Random Famous American Double Agents (15 items)

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  (#11) April Fool

  Spy Profile: American who turned double agent for Iraq, for the benefit of the United States.

  Little is known about "April Fool," the American double agent working for Iraq who simultaneously fooled Saddam Hussein into deploying much of his army away from where the American invasion would take place. His name, location, and the exact details of what he did are still classified. But his phony intelligence led to Saddam thinking the American 4th Infantry division would invade Iraq through Jordan in the north, causing him to divert resources to stopping it.
  
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  (#3) James Rivington

  • Dec. at 78 (1724-1802)

  Spy Profile: Colonial loyalist who spied for the Continental Army.

  Despite being the publisher of one of the Colonies' most fervent Loyalist newspapers, Rivington was a member of the famous Culper Spy Ring, passing information on British troop movements to George Washington. Rivington's furious screeds against the Revolution had earned him so much ire from patriots that he was burned in effigy, had his press destroyed, and his house burned down. Even so, he wrote in invisible ink on the walls of his print shop, and stayed in New York after the British evacuated it.

  Rivington's motives for acting as a provocateur/spy remain unknown, but are speculated to be financial.
  
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  (#15) Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi

  • Dec. at 32 (1977-2009)

  Spy Profile: Jordanian who turned double agent for the United States and played both sides.

  Al-Balwai was a Kuwaiti-born Jordanian citizen who agreed to give information on Al Qaeda elements to the CIA. He was arrested by Jordan in 2007, and likely turned, following interrogation. After two years spent infiltrating Islamist ranks, Al-Balwai was invited to Camp Chapman, a CIA installation in Afghanistan allegedly used as a major hub of counterterrorism operations.

  On December 30, 2009, still loyal to jihadist causes, Al-Balawi blew up a 30-pound bomb strapped to his chest after being allowed in the camp, killing seven CIA employees.
  
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  (#12) Iyman Faris

  • 49

  Spy Profile: Naturalized American citizen who turned double agent for Al Qaeda and played both sides.

  Pakistani-born Faris was a naturalized US citizen working as a truck driver, while also serving as a sleeper agent for Al Qaeda for over three years. He was recruited when he went back to Pakistan to visit family, and investigated the possibility of obtaining a small plane for Osama bin Laden. He was involved in the aborted plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge, and was captured by the FBI in 2003. While in FBI custody, he cooperated, agreed to work as a double agent, and gave up Pakistani-American Al Qaeda operative Majid Khan.

  Faris then recanted his testimony, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
  
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  (#9) Aldrich Ames

  • 77

  Spy Profile: American who turned double agent for the KGB.

  Despite working for the CIA for over 30 years, Ames turned and was secretly passing information to the KGB. He had worked his way into a high-level position handling sensitive material, including lists of Soviet defectors. But in 1985, he approached the Soviets, and after receiving a large sum of money, began passing them the highly classified and damaging material to which he had access.

  Ames spent nine years as a double agent, working for the CIA while spying for the Russians. He made huge amounts of money, and spent it lavishly on a new house, sports cars, and tailored suits - all of which eventually attracted suspicion. Physical and electronic surveillance confirmed the CIA's hunch, and Ames was arrested in 1994. He was convicted of espionage and sentenced to life in prison - leaving the CIA in shambles for years.
  
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  (#6) William Sebold

  Spy Profile: American recruited by the Nazis, who turned double agent for the United States.

  German by birth and a veteran of World War I, Sebold moved to the US in 1921, worked in aircraft manufacturing, and became a citizen in 1936. Three years later, while in Germany, he was "recruited" by the Gestapo to spy for the Nazis. Despite being given specialized training and equipment, Sebold immediately turned himself in and volunteered to help the FBI.

  With their help, Sebold infiltrated the largest Nazi spy ring in the US, based in New York. He befriended high-level agents and helped set up a radio transmitter that was actually run by the FBI. He sent hundreds of junk messages to Germany, receiving very real intelligence in return. Finally, in 1941, the FBI moved in and arrested 33 German agents. Sebold disappeared into witness protection, but became beset by paranoia that Nazis were out to get him. He died in 1970 in a California mental hospital.
  

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