That in a sense, my balance with them was even. Because in another of these compartments, it's pretty sure this was not going to go on forever. The interview with Ames took place in a small, sealed room at the jail, furnished only with a round plastic table and chairs. He carried a sheaf of papers, but did not refer to them. The danger in his mind, he said, came from Soviet defectors.
Confidence is what does it.
He was never asked, Ames said. I never had to provide officially or unofficially any justification or rationalization. But this was a reasonable assumption that people would make. Ames clearly took pride in what he offered the Soviets. And my access to information and my knowledge of the Soviets was such that I could get virtually anything I wanted.