Woodruff was sent to Georgia to train Shevardnadze’s security force—the first such operation in the territory of the former USSR. (Courtesy of Georgia Woodruff Alexander)
In time the Silver Fox was pushed from power by the much younger, formidable Mikheil Saakashvili, whom the author confronted publicly, much to his own discomfort. (Vano Shlamov/AFP/Getty Images)
Death of a CIA agent: Woodruff was shot to death on August 8, 1993, while sitting in the back seat of a white Niva 1600 sedan driven by the head of Shevardnadze’s personal protection force, twenty miles northwest of Tbilisi in a mountainous border region. He was forty-five years old. The redacted teletype report authored eighteen hours after the murder by FBI legal attaché George Shukin expressed skepticism about initial reports that Woodruff was killed by a “randomly fired shot.” Above, a hospital photo of Woodruff’s body. (Document: FBI document; Photograph: Georgian police)
Cover-up of a murder: Anzor Sharmaidze, pictured on the night of his arrest standing between Gela Bedoidze and Genadi Berbitchashvili, was said by Georgian authorities to have confessed to the murder of Woodruff. But he later said he had been tortured and forced to make a false confession. (Lineup photo: Georgian police)
Labeled FBI photographs of the white Niva 1600 showing the location of the bullet hole and of the alleged locations of both the car and Sharmaidze on the Old Military Road. The Georgian report of finding a bullet entry hole in the car conflicted with the description of the car given by an FBI special agent on the day after the murder and suggested that Georgian authorities had tampered with the evidence in order to bolster their account of Woodruff’s death. (Location photos: FBI)
The long investigation: The author (large photo, center) made more than a dozen trips to Georgia in his quest to free Anzor Sharmaidze and discover how Freddie Woodruff was murdered. His inquiry was covered by local Georgian newspapers and television.
Georgian medical examiner Levan Chachuria, shown with his own car, a Niva 1600 similar to the one in which Woodruff died. He testified that the CIA agent was shot in the forehead, a conclusion diametrically opposed to the one reached by the US Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. (Photo courtesy of the author)
Framed for murder: Above, Anzor Sharmaidze, at the author’s first meeting with him in prison, a bleak, isolated facility with walls topped with razor wire and broken glass. “I didn’t do it,” he said. His eyes were rheumy and he was cradling his left arm tenderly. He seemed decades older than his thirty-one years. His arm, it was discovered, had an enormous infected abscess and he was in danger of dying. The author paid for him to be taken to a hospital.
A photo taken of Sharmaidze three years later, during an interview with Wall Street Journal reporter Andrew Higgins. After an article appeared in that paper, Sharmaidze was released, but his day-to-day existence would remain very difficult. (Photos courtesy of the author)
Hall of Mirrors: Above, the February 21, 1994, arrest of Aldrich Ames, by FBI agent Dell Spry. Ames pled guilty to espionage and was sentenced to life in prison. (Photo: FBI)
The author corresponded with Ames and made many attempts to visit him at the federal penitentiary in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. Some letters were lost or never arrived. Others made it through. The CIA reviews and censors all of Ames’s incoming and outgoing mail, and strictly controls his visitors. The Agency refused all of the author’s requests for a face-to-face visit. Nonetheless, Ames professed to know nothing about how or why Woodruff was killed. “Aldrich Hazen Ames,” said G. L. Lamborn, a twenty-six-year veteran of the CIA, “is the reason why Freddie Woodruff was murdered.” (Letter: Courtesy of the author)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
When I first began my investigation into the murder of Freddie Woodruff, I hoped to discover what a moderately-empowered curious man could accomplish by himself. I very quickly learned the truth of this naively arrogant ambition: By myself, I could do almost nothing.
Whatever success I achieved in liberating Anzor Sharmaidze, redeeming Freddie Woodruff, or writing a book is due almost entirely to the generosity of other people who helped me. They are giants upon whose shoulders I was privileged to stand. I have named many of them in the text but I would like to highlight a few here.
Pride of place belongs to Lali Kereselidze. She gave me a voice, credibility, and a spot on her fold out couch. She was my confidant, advisor, factotum, and friend. Without her, my quixotic quest would have been stillborn and Anzor might well have died in prison.
Of equal importance was Tamaz Inashvili, a man of extraordinary integrity and professionalism. He persisted in supporting Anzor for more than a decade and was there to drive his client home when the government finally released him. Without his assistance, I could not have navigated the labyrinth of Georgian justice.
The journalists with whom I worked were both my sword and my shield. Their reporting kept me safe and their influence gave me leverage. It was because of Thomas Goltz, Eliso Chapidze, Jamie Doran, and Andrew Higgins that I was ultimately able to move the Georgian government.
One of the highlights of this adventure was the privilege of meeting and working with CIA operations officers and FBI special agents. These shadow warriors are men and women of the highest quality—selfless patriots who make enormous sacrifices to preserve our way of life. Without the guidance and direction provided by Bob Baer, Dell Spry, and G. L. Lamborn, I would most certainly have failed and most probably have been killed.
