Sandy Grimes is a former CIA Officer who co-investigated and uncovered the actions of notorious spy Aldrich Ames. She is a twenty-six-year veteran of CIA's Clandestine Service, who spent most of her career working against the former Soviet Union, supporting some of CIA's most valuable penetrations of the KGB and GRU. She joined the CIA in July 1967, shortly after graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in Russian. She and the late Jeanne Vertefeuille co-authored "Circle of Treason," which details their personal involvement in the search for and identification of fellow officer Aldrich Ames, one of the most destructive traitors in American history. The book was also the basis for the ABC mini-series "The Assets", which aired in 2014.
Presentation Topics
Spy Hunters: The Women Who Caught Aldrich Ames
In 1985 and 1986 CIA experienced the unparalleled loss of its stable of Soviet assets, which all but wiped out human source reporting on the Soviet Union. As detailed in their book "Circle of Treason," Mrs. Grimes will talk about her and her late-co-author Jeanne Vertefeuille's personal involvement in CIA's effort to identify the reason for the losses and to protect future Soviet assets from exposure and execution. In 1991 that quest led to their hunt for a Soviet spy in CIA and to their identification of the "mole" as case officer Aldrich "Rick" Ames, a long-time friend and co-worker in the Soviet East European Division in CIA's Directorate of Operations. In February 1994, the FBI arrested Ames, who later pled guilty to espionage and was sentenced to life in prison.
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