The CIA also realized that, despite Ames’ annual salary being $60,000, he could afford:
A $540,000 house in Arlington, Virginia, paid for in cash
A $50,000 Jaguar luxury car
Home remodeling and redecoration costs of $99,000
Monthly phone bills exceeding $6,000, mostly calls by Ames’ wife to her family in Colombia
Premium credit cards, on which the minimum monthly payment exceeded his monthly salary
In March 1993, the CIA and FBI began an intensive investigation of Ames that included electronic surveillance, combing through his trash and the installation of a monitor in his car to track his movements. From November 1993 until his arrest, Ames was kept under virtually constant physical surveillance. When, in early 1994, he was scheduled to attend a conference in Moscow, the FBI believed it could wait no longer, and he and his wife were arrested on February 21