Aldrich Ames, the most murderous turncoat in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency, whose betrayal in working for the Soviet Union went undetected for almost a decade, died on Monday.
He was 84 and had been a federal prisoner, serving life without parole, since 1994.
The death was recorded in the federal Bureau of Prisons inmate database. The entry did not cite a cause or say where he died.
The son of an alcoholic C.I.A. officer, Mr. Ames failed upward through the agency ranks for 17 years until he attained a headquarters post of extraordinary sensitivity.
