Date Presented

Spring 5-18-2025

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Dr. Brian Crim

Second Advisor

Dr. David Richards

Third Advisor

Dr. Nichole Sanders

Abstract

Counterintelligence is a tool that is used in detecting espionage. This topic is important because it allows the United States government to determine if there is a spy in their midst. The purpose of this research is to identify different methods that have been used to catch spies, and how those methods can be implemented today by government agencies. It gives the intelligence community a framework for how to catch spies through the lenses of money and disgruntlement. The two hypotheses that this research tested are that issues around financial gain and workplace disgruntlement are or are not reasons that people get caught spying. The case studies include three individuals who spied for the Soviet Union and one person who spied for Cuba. They are Aldrich Ames, Robert Hanssen, John Anthony Walker, and Ana Montes. This research found that money and disgruntlement are motivators for why people spy in three of these cases, and that ideology, which was not tested in the hypothesis, is the motivation for the other. These results prove that money and disgruntlement can be used to determine if someone is a spy.

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