The world of espionage and spies have been a part of our world since ancient times, playing a vital part in the area of international affairs. The earliest known documents depicting the presence of spies were found in the Amarna Letters, a series of clay tablets from the 14th century BCE that mention espionage. Then there are the oldest recognized classified documents that are traced back to a spy working undercover as part of a diplomatic envoy to the court of King Hammurabi.
Espionage has been acknowledged as a vital part of military events and world affairs and is used by many organizations to garnish or protect information. While spies typically are successful in the execution of their covert operations, whether infiltrating governments, or criminal organizations, operating undetected, not all have that same level of accomplishment, and are eventually caught, prosecuted, and incarcerated (at the least).
24/7 Tempo has compiled a list of Americans imprisoned on espionage charges using information from the FBI, the Department of Justice, and media sources such as the BBC and CNN. Many of these people served in U.S. Secret Service agencies such as the CIA and attempted to sell out the nation for various reasons. Some spies acted out of ideological beliefs, like believing a communist system is superior to ours, some wanted to serve their own nation’s interests, and others simply for financial gain. (Here’s a list of the most famous spies in American history.)
Whatever their reasons, their crimes involved betraying the trust bestowed upon them by their own countries and engaging in activities that threatened state secrets, military operations, diplomatic relations, and sometimes the very lives of agents in the field. From high-profile espionage cases involving prominent double agents to lesser-known incidents involving operatives working in the shadows, these spies now face the consequences of their actions within the confines of prison walls. (These are the most infamous cases of betrayal in U.S. history.)
Here are Americans imprisoned on espionage charges:
Aldrich Ames
- Profession: CIA officer
- Crime: Spying for the Soviet Union and Russia
- Conviction date: April 28, 1994
- Prison sentence: Life without possibility of parole
- Current location: Federal Correction Institute, Terre Haute, Indiana
From 1985 to 1994, Ames provided classified information about CIA and FBI agents to the Soviets, compromising numerous CIA assets and operations. His actions resulted in the capture and execution of several intelligence agents.
Harold James Nicholson
- Profession: Former CIA officer
- Crime: Spying for Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service
- Conviction date: June 5, 1997
- Prison sentence: 23 years, seven months
- Current location: ADX Florence Federal Supermax Prison, Florence, Colorado
Nicholson sold classified information about CIA trainees and operations to Russia from 1994 to 1996. Upon his arrest, he subsequently became the highest-ranking CIA officer ever convicted of espionage. In 2011, additional charges were brought against Nicholson and eight years were added to his sentence.
Brian Patrick Regan
- Profession: Former U.S. Air Force master sergeant
- Crime: Attempting to sell classified national defense information to Iraq, China, and Libya
- Conviction date: March 21, 2003
- Prison sentence: Life
- Current location: Federal Correctional Institution, Hazelton, West Virginia
Regan had collected and hidden about 20,000 pages of highly classified documents with the intent to sell them to China, Iraq, and Libya, but never completed a sale. His motivation appears to have been financial – he owed more than $100,000 in credit card debt.
Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers
- Profession: Former FSI official
- Crime: Spying for Cuba
- Conviction date: November 20, 2009
- Prison sentences: Life without the possibility of parole (Kendall); 81 months (Gwendolyn)
- Current location: ADX Florence Federal Supermax prison, Florence, Colorado (Kendall); released after serving sentence (Gwendolyn)
For three decades, Myers, the great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, and also related to 27th U.S. President William Howard Taft, spied for the Cuban government along with his wife, Gwendolyn. Their motives were ideological – they admired Fidel Castro and noted that health care in Cuba was superior to that in the U.S.
Noshir Gowadia
- Profession: Aerospace engineer for Northrop Corporation
- Crime: Passing national defense information to China
- Conviction date: Jan. 24, 2011
- Prison sentence: 32 years
- Current location: ADX Florence Federal Supermax Prison, Florence, Colorado
Gowadia was convicted of multiple crimes related to espionage and unlawfully providing classified defense information about highly sensitive technology, including stealth technology, to China and other foreign entities. His actions endangered national security by compromising advanced defense capabilities and potentially allowing adversaries to evade detection.
