Betrayal:: The Story of Aldrich Ames, an American Spy

While this book tells the story of yet another set of unintelligent spies one has to wonder if any of the intelligence agencies are able to catch the smart spies. The years these people operate under the nose of the intelligence agencies never fails to amaze me. But that is more of an editorial then a review. But, what can I say, this book just tells the same story again with different names. An interesting story and not really up to being a "page turner", but, it held my attention for a couple of nights.

I picked up Betrayal on a whim and although I was initially just casually interested, I was surprised how engaging the book was from first sentence to last. I learned a lot about how this bureacracy worked during the time of Aldrich Ames' treason. I was amazed that hardly anyone was even fired even if they were an incompetent, lazy, dissatisfied, alcoholic misfit like Ames was. Even though Ames wasn't very good at his job, he still expected to be promoted. Amazingly, he was, even into some very sensitive areas where he could do the most damage. Ames' dissatisfaction with his job and the agency was one of the reasons he began working for the "other spy company", the KGB. He thought that all the spy games were meaningless. Some interesting moral situations are brought up such as when a Soviet diplomat is entrapped by making him look like he is traitor to his country, when he isn't, so that he would be forced to spy for the US. Soviets who betrayed their corrupt country were praised as heroes in the US, but were executed in the USSR. It brings up questions of how loyal you should be to your country. Also, the CIA is supposed to be devious in another country, but expected to be totally honest when dealing with US government. Lastly, defectors can't be considered honest or sincere, they could still be spies. I can see how someone could end up morally warped after awhile. The CIA didn't want to face the reality that they had a mole in their own camp working against them, so the investigation took years to pinpoint Ames. One guy did think so, but it was generally viewed as too paranoid a viewpoint, even in this place where people are paid to be paranoid. But eventually the paranoid proved to be right, which is heartening for all us paranoids out there. The CIA looks like a bumbling bureacracy in this book, but the FBI's investigation of Ames was sometimes brilliant, sometimes bumbling. There is some amusing comments about how the two agencies don't like each other, won't share information, and live in different cultures. The Budweiser-drinking FBI is considered to be a notch below the CIA, which is filled with Bordeaux-drinking Yalies. There is some talk at the end that maybe we should get rid of the CIA and split it up into other bureacracies. But its just talk; I've never heard of a bureacracy ever being killed off, usually it keeps growing even after such damage as the Ames incident. --The government gravy train must roll on until the whole nation implodes! There is some interesting criticism in this section about how the CIA intelligence is often worthless. Reminds me of all the intelligence about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction.

"Betrayal" is the perfect book for readers interested in espionage but rusty on their Cold War history. It's also a welcome change to fans of Current Events and True Crime books tired of the mediocre research and rampant overwriting endemic to each genre. The authors wisely stick to the case at hand and introduce background only as it pertains to Aldrich Ames. In this way they avoid the odious True Crime approach of devoting multiple chapters to the family tree and childhood of their subject. Better still, the writers do not take undue authority by stating what motivated Ames; rather, they present aspects of the spy's life, such as alcoholism and a faltering marriage, as evidence of what made him tick. Not only do the authors practice good journalism, they respect their readers enough to avoid padding out the book with meandering anecdotes in lieu of characterization. Instead of slogging through forty pages about Ames's high school grades, the reader gets four or five pages of concise and useful detail on U.S.-Soviet relations of importance to this case. It's a shame this book is out of print. It's lean style, respect for relevancy, and use of on-the-record sources make it the most credible study of Aldrich Ames and an enjoyable read years after its release. On a final note, this book should be available second-hand in a normal size format and for less than five dollars. Look around. If you actually found this review it will be worth your time.

This is a very readable book on Espionage and especially demonstrates the weaknesses in our Counter-Intelligence system. The CIA takes the heat in this book but this story demonstrates an inherint weakness in our security within ALL agencies involved in dealing with sensitive issues. I felt this book was well written and recommend it to anyone who wants to try and understand how this could have happened.

I've read every book on the Aldrich Ames case (including a new one that recently came out) and I must say that this book was the most difficult one to put down. The story reads like one you would expect from professional journalists -- well documented, precise, and interesting from beginning to end. If I had to recommend one book on this pathetic case of espionage, it would be a "no-brainer" -- get _Betrayal_!!