Jeanne Vertefeuille

Born in New Haven, Connecticut on December 23, 1932, she earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Connecticut in 1954, where she also learned German and French. She began her career as a typist for the Agency in 1954 and obtained promotions and expertise on the Soviet Union over several decades, serving in Ethiopia, Finland, and the Netherlands.[1][2]

In 1976, Veretefeuille wrote ''The GRU Today'', which was a study on the operations of the GRU, the Soviet Union's foreign military intelligence organisation.[3]

She was made the lead investigator of a small team looking at the high rate of Russian double agent disappearances in 1986.[1] As it became more clear to the team that there could be a mole in the organization, Vertefeuille worked to keep the team small and focused to minimize the chances of the mole escaping before an arrest could be made.[4] Over the course of 8 years, this investigation led her to Ames's involvement in the disappearances - he had exposed them in exchange for millions of dollars, leading to at least 8 executions. The investigation was fraught with difficulty, but the team began to uncover his treachery in 1989 when it was found that he had bought luxury cars and a house, beyond the salary of a typical CIA agent. The case was not cracked until 1991, when Vertefeuille and her team correlated Ames's meeting times with large deposits in his bank account.[1] She officially retired in 1992 but continued to work as a contractor until a few months before her death in 2012.[2] Ames was arrested with the involvement of the FBI on February 21, 1994.[1] Prior to his arrest, Ames had told the KGB that Vertefeuille had the requisite access to be framed instead.[5]

Throughout her career, Vertefeuille was known for her intense personal privacy and solitary nature. She died of brain cancer at the age of 80.[1]

In 1998, Ames' story was dramatized in the TV movie Aldrich Ames: Traitor Within, starring Joan Plowright as Vertefeuille.[6]

In 2014, ABC aired The Assets, an eight-part American drama television miniseries based on Circle of Treason.[7][8][9]

• Sandra Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille. Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed. Annapolis, Md: Naval Institute Press, 2012. ISBN 9781591143345 OCLC 785079499