JAY NIXON OUTLINES TIGHTER RULES FOR GAMBLING OVERSIGHT: SPY AMES IS FORTUNATE PENALTY WAS NOT DEATH

The craving for money -- and lots of it -- often leads people astray, and that was the case with the unscrupulous Aldrich Ames.

Ames was the highest-paid and highest-ranking Russian spy ever caught inside the CIA. He admitted that since April 1985 he had been paid $2.5 million by the Soviet Union and later Russia for U.S. secrets, and that he disclosed the identities of 10 Russian officials and one East European who were spying for the United States or Great Britain. At least four Soviet KGB or military intelligence agents among the 10 are believed to have been executed as a result of information supplied by Ames.

Prosecutors called it the most damaging spy case in the history of the nation and said Ames' compromise will deprive the United States of extremely valuable intelligence material for years to come.

Ames, 52, pleaded guilty and will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. If he cooperates and tells investigators everything he disclosed to the Russians, how he operated and any help he may have received, his wife, Rosario, 41, is expected to get but 63 to 72 months in prison for conspiring to commit espionage and income tax evasion.

Ames' betrayal of trust goes against the very vein of human decency and portrays him as a pitiful human being. His conniving actions in the interest of greed brought about the deaths of at least four people, and he should feel fortunate that he will only spend the rest of his life behind bars.