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Through the Looking Glass | 259
I began by asking him about one of the more celebrated cases he
had handled for the KGB, that of Ames, who had acted as a Russian
mole in the CIA between April 1985 and January 1994. In those nine
years, he rose, or was maneuvered by the KGB, into a top position
in the CIA’s highly sensitive Counterintelligence Center Analysis
Group, which allowed him to deliver hundreds of top secrets to the
KGB. In return, according to Cherkashin, Ames received between
$20,000 and $50,000 in cash for each delivery, which amounted to
$4.6 million over the nine years.
Tasked Cherkashin about the weakness the KGB looked for in an
American intelligence worker that might lead him to copy and steal
top secret documents. How did he spot a potential Ames? Was it a
financial problem? Was it a sexual vulnerability? Was it an ideologi-
cal leaning?
“Nothing so dramatic,” he answered. When assessing Ames’s
biographical data, Cherkashin said he was looking for a well-placed
intelligence officer who was both dissatisfied with and antagonistic
to the service for which he worked.
© “The classic disgruntled employee,” I interjected. ®
“Any intelligence officer who strongly feels that his superiors are
not listening to him, and that they are doing stupid things, is a can-
didate,” he continued. He said he had found that the flaw in a pros-
pect that could be most dependably exploited was not his greed, lust,
or deviant behavior but his resentment over the way he was being
treated.
“Is that how you spotted Ames?”
“Actually, he approached us, not vice versa.” It was his job in the
CIA to approach opposition KGB officers. “But, yes, we saw the
potential,” he said.
Because Ames had been paid $50,000 in cash by Cherkashin for
his first delivery, I asked whether he fit into the category of a dis-
gruntled employee.
“Wasn't he just a mercenary?” I asked.
“I knew from our intelligence reports that he needed money
for debts stemming from his divorce,” he answered. “But he was
also angry at the stupidity and paranoia of those running the CIA.
Ames told me at our first secret meeting that they were misleading
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