More than a dozen active or retired officials either ignored warnings or overlooked complaints, allowing former CIA agent Aldrich Ames to spy for the Soviet Union for nine years, according to a report by the CIA's inspector general.
Chiefs, deputies and operating personnel in the CIA's security office are singled out for criticism in a 400-page draft of the report described in Sunday's editions of The Washington Post.The newspaper quoted sources who have seen the draft as saying it criticizes CIA officials for failing to follow up on information about Ames' lavish spending in 1990.
The report was particularly critical of the security office's polygraph operation, which passed Ames in 1986 and 1991 despite indications that he lied on key financial questions, The Post said.
CIA spokesman David French said Sunday that he had not seen the draft of the report, but that the final version is to be delivered to CIA Director R. James Woolsey soon. The inspector general is chosen independently and confirmed by the Senate.
Ames pleaded guilty to spy charges in April. Beginning in 1985, Ames gave Moscow an enormous volume of the agency's most sensitive documents, including the names of U.S. and allied-paid Soviet and eastern European agents. At least 10 of those were killed or jailed.
The inspector general's report includes a narrative of Ames' 31-year CIA career, including times he was reported for alcoholism, his sudden display of wealth and alleged violations of agency rules, according to the newspaper.
That history is followed by an analysis of individual and institutional failures that allowed Ames to spy for almost a decade, The Post said.
Inspector General Frederick Hitz is scheduled to discuss his report Sept. 29 before a closed session of the Senate Intelligence Committee.