Ames Valuable, Soviet Handler Says

The original Soviet handler of confessed spy Aldrich H. Ames is quoted in a new book as saying Ames turned over valuable information from the beginning of his spying, rather than duping the Soviets at the start with worthless data as Ames has claimed. Retired KGB officer Viktor Cherkashin said the first secrets turned over to Moscow by the now-jailed former CIA counterintelligence officer included identification of two KGB officers then stationed in the Soviet Embassy in Washington but working for U.S. intelligence. This statement “contradicts Ames’s claim that he [initially] was scamming the Soviets with useless information and indicates he was coldbloodedly selling the names of two vital . . . recruits,” writes Pete Earley in his new book, “Confessions of a Spy.”