Chief among those who sacrificed is the family of Freddie Woodruff. His widow and children are entitled to the utmost respect and deference. I have tried hard to tell this story in a way that honors them as Freddie’s living legacy. If I have failed at any point to achieve this goal, I offer my most sincere apology.
Throughout this project I have had the passionate support of friends, family, and the coffee klatch at the Croissant Brioche Café. Beverly Davis was my Sancho Panza and Dulcinea. Without her my adventures wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. Tony Gorry and Michael Crawford were my sounding boards, readers, and critics. They made the lonely work of writing easier and the product clearer. Elena Tognini was my faithful friend and fellow traveler. She gave me confidence, courage, and the irrational belief that I could actually do this. Mousia Semenova adopted my idealistic campaign as her own and routinely demonstrated a startling ability to do the impossible. My cousin John Spence inquired, encouraged, and suggested that I include a map of the Byzantine Empire. And Mirka Jalovcova helped and supported me. She made me bold, gave me perspective, and (more than once) held me while I cried.
I have never had an editor before and have profited from the experience. Colin Harrison and his team at Simon & Schuster made this book better. Any flaws or mistakes that remain in the text are entirely my own.
And finally, it was the humanity of Georgia Woodruff Alexander that challenged and inspired me to seek justice for Anzor. Without her compassion, courage, and commitment there would be no investigation, no litigation, and no book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© EVIN THAYER
Michael Pullara is a Texas trial lawyer. He represents plaintiffs in complicated commercial disputes and, on a pro bono basis, individuals suing for violations of their human rights. During his thirty-eight-year career he has represented death row inmates seeking free exercise of religion, American oil companies suing Italian mobsters, Arabs suing for damage caused by US military action in Iraq, and small business owners suing international telecoms for fraud and breach of contract. The Spy Who Was Left Behind is his first book.
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APPENDIX
Time line of Aldrich Ames’s CIA career from 1983 to his arrest for espionage:
September 1983 Ames is made counterintelligence branch chief for Soviet operations, responsible for analyzing selected CIA operations involving Soviet “assets.”
September 19, 1984 Ames’s wife files for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty. Ames later testified that financial pressures arising from this divorce led him to first contemplate engaging in espionage.
April 16, 1985 Ames walks into the Soviet embassy and hands the receptionist an envelope addressed to the KGB resident. The envelope contained proof of his identity, documents about two or three cases that CIA Moscow Station was running, a phone directory for Soviet Eurasian Division management personnel, and a demand for $50,000. He is asked to return in a month.
May 15, 1985 Ames returns to the Soviet embassy. He is taken to a private room and handed a note saying the Soviets have agreed to pay him $50,000 and will (as Ames suggested) continue using arms control specialist Sergey Chuvakhin as the intermediary. The note is given to him by Victor Cherkashin, who is (at the time) the KGB counterintelligence chief in Washington, DC.
June 13, 1985 Ames provides Chuvakhin with copies of documents that identify more than ten top-level CIA and FBI sources who are then reporting on Soviet activities. Ames later admits that part of his rationale for exposing these operations to the KGB was that he sought to protect his own role as a KGB informant by eliminating those KGB assets who could be in the best position to tell the CIA of his (Ames’s) espionage. Over the subsequent years, Ames provides the Soviets with information on more than a hundred Soviet and East European operational endeavors. This results in the virtual collapse of the CIA’s Soviet operations.
October 1986 The CIA names a four-person analytical group known as the “Special Task Force” to look at cases known to be compromised and to identify any commonalities among them.
The FBI creates a six-person analytical team known as the “ANLACE Task Force” to investigate the origin of its loss of two human intelligence assets.
November 1989 A CIA employee, who knew Ames well, reports to the CIA Counterintelligence Center that the formerly impecunious Ames seems to be living beyond his means.
April 1991 The FBI and CIA investigation teams join forces to search for and identify the source of their intelligence losses.
December 1991 Ames is assigned to the CIA’s Counternarcotics Center in charge of an antinarcotics task force for the Caucasus region. This appears to have been the first assignment that took into account the security concerns that had been raised about Ames.
October 1992 The joint CIA-FBI investigative unit is relatively certain that Ames is the spy for whom they are looking, although others remain under suspicion.
January 1993 The joint CIA-FBI investigative unit begins briefing the FBI and other appropriate officials on its work, and begins contemplating turning the Ames investigation over to the FBI.
March 1993 The joint CIA-FBI investigative unit delivers its final report and, on the basis of this report, the FBI begins an intensive investigation of Ames. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court issues orders authorizing electronic surveillance techniques against Ames’s home and office. The Bureau employs other surveillance techniques including mail cover (i.e., deriving information from envelopes addressed to and from Ames) and the installation of a clandestine monitor in his car.
May 12, 1993 The FBI formally opens an investigation case against Ames. They initiate round-the-clock surveillance of Ames using the Bureau’s Special Surveillance Group.
