CIA Director R. James Woolsey was too lenient with the 11 senior agency officials blamed for not catching convicted spy Aldrich Ames earlier, a Senate panel concludes.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is putting the finishing touches on a 150-page report that chronicles the years-long hunt for a Soviet "mole" inside the CIA. It says stronger action should have been taken against the 11 reprimanded officials, according to a committee aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.Britt Snider, the committee's general counsel, declined to discuss details of the report but said it probably would be made public next week.
Ames sold CIA secrets to Moscow for more than eight years. He managed to operate under the noses of senior CIA officials even though he was often mentioned as a suspect and was known to have acquired unexplained and sudden wealth.
None of the CIA officers singled out for reprimands was fired or even demoted. Six of the 11 had already retired, and another was in the process of retiring.
Many members of the intelligence committee already have said Woolsey should have taken stronger action. Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., the panel's chairman, has said the letters of reprimand that Woolsey gave the 11 men were too weak. The letters have not been publicly released, but officials have said that in at least some cases they contain more praise than criticism.
Sen. John Glenn, a committee member, said in an interview Monday that he and others who have reviewed the matter believe Woolsey's response was too mild.
"People were killed, after all" as a result of Ames' betrayal, the Ohio Democrat said. Ames, a 31-year intelligence officer until his arrest last February, has admitted he gave the Soviets the names of many foreign citizens who were secretly working for the CIA. At least 10 of them were killed as a result.