Alexander Fishenko
- Profession: Russian spy
- Crime: Illegally exporting microelectronics from the US to Russia
- Conviction date: Sept. 9, 2015
- Prison sentence: 10 years, plus three years of supervised release
- Current location: Three Rivers Federal Correctional Institution, Three
Russian-born businessman and naturalized U.S. citizen, Fishenko took part in a complex and extensive scheme to illegally export advanced technology and sensitive military-grade equipment to Russia. He and his co-conspirators surreptitiously acquired controlled items through front companies, evading export controls and regulations. These actions compromised U.S. national security and violated numerous laws governing the transfer of sensitive technology.
Ron Rockwell Hansen
- Profession: Former U.S. Army officer and intelligence contractor
- Crime: Attempted transmission of national defense information to China
- Conviction date: March 15, 2019
- Prison sentence: 10 years
- Current location: SeaTac Federal Detention Center, Seattle
Hansen was convicted of conspiring to transmit national defense secrets to China. Driven by financial motives, he attempted to provide classified information to Chinese agents, compromising U.S. intelligence assets. At his sentencing hearing, he said he “would give anything” to change what he did.
Jerry Chun Shing Lee
- Profession: Former CIA officer who later worked for Estée Lauder and Christie’s
- Crime: Conspiring to communicate, deliver, and transmit national defense information to China
- Conviction date: May 1, 2019
- Prison sentence: 19 years
- Current location: Federal prison (details unknown)
Lee was convicted for his role in conspiring to communicate, deliver, and retain classified information that could harm the United States. He jeopardized national security by unlawfully sharing sensitive information with Chinese intelligence services for personal gain.
Kevin Mallory
- Profession: Former CIA officer
- Crime: Conspiring to transmit US defense secrets to China
- Conviction date: May 18, 2019
- Prison sentence: 20 years
- Current location: Federal prison (details unknown)
U.S. citizen Mallory spoke fluent Mandarin Chinese and was convicted for conspiring to provide top-secret documents to a Chinese intelligence agent. Arrested in 2017 at his residence in Leesburg, Virginia, Mallory held various positions within different government agencies and defense contractors.
Peter Rafael Debbins
- Profession: Former U.S. Army officer
- Crime: Providing information about US defenses to Russian agents
- Conviction date: Nov. 18, 2020
- Prison sentence: 15 years
- Current location: ADX Florence Federal Supermax Prison, Florence, Colorado
Debbins was convicted of conspiring to provide national defense information to Russia. According to court documents, he had a history of involvement with Russian intelligence dating back to 1996 and his offenses included divulging details about his time as an Army officer, his training, and his deployment locations. He also disclosed classified information related to U.S. Army Special Forces units and their operations.
Ji Chaoqun
- Profession: Engineer
- Crimes: Acting as an illegal foreign agent; making false statements to the US Army
- Conviction date: Sept. 26, 2022
- Prison sentence: Eight years
- Current location: Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago
Chinese national Ji Chaoqun resided in the United States and was arrested and subsequently convicted for acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. Under the direction of Chinese intelligence, he targeted individuals within the U.S. defense industry to gather sensitive information and recruit them as intelligence sources. His activities included conducting background checks, providing reports to Chinese officials, and seeking to establish connections with potential sources.
Jonathan and Diana Toebbe
- Profession: former employee of the Department of the Navy and a nuclear engineer; wife
- Crime: Offered secrets about the design of Virginia-class nuclear submarines to Brazil
- Conviction date: Nov. 9, 2022
- Prison sentences: 19 years, for months (Jonathan); 21 years, eight months (Diane)
- Current location: Federal prison (details unknown)
Jonathan Toebbe, along with his wife, Diana, were sentenced for conspiring to communicate classified information concerning the design of nuclear-powered warships to Brazil. The couple, from Annapolis, Maryland, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy.