11 Famous Double Agents
The life of a double agent is one of deceit, lies, secrets and absolute adventure. Commonly referred to as spies and sometimes moles, they are intelligence operatives that infiltrate a group in order to collect information beneficial to their benefactor. This life of deception has been glamorized in fictional characters but rarely does it carry any honor in reality. Below is a list of double agents; some we love, and some we hate.
James Bond
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Without debate, the world’s most well known double agent is Bond, James Bond. Agent 007 was created by novelist Ian Fleming in 1952 as a fictional part of the Secretive Intelligence Service stationed in London. Equipped with all sorts of nifty gadgets and a sleek black tuxedo, Bond leads a double life and prefers his martinis shaken, not stirred.
Mata Hari
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A Dutch courtesan and exotic dancer, Mata Hari made the history books as an infamous double agent during World War II. Known as agent H-21, she transported knowledge that she acquired (as a courtesan for French military officials) across borders and is thought to be responsible for the death of 50,000 French soldiers. Whether she was actually blameworthy is widely debated; however, she was found guilty in Paris and sentenced to death by firing squad.
Aldrich Ames
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Wisconsin native, Aldrich Ames is CIA counter-intelligence officer that was convicted of disclosing information to the Soviet Union for roughly a decade. Between 1985 and his conviction in 1994, he is known to have leaked over 100 secret missions and revealed the identity of roughly 30 western spies. In exchange for his services, he was paid $4.6 million by the Soviets and consequently awarded life in prison by the United States.
Mathilde Carré
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A French Resistance agent during WWII, Mathilde Carré is a rare triple-agent that attempted to deceive most of Western Europe. Known as The Cat, she started as an agent for the Franco-Polish Interallié espionage unit until the Germans captured her and put her to work against the Brits where she failed again. Her journal states that all she wanted was a “good meal and a man” – she got 20 years alone in a French prison instead.
Harold James Nicholson
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Another CIA officer gone awry, Harold James Nicholson began selling secrets to the Russian KGB in the wake of Aldrich Ames – he thought he could do better. Upon failing a standardized polygraph, he confessed to revealing US intelligence to the Russians in exchange for $180,000 in total, making him one of the highest-ranking CIA official ever convicted of espionage. In all, his plea saved him the death penalty and landed him 23.5 years in prison.
Ronald Pelton
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Equipped with a photographic memory and debt up to his neck, NSA analyst Ronald Pelton waltzed into a Russian embassy and divulged US secrets in exchange for cash. He informed the KGB of the Navy’s intent to install underwater cables to track Soviet submarines. Because very few people new about this plan, all were interrogated and Pelton confessed to espionage. Like the moles before him, he was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences in starting in 1986.
Jonathan Pollard
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In 1984, Anti-Terrorism analyst Jonathan Pollard began passing classified documents to an Israeli Air Force veteran in exchange for jewelry, $10,000 cash a $1,500 retainer for future information. He disclosed details about America’s electronic surveillance network and one million other documents to Israel and South Africa, making it one of the most destructive security breaches in US history. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1987; not for the money but in the name of his Jewish ancestry.
George Trofimoff
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Chief of the United States Army Element, George Trofimoff joined the espionage train and sold classified information to his childhood friend in the KGB from 1969 to 1994. In his 25 years of treason, he was compensated $250,000 and was even given a Russian award for “bravery and self-sacrifice in the defense of the socialist homeland.” In 2001 he was sentenced to life in prison for a crime against a country he did not claim as his.
Kim Philby
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Harold Russell (aka. Kim Philby and M.I.6) was of high rank in the British Intelligence Service before he began peddling classified information to the KGB. Though he did a few bits of spying on his own, he is most notably recognized as the Alpha member in the spy ring known as the Cambridge Five. The majority of the information he passed to the Russians was encoded within love letters that were sent to a fictitious lover in France; however, his letters were eventually intercepted when the not-so-discreet mailing address turned out to be the Russian embassy in Paris.
Benedict Arnold
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A key figure in American history, Benedict Arnold was a respected general during the American Revolutionary War. However, while commander of West Point, he became progressively more disgruntled with the US alliance with France and began to sabotage his post by revealing troop locations and deliberately depleting necessary supplies – all with the intention of ensuring a successful British takeover. When the siege failed and his confidantes turned him in, Arnold fled to England and engraved his name in the books as America’s first traitor.
Maxwell Smart
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Rounding off the list of famous double agents is a satire of the original. Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) is a fictional character that was developed for television during the spy craze initiated by James Bond. Working with his sidekick Agent 99, the duo exercised their powers of espionage for a secretive counter-intelligence until called CONTROL. Though never as smooth as Bond himself, Maxwell Smart had his successes through general dumb luck and a little help from 99.
