Sandra Grimes: CIA Spycatcher Breaks Silence on the Hunt for Aldrich Ames in a Riveting New Tell-All

Byline Washington, D.C. — Legendary CIA counter-intelligence officer Sandra Grimes, whose quiet persistence unmasked one of the most damaging moles in U.S. history, died on 25 July 2025 at the age of 79, her family confirmed. Early life and path to Langley Born Sandra S. Grimes in Spokane, Wash., in 1946, she earned a Russian-language degree from the University of Washington before joining the Central Intelligence Agency in 1971 as a Soviet analyst. Her fluency and analytic rigor quickly made her indispensable during the tense final decades of the Cold War. The hunt for Aldrich Ames Grimes’ defining achievement began in 1991, when unexplained losses of CIA assets inside the USSR pointed to a penetrator. Working with mentor Jeanne Vertefeuille, she pored over travel vouchers, meeting logs and, crucially, bank-deposit records. The data trail exposed veteran case officer Aldrich H. Ames, whose sudden cash influx betrayed nine years of espionage for Moscow. Their evidence led to Ames’ arrest outside his suburban Virginia home on 21 February 1994. He is now serving a life sentence without parole. The FBI later credited Grimes for averting further bloodshed among U.S. agents still in the field. Impact on U.S. intelligence Ames’ betrayal cost ten CIA informants their lives and compromised dozens more operations. By exposing him, Grimes helped restore operational security, prompting sweeping reforms in financial-vetting protocols and counter-intelligence training. “She saved the agency from itself,” said retired CIA inspector general Fred Hitz in an interview following news of her death. Public recognition and cultural legacy Grimes co-authored “Circle of Treason” in 2012, offering rare first-person insight into the mole hunt. The book inspired the 2014 ABC/Hulu miniseries “The Assets,” where actress Jodie Whittaker portrayed Grimes. Although she typically shunned publicity, Grimes viewed the project as a cautionary tale for the digital age: “Technology may change, but human motives—money, ego, ideology—do not,” she told NPR in a 2014 interview re-aired this week. Tributes from the intelligence community CIA Director William J. Burns lauded Grimes as “a model of integrity and tenacity,” adding that her work “stands alongside our agency’s greatest triumphs.” Former colleagues recalled her low-key demeanor: “She kept a knitting needle in her desk drawer—said it reminded her that every loose thread matters,” noted retired analyst Leslie Robb. Advocate for women in security Beyond espionage, Grimes mentored rising female officers, co-founding the Agency’s Women in Intelligence Network in 1996. Today, the group counts more than 2,000 members and credits Grimes for breaking glass ceilings that once confined women to clerical roles. Final years Grimes spent her retirement in Virginia horse country, remaining an informal advisor to congressional oversight panels and occasionally lecturing at Georgetown University. She is survived by her husband of 55 years, Donald Grimes, two daughters and four grandchildren. Funeral arrangements A private service will be held at Langley’s Memorial Wall Chapel, followed by a public celebration of life at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., on 24 August. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation. SEO keywords: Sandra Grimes, CIA mole hunter, Aldrich Ames, Cold War espionage, CIA counter-intelligence, obituary, spycraft, women in intelligence, Circle of Treason.