Ex-CIA Agent Aldrich Ames, Convicted of Spying for Russia, Dies at 84

Aldrich Ames, a former CIA agent who was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union, has died, CBS News reports.

The former counterintelligence officer died Monday while serving a life sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland. His cause of death wasn't released.

Ames, whose father also worked for the CIA, began working for the agency in 1962 and married a fellow CIA operative in 1969. His first assignment was in Ankara, Turkey, and ended three years after his job performance began to decline.

He eventually divorced his first wife and married a cultural attaché from the Colombian Embassy in Mexico City, who was also a CIA asset. Ames later said financial pressure ended his first marriage, and said the responsibilities of his second marriage led him to start accepting payment from the Soviet Union for espionage in 1985.

Ames reportedly used the compensation -- which mounted into the millions -- to fund a lavish lifestyle.

The information Ames provided to the Soviet Union -- which dissolved in 1991 back to Russia -- reportedly led to the death of several agents, and the CIA was later criticized for missing warning signs about his activities.

Ames was arrested in February 1994. Ames and his wife pled guilty to espionage charges two months later. He received a life sentence; his wife was sentenced to five years in prison.

He later downplayed his spying activities and claimed the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States wasn't as dire as it had been perceived.