CIA Spy Suspect, Wife Reportedly to Plead Guilty

Closing one of the biggest spy cases in American history, CIA official Aldrich H. Ames and his wife have agreed to plead guilty to espionage and federal tax evasion in a settlement that would put Ames in prison for life but would recommend no more than a five-year sentence for Rosario Ames, sources said Tuesday.

Paving the way for their guilty pleas Thursday before U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton, a federal grand jury in nearby Alexandria, Va., will return a sealed indictment against the couple containing the two felony charges.

Under a provision crucial to the government, Ames, 52, has pledged “full cooperation” with federal investigators who have been attempting--so far unsuccessfully--to learn precisely which secrets he sold to the Soviet Union and later to Russia during an eight-year spying career, the sources said. He also has agreed to describe any assistance he received from colleagues at the CIA who acted either knowingly or unwittingly.

The government is prepared to recommend a term of life imprisonment without parole for Ames, the same maximum sentence he could have expected if convicted after a trial.

Investigators have found no evidence that Rosario Ames, 41, directly participated in passing secrets to U.S. adversaries, although they say she helped her husband make bank deposits of large sums of cash and helped exchange messages with his Russian handlers.

She has acknowledged difficulty coping with her incarceration since the two were arrested Feb. 21 and expressed concern about the welfare of their 5-year-old son, Paul, who is being cared for by a relative.

Referring to Ames, a 31-year veteran of the agency, one source said: “He’s falling on his sword for the sake of his wife and son.”

Evidence introduced by the government during pretrial court hearings suggests, however, that the case against Ames is overwhelming. The FBI, which had him under surveillance for nine months before his arrest, said it intercepted telephone calls between Ames and Russian agents. It also reported finding more than 100 classified CIA cables on computer discs at his home, including many outside his area of authority.

Officials said a nine-page letter later found in Ames’ study spelled out the priorities set by his Soviet handlers several years ago. They said the handlers were especially interested in information about CIA penetrations of the Soviet KGB and its military intelligence service, the GRU. During much of the period in question--1985 to 1991--Ames was chief of Soviet counterintelligence in the CIA’s Soviet-East European Division.

In addition, in a statement made shortly after her arrest, Rosario Ames acknowledged to FBI agents that her husband had received millions of dollars from the Russians for his spy work. After conferring with an attorney, she declined to say more.

Justice Department officials and chief defense attorney Plato Cacheris refused Tuesday to respond to questions about the plea agreement. But officials had said previously that the government would benefit enormously from Ames’ cooperation--something they would not obtain if he insisted on going to trial.

Without Ames’ help, CIA analysts have been unable to assess fully the espionage damage to CIA operations. They also have not determined how many sources of information used by the agency were compromised.

Work on the assessments was curtailed out of concern that any paperwork created before trial might be obtained by defense attorneys and used in framing a defense, sources said.

The tax evasion charge to which the pair will plead guilty flows from government allegations that Ames received at least $2.5 million in cash from the Russians--none of which was ever reported to the IRS. The amount is more than twice the amount Moscow has been known to give to any other American spy.

Ames’ CIA superiors became suspicious after he paid $540,000 in cash for a new home in suburban Virginia and bought a luxury automobile with a $25,000 down payment. But he passed a polygraph test in 1991 after telling his superiors that his wife inherited money from her late father in Colombia.

As part of the plea agreement, the government is expected to require the Ameses to give up hundreds of thousands of dollars that they still hold in foreign bank accounts, along with penalties and interest for failing to declare it as income.

In a related development, directors of the CIA, the FBI and the Justice Department have agreed in “broad principle” to a plan that would alert the FBI sooner to counterintelligence problems inside the spy agency, officials said Tuesday.

The plan, drawn up by the National Security Council staff in the White House, is likely to be outlined in Administration testimony next month before the Senate and House Intelligence committees.

White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said Tuesday that the plan is being developed at “the President’s request in the wake of the Aldrich Ames arrest.”

Although the FBI was helping the CIA hunt for a mole inside the intelligence agency in 1991, the bureau did not learn that Ames’ polygraph results were suspicious until two years later, said Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), chairman of the Intelligence Committee.

A Justice Department official said the changes probably would be accomplished by a combination of a presidential order and legislation giving investigators expanded access to financial information about people working in intelligence agencies.

Under the plan, the FBI would be designated as the primary agency for overseeing counterintelligence investigations in all U.S. spying organizations, and a senior FBI official would head a new counterintelligence center.