no other explanation. He spent $6,000 a month on her phone calls alone...Backs in the 80s! That's insane.

[@SinaLaJuanaLewis]

The narrator's voice is perfection😮❤

[@markoneill9064]

Ames was the quintessential bastard in every sense of the word. Greedy, manipulative, selfish, careless and without remorse or regard to his contemporary’s who suffered and died because of his treachery. The big question is how the fk was this allowed to happen. An intelligence agency that couldn’t or worse, wouldn’t have had the ability to find the rats among the ranks. What an unmitigated disaster.

[@brianssemondo6398]

This was evil and unfairly dangerous. Greed brought a great number of men to the end of their lives. We need to be true. Greed is something we ought to fight

[@jl6086]

😊

[@sethfulton7011]

half a million dollar home on a $60,000/yr income isn’t that crazy for pre-2008 housing crisis loans. the obsession with ppl taking out huge loans on luxury cars priced outside their means craze hadn’t really started yet bc the banks hadn’t felt the need to replace their profits from subprime mortgages with bunk 60 month/12.5% interest loans on $70,000 cars to ppl making $35,000 yet

[@bearwalton]

The CIA is a dirty filthy or ganization.

[@LifE.HAYDER]

what tools did you use for this video

[@AkilJacob]

6k a month on phone calls lol. She could haved traveled home for that much money lol

[@HoldTheDark-o8e]

She must have just shopped and sat on the phone for hours every day.