Betrayal Within: America’s Most Infamous Spies

They lived among us — silent, ordinary, unnoticed. But behind closed doors, they sold secrets, shattered alliances, and betrayed their country for money or ideology. Aldrich Ames, a high-ranking CIA officer, handed the Soviets the names of every U.S. double agent operating in Moscow — a death sentence sealed with a handshake. FBI Special Agent Robert Hanssen — a man who sat at the heart of America’s counterintelligence — funneled classified data to the Kremlin for over two decades ... right under the Bureau’s nose. Ana Montes, the “Queen of Cuba,” penetrated the Defense Intelligence Agency, steering U.S. policy while secretly reporting to Havana — proving you don’t need a gun to wage war. Jonathan Pollard claimed loyalty to an ally — but his theft of secrets fractured U.S.-Israeli trust and ignited a firestorm that never truly burned out.

They weren’t foreign agents. They were Americans. Trusted. Sworn. Embedded deep in the system. This is not fiction. This is the true story of treason — and the high price of betrayal.

Presented by Les Paldy, a Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at Stony Brook University and author of his memoir, No Cloak, No Dagger: An Academic in the CIA. All are welcome to attend.