In 1985, while assigned to the debriefing of Soviet KGB defector Vitaliy Yurchenko, Ames violated security by taking his mistress to the safe house where Yurchenko was staying. Also in 1985, he had a security violation for leaving his safe open. In Rome from 1986 to 1989, he was known to prepare classified reports at home on his personal computer. He often left the safe open when leaving for the day, and he ignored security regulations that require reporting of all foreign travel. On a trip to a conference in Turkey in 1993, Ames took with him a personal laptop computer on which he had classified information.
Regulations prohibit using personal computers for classified material.
The classified material was seen, and later reported to Office of Security, by his boss who asked to use the laptop for games. Any one or two of these violations would not be particularly noteworthy. What is noteworthy is the number of violations and their persistence over a prolonged period of time. Ames' disdain for security carried over into his espionage activity for the Soviets, where he failed to follow basic security precautions expected of any intelligence officer. Ames' poor security practices indicate an inability or unwillingness to follow the basic rules of his profession.