Aldrich Hazen Ames is a former officer of the U.S. Counter Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) who was in 1994 sentenced to life in prison without a parole for spying for K.G.B., C.I.A.'s counterpart in the former Soviet Union. Although a middling employee and an alcoholic, Ames was for 31 years a C.I.A. agent entrusted with highly sensitive information and positions.
In September 1983, he was assigned to the Department of Operations, where he had access to all C.I.A. plans and operations against the K.G.B and G.R.U., the Soviet military intelligence. At the end of the year, Ames divorced his first wife and as part of the settlement agreed to pay her $46,000 in alimony. On top of this financial burden, he supported his new fiancée, and later wife, who was spending far more than he could afford on his $60,000 annual salary.
Ames resolved his money dilemma by approaching an official in the Soviet embassy in Washington, and offering his services for $50,000. The K.G.B was happy to oblige, and paid him $20,000 to $50,000 every time he had lunch with his Russian handler.

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