Robert C. Ames

Robert Clayton Ames (March 6, 1934 – April 18, 1983) was an operations officer and Near East specialist for the Central Intelligence Agency. He was killed in the 1983 United States embassy bombing in Beirut.

Early life Raised in Philadelphia, the son of a steelworker, Ames 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 in signals intelligence and assigned to duty in Ethiopia. On visits to Cairo and Jerusalem, Ames became interested in the Middle East and learned Arabic. In 1960, he joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), specializing in the Middle East. Over his twenty three year CIA career, Ames was posted in Sana'a, South Yemen; Beirut, Lebanon; Tehran, Iran and Kuwait City, Kuwait. CIA Director William Casey described Ames as "the closest thing to an irreplaceable man".

US President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy Reagan, attended the ceremony marking the arrival of the victims’ coffins at Andrews Air Force Base. A memorial service for them, held at Washington National Cathedral, was attended by three thousand people.

Personal life He and his wife, Yvonne, had six children. Only after his death did Ames' children learn he was a spy.