#al

Historians don't really like to carry on speculative debates, but you could certainly argue that the likelihood of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe was extremely, extremely low. ↗

— Aldrich Ames

#carry #certainly #could #debates #europe

In French literature, you can choose a la carte; in Spanish literature, there is only the set meal. ↗

— Jose Bergamin

#choose #french #french literature #la #literature

I came into the Agency with a set of ideas and attitudes that were quite typical of people coming into the Agency at that time. You could call it liberal anti-communism. ↗

— Aldrich Ames

#attitudes #call #came #coming #could

I found that our Soviet espionage efforts had virtually never, or had very seldom, produced any worthwhile political or economic intelligence on the Soviet Union. ↗

— Aldrich Ames

#economic #efforts #espionage #found #had

In my professional work with the Agency, by the late '70s, I had come to question the value of a great deal of what we were doing, in terms of the intelligence agency's impact on American policy. ↗

— Aldrich Ames

#american #american policy #come #deal #doing

Our Soviet espionage efforts had virtually never, or had very seldom, produced any worthwhile political or economic intelligence on the Soviet Union. ↗

— Aldrich Ames

#economic #efforts #espionage #had #intelligence

Perhaps my information hurt the Soviet Union more than it helped. I have no idea. It was not something I ever discussed with the KGB officers that I was dealing with. ↗

— Aldrich Ames

#discussed #ever #helped #hurt #i

The betrayal of trust carries a heavy taboo. ↗

— Aldrich Ames

#carries #heavy #taboo #trust

To the extent that I considered the personal burden of harming the people who had trusted me, plus the Agency, or the United States, I wasn't processing that. ↗

— Aldrich Ames

#burden #considered #extent #had #harming

You might as well ask why a middle-aged man with no criminal record might put a paper bag over his head and rob a bank. I acted out of personal desperation. ↗

— Aldrich Ames

#ask #bag #bank #criminal #desperation