CIA director James Woolsey advises White House chief of staff Tony Lake regarding the fact and status of the Ames investigation. Lake subsequently informs President Bill Clinton.
June 11, 1993 The FBI begins wiretapping Ames’s home and office telephones pursuant to a FISA warrant.
June 25, 1993 The FBI conducts a search of Ames’s office at the CIA. Approximately 144 classified documents are located in his work area, most of which do not relate to his official duties.
July 1993 Ames travels to the Republic of Georgia for the opening of the headquarters for the Black Sea Basin Intelligence Sharing Initiative.
August 8, 1993 Freddie Woodruff is murdered near Natakhtari in the Republic of Georgia.
September 1993 Ames travels to Turkey on official business related to the Black Sea Basin Intelligence Sharing Initiative.
October 19, 1993 The FBI searches Ames’s home and installs listening devices.
February 21, 1994 FBI special agent Dell Spry arrests Ames.
February 22, 1994 Aldrich and Rosario Ames are formally charged with espionage.
April 28, 1994 Ames pleads guilty to espionage and is sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
INDEX
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Abkhazia insurgency, 111, 113, 130, 292
Adeishvili, Zurab, 213–14
Agence France-Presse (AFP), 9–10
Alasania, Temur, 188, 189, 191, 218
Alavidze, Inga, 122–23
Alexander, Georgia Woodruff, 87
documentary on Sharmaidze investigation and, 248, 256
file on Woodruff from, 91, 121, 200
intervention request and, 88–91, 117, 137, 144–45, 148
leads and names supplied by, 200, 202
meeting with ambassador by, 253–54
motivation of, 153, 160–61, 165
petition for intervention filing with letter from, 164–65
Alexandria, Nana, 156–57
Altunashvili, Zaza, 123–26, 170, 249
American Bar Association, 67–68
Ames, Aldrich Hazen
arrest of, 6–7, 14, 15, 45, 49, 52, 206
FBI’s investigation of Woodruff’s murder and, 52–53, 64–65, 235, 312
guilty plea of, 52
KGB officers on, 232, 235–37
Pullara’s contacts with, 236, 311–12, 313
Shevardnadze’s meeting with, 132
SVR involvement in Woodruff’s murder and, 321–22
time line of CIA career of, 325–28
Woodruff and, 7, 49–50, 53–54, 55, 64–65, 90, 132, 206, 230, 231, 232, 235–36, 311–12, 314–16, 321–22
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), 24–25, 26, 64, 145, 184, 216
Baer, Bob, 202–06, 208, 209, 223–24, 234, 285, 286–87, 302
Baer, Dayna, 285–86
Baker, James, 108, 133
Batiashvili, Irakli, 110, 115, 126, 230, 249
affidavit from, 131, 146, 164, 183, 184, 194, 215, 306
announcement of Woodruff’s death by, 7, 127–28
interview with, 126–32, 220
reinvestigation of Sharmaidze conviction and, 220, 221
request for assurances by, 295–96
television debate and, 173, 174, 178–79
Bearden, Milt, 235, 238
Bedoidze, Gela, 142, 274, 278, 299
documentary on Sharmaidze investigation and, 252–53
recantation by, 253
reinvestigation of Sharmaidze conviction and, 221, 245–46
Sharmaidze’s trial testimony of, 29, 38–39, 42, 44, 70, 71, 279
Bedoidze, Iosif, 263
Beisner, Dave, 209–10, 308–09, 313
Berbitchashvili, Genadi, 221, 263, 274, 280
documentary on Sharmaidze investigation and, 252–53
letter
to Sharmaidze from, 40, 60, 70–71, 72
Pullara’s attempt to locate, 142–43
recantation by, 253
reinvestigation of Sharmaidze conviction and, 221, 245–46
Sharmaidze’s trial testimony of, 29, 38–40, 42, 43, 44, 70, 279
Bokeria, Giga, 151, 157, 245
Brown, Kent, 10, 16, 54
Bush, George W., 2, 104–05, 200, 213, 219–20, 290, 291
Campbell, Carolyn Clark, 68, 192–93
Cartu Group, 77–78, 179, 306–07
Casey, William, 47
Central and Eastern European Law Initiative (CEELI), 67–68
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Ames’s espionage and, 6–7, 53–54, 132, 311–12
Ames-Woodruff connection and, 49–50, 314–15
antiterrorism training from, 16
bureaucratic culture of, 314–15
FBI investigations and national security interests of, 24
FOIA request to, 8–9
Georgian liaison from, 109
Georgian narcotics trafficking and, 7, 49–50, 230
Georgian perception of Pullara as spy for, 127, 148, 171, 176, 296
Gogoladze as triple agent in, 306
Howard’s espionage and, 48, 54
identification of shooter by, 205, 208–09
knowledge of Woodruff’s murder and, 131–32
Pullara’s desire to contact Ames and denial from, 311–12, 313
reason behind Woodruff’s assassination and, 317
The Spy Who Was Left Behind Page 34
