Sellout: Aldrich Ames and the Corruption of the CIA - Hardcover

Adams, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670862363 ISBN 13: 9780670862368

Publisher: Viking Adult, 1995

Synopsis

Detailing a master spy's career and the CIA's complacency and incompetence, the inside story of former KGB operative Aldrich Ames, finally arrested in 1994, reveals the warfare between the FBI and the CIA, and the intricacies of current intelligence operations. 50,000 first printing. $40,000 ad/promo.

About this title

From Booklist:

Working with the facts of Ames' sellout to the Russians and with knowledge of the byzantine CIA culture that allegedly abetted such treason, British journalist Adams has created a well-rounded story of the sensational spy scandal. Adams collects the various revelations about Ames' biography, personality, and career and sets them into the managerial context in which he operated, which includes the chronic CIA/FBI turf war. It was the agencies' attempt to ameliorate the latter, ironically, that gave Ames his opportunity: he was the CIA's representative in a joint operation to recruit Soviet diplomats in Washington, and he used that cover instead to sell the Soviets the names of all CIA moles inside Soviet intelligence. Most were executed, and for nine years the CIA couldn't collar the culprit within. Its initial mole hunt stalled and revived only after another agent told superiors that the rumor that attributed the source of Ames' material extravagance to his "wealthy" wife was false. In the meantime, Ames' lax performance and breaches of security regulations earned not even a reprimand. Aside from any policy implications, Adams delivers a surefooted spy story bound to be as popular as the front-page treatment the case continues to attract. Gilbert Taylor

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Adult
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0670862363
• ISBN 13: 9780670862368
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336