If we are depending on the CIA for our security we may be in big trouble

[NNN0LHI]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldrich_Ames

Aldrich Ames

Aldrich Hazen Ames (born May 26, 1941) is a former Central Intelligence Agency counter-intelligence officer and analyst, who, in 1994, was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and later Russia.

As early as 1985, the CIA's network of Soviet-bloc agents began disappearing at an alarming rate. The CIA noticed that something was very wrong, but was reluctant to admit that there was a mole in the agency. Initial investigations were far more focused on a communications breach caused by Soviet bugs or by a broken code. By 1990, the CIA was certain that there was a mole, but could not find the source. Recruitment of new Soviet agents came almost to a halt.

The CIA was harshly criticized for not focusing on Ames sooner, given the dramatic increase in his standard of living. One of Ames's co-workers (also a friend of his wife) noted that Mrs Ames was able to make payment in full for drapes in their house, even though that co-worker (in similar circumstances) was obliged to pay in installments. Despite Ames's official salary of $60,000 USD he was able to afford

A $540,000 house in Arlington, Virginia, paid for in cash;

A $60,000 Jaguar car;

Monthly phone bills exceeding $6,000, mostly calls by Ames's wife to her family in Bogotá, Colombia;

Tailored suits replacing Ames's former 'bargain basement' clothes, conspicuously better than those of his CIA colleagues;

A superior credit score — Ames maintained premium credit cards whose minimum monthly payment exceeded his monthly salary.

[jmowreader]

1. "Living beyond your means" is the biggest tipoff someone's spying, and the CIA blew it with Ames

You would have thought they'd catch him earlier, but one would be wrong.

There are something like fifteen to twenty different Cold War spies, including James Hall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hall_III), Robert Hanssen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen), Jonathan Pollard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard), Harold James Nicholson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_James_Nicholson), and John Anthony Walker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Walker).