Aldrich Ames, former CIA agent who sold secrets to the Soviets in the 1980s, dies in federal prison

Aldrich Ames, the former CIA agent turned Russian asset, died in a federal prison in Maryland, according to a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson. He was 84 years old.

Ames was the chief of the intelligence division at the CIA and had access to some of the nation's most damaging secrets.

He was among the few who had access to information about the United States' Soviet program and met multiple times with members of the KGB, according to the FBI.

He did this first when he was stationed in Colombia, then while in Rome and Washington, D.C., where he provided "dead drops" of information to the Russians.

He had been serving a life sentence since 1994.

"For safety, security, and privacy reasons, our office does not share specifics regarding the cause of death for any individual," the BOP said in a statement. "The official cause of death is determined by the medical examiner and not the Bureau of Prisons."

At the time of his arrest, Ames was 31 years old and had been spying for the Russians since 1985, according to the FBI.

In 1985, Ames approached the Soviets and offered to provide information about CIA operations on Soviet targets for $50,000.

Over time, Ames gave the KGB an enormous collection of documents that provided information about major cases the CIA and FBI were working on against the Soviets, including a list of Soviet double agents, in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It is believed that Ames' list led to the arrest or execution of as many as 10 CIA Soviet assets, ABC News previously reported.

By August 1991, a joint CIA-FBI unit was narrowing down a list of CIA employees who had access to the 1985 compromises of the CIA Soviet assets, which included Ames.

Before his arrest, the FBI said it had conducted intensive physical and electronic surveillance of Ames over a 10-month investigation.

He was arrested on espionage charges in February 1994, along with his wife, Rosario Ames, who had aided and abetted his espionage activities, the agency said.

Ames was sentenced to incarceration for life, without the possibility of parole, while his wife was sentenced to 63 months in prison.