Artifact Details
“At first, I wanted to jump across the table and strangle him. But then I started laughing. It was really funny because he was the one in shackles, not me.” This was the reaction of CIA Officer Jeanne Vertefeuille (1932-2012) upon learning that Aldrich Ames, the most damaging mole in CIA history, had once given his Soviet handlers her name when they asked what other CIA official could be framed for Ames’s own treachery. Fortunately, Ames’ strategy did not pan out, and instead, Vertefeuille led the internal task force that ultimately brought Ames to justice.
Vertefeuille joined CIA as a typist in 1954, and as opportunities for female officers began to grow, she was selected for assignments overseas. She also learned Russian and found her niche in counterintelligence. In the spring of 1985, after an alarming number of Agency assets collecting intelligence against the Soviet Union disappeared in rapid succession, Vertefeuille was asked to lead the five-person investigative team searching for answers as to how this happened. The task was a long and exhaustive one, but an extensive review of records ultimately yielded the answer. Ames, who was initially working in CIA’s Soviet division of counterintelligence, began spying for the USSR in 1985. He compromised numerous Soviet assets, some of whom were executed, in exchange for large sums of money.
In 2013, a mock-up of a 1995 TIME Magazine cover featuring Vertefeuille was added to CIA Museum’s collection. That issue of TIME dedicated an article to her and the mole hunt. This artifact is especially notable because the Vertefuille cover had to be scrapped before publication in favor of one focused on the federal budget crisis at the time.