Confessions of a Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames [Hardcover]

Pete Earley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 1997

The author of Family of Spies draws on interviews with KGB spy Aldrich Ames and the agents who caught him to offer a thorough account of the man and the unprecedented damage he did to the CIA. 80,000 first printing. $75,000 ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Ames was a top CIA officer with a great deal of knowledge about U.S. spies in the Soviet Union when he was arrested for espionage in 1994. Because of his treachery, a number of spies for the agency were arrested and several killed. Earley (Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring, LJ 11/15/88) spent 50 hours interviewing Ames and talked with his KGB handlers and the CIA mole hunters who tracked him down. The result is a thoroughly researched, detailed account of Ames's secret activities and the U.S. counterintelligence team's frustrating but ultimately successful investigative efforts. The narrative is interspersed with quotations from people involved in the case or lengthy statements by Ames, some of which are very self-serving. Why did Ames do it? Greed and personal insecurity seem to be good answers. This is interesting and fast reading, but it needs an index. Recommended.?Daniel Blewett, Loyola Univ. Lib., Chicago
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile

Double agent Aldrich Ames fed the KGB sensitive information for many years, resulting in the death of many U.S. agents in Russia. By way of rare and invaluable interviews, Pete Earley has formulated the most accurate and detailed summary of the events that led to Ames's arrest. Edward Holland painstakingly guides the listener through the complicated web of Ames's life, from his early experiences in Burma with his double agent/professor father to his ultimate arrest. Holland's grandfatherly narration of Ames's transcendence from wide-eyed schoolboy to frustrated and self-justifying double agent almost convinces the listener that Earley was simply sick and tired of participating in a world of bureaucratic incompetence and hypocrisy. This sympathetic interpretation depicts a man who lost the meaning and purpose of his work and, ultimately, his direction in life. B.J.P. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 364 pages
• Publisher: Putnam; 1st edition (February 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039914188X
• ISBN-13: 978-0399141881
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #494,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pete Earley is a former Washington Post reporter and a New York Times bestselling author. His book Circumstantial Evidence helped release an unfairly sentenced man and won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Social Justice and an Edgar(r) Award.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Letter From a Friend, April 22, 2004

By 

Dennis Dewall "borwall" (Vienna, Austria) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Confessions of a spy: the real story of aldrich ames (Paperback)

Having borrowed a copy from a colleague, whose book contained signatures of all those who took part in this long-lasting investigation on behalf of the CIA, I wrote to a friend, who some thirty years ago occupied the same position as Rick Ames, i.e. he was a CI chief at the SE Division. His answer may be interesting not only to Mr Earley but to many readers of this well written and useful book. My friend permitted me to quote him and I do it with pleasure.
'Hard to know where to begin to comment on the despicable Aldrich Ames. First, his actions. His was the particularly venemous form of treason that doesn't just expose hidden details of science or industry or political planning--which some rationalize as spreading necessary knowledge or
improving the prospects of peace. What he was doing, instead, was destroying the day to day work of his own colleagues and friends, murdering individuals as selectively as if he were aiming a gun at each of their heads, and clearly and directly diminishing the security of his own country (moreover, a democracy no more imperfect than any other). That he did such
a colossal thing simply for money suggests not just disloyalty but an extraordinary, almost inhuman, lack of conscience, decency or morals. In other words, a monster.
By the way, I don't accept justification by comparison with similar revelations from the other side in the Cold War. There was not only the difference in regimes east and west, but especially in punishments. Certain execution (and punishment of families) cannot be compared with a few years in a Western prison.
I suppose one could also comment on the degree of Ames's access. His job was somewhat similar to one I held a generation earlier, and I can testify that he knew, or could find out, just about everything we were doing clandestinely against our principal adversary. Seen from the point of view of the KGB as a counterintelligence organism, he was prettty close to perfectly placed.
A fascinating aspect of the case is the blindness of CIA to this menace despite blatant signs. "No man so blind as him who doesn't want to see"--but in this case, "seeing" was the paid responsibility of many within CIA and the prime mission of some. That they failed, almost willfully, tells you all you need to know about the capacity of Americans in the field of counterintelligence. One old vet told a reporter, "This
couldn't have happened in Bagley's time." Indeed, I would have forced their goddam noses down into the smell of treason that filled the air for nine years before Ames was finally caught--though maybe I wouldn't have succeeded any better than I did under somewhat similar circumstances in my own time (...)."
To this honest and professional comment, which I fully support, I'd only like to add that one crucial element is missing in Mr Earley's narration, and that is the fact, that Ames would probably be never identified as a spy if it were not for a Russian defector, who brought the final evidence to the otherwise dying investigation. So a proud CIA team featured on the photo should not actually be proud, but ashamed.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ames, The Whiner, December 16, 1999

By 

Thomas P. Connolly (Richmond, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Confessions of a spy: the real story of aldrich ames (Paperback)

I cannot add very much that hasn't already been stated in these spaces. The reader, however, must remain aware that this book is very self-serving to Mr. Ames. Like John Walker, he finds excuses for his abominable actions by blaming others: the CIA, the federal bureaucracy, our "consuming society," his wife, his mother-in-law, etc. The book, however, is very well written and informative. It is well worth reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Confessions of a spy: the real story of aldrich ames (Paperback)

Confessions of a Spy captured every aspect of the spy life of Aldrich Ames. It was fantastic. Even reading this in 7th grade, I had no problems understanding it. The book showed exactly what both sides were up to, and kept the pages turning. Outstanding.