Robert Ames (CIA official)


Robert Clayton Ames was an American spy, the Central Intelligence Agency's Near East Director. He was killed in the 1983 United States embassy bombing in Beirut.

Early life

Raised in Philadelphia he was a 1956 graduate of La Salle University. While at La Salle, he was a member of the La Salle basketball team which won the NCAA championship in 1954 and was runner-up in 1955.

Career

In 1956, he joined the US Army from which he switched to the CIA, specializing in the Middle East. He rose to become the CIA's chief analyst for the area. Working for the CIA's Middle East Directorate of Operations, Ames is reputed to have made the first high-level penetration of the PLO. It is claimed one of two senior contacts he made was Hassan Salameh, organizer of terroristic attacks against Izraeli civilians.
Ames was killed on April 18, 1983 when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the US Embassy in Beirut. A total of 63 people were killed in the explosion including Ames, the CIA Lebanon station chief and his deputy, as well as six other CIA officers and eight other Americans. CIA Director William Casey described the loss of Ames as "the closest thing to an irreplaceable man".
US President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy Reagan attended the ceremony marking arrival of the victim's coffins at Andrews Air Force Base. A memorial service for them, held at Washington National Cathedral was attended by three thousand people. Ames is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Personal life

He was married with six children.
He is the uncle of former MLB pitcher Mark Gubicza.