Our joint efforts over the last several years and specifically in this case should give pause to those contemplating betrayal of the Nations trust. The Russian had obtained Hanssen's KGB file. An official website of the United States government. [33], Hanssen continued to take risks in 1993 when he hacked into the computer of a fellow FBI agent, Ray Mislock, printed out a classified document from Mislock's computer and took the document to Mislock, saying, "You didn't believe me that the system was insecure." 1980 - Begins working for the counterintelligence unit, focusing on the Soviet Union. The FBI waited two more days to see if any of Hanssen's SVR handlers would show up at Foxstone Park. Once he got caught, the only thing he cared about was trying to provide for his wife and his children, who visit him regularly in prison, Brookner said. Troubled by the incident, Bonnie Hanssen made her husband speak with a Catholic priest, who directed him to contribute money to Mother Teresa, the Catholic nun who ran a Calcutta charitable organization, as a form of penance, Brookner said. Brian Blomquist. On October 1, 1985, Hanssen sent an anonymous letter to the KGB offering his services and asking for $100,000 in cash, equivalent to $251,949 in 2021. After one teenage victim was able to escape, authorities were able to learn her abductor's identity. He also independently disclosed the identity of two KGB officials who, first compromised by Aldrich Ames, had been recruited by the U.S. Government to serve as agents in place at the Soviet Embassy in Washington. Although Robert Hanssen forfeited all the money he received from Moscow, his wife and six children get to keep their Vienna, Va., home and three cars, under the plea agreement. Throughout his spying, Hanssen remained anonymous to the Russians. Desk: FBI and CIA Counterintelligence As Seen From My Cubicle Dog Ear Publishing 2010, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Gray Day: My Undercover Mission to Expose America's First Cyber Spy, Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America, "USA v. Robert Philip Hanssen: Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint, Arrest Warrant and Search Warrant", "Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator", "A Review of FBI Security Programs (Webster Report)", "A Review of the FBI's Performance in Deterring, Detecting, and Investigating the Espionage Activities of Robert Philip Hanssen", Thompson Statement Regarding Hanssen Guilty Plea, "Spy's Wife Speaks, After Taking a Lie Test", "Riddle Resolved: Who Dimed Out American Traitor and Super-Spy, Robert Hanssen? [67], At Hanssen's suggestion, and without his wife's knowledge, a friend named Jack Hoschouer, a retired Army officer, would sometimes watch the Hanssens having sex through a bedroom window. Hanssen pled guilty to 15 counts of espionage on July 6, 2001. The information he is alleged to have provided compromised numerous human sources, technical operations, counterintelligence techniques, sources and methods, and investigations, including the Felix Bloch investigation. In mid-2001 he was tried in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on fifteen counts as a spy and was given sentence of fifteen life terms without a chance of parole. Hanssen, a former counterintelligence supervisor for the FBI, pleaded guilty last week to 15 espionage-related charges and admitted that he had sold the Russians thousands of pages of national security secrets in exchange for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds. He relayed secret information to Russia regarding US intelligence and counterintelligence operations. [72], Hanssen was the subject of a 2002 made-for-television movie, Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story, with the teleplay by Norman Mailer and starring William Hurt as Hanssen. Hanssen is mentioned in chapter 5 of Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code as the most noted Opus Dei member to non-members. He was sentenced to life in prison. He emerged as one of the most damaging spies to have infiltrated the FBI resulting in probably the worst intelligence disaster in the history of the US. . He used encrypted communications, dead drops, and other clandestine methods to provide information to the KGB and its successor agency, the SVR. The first time around, his wife divorced him after a mere half-year because of his incarceration for arson in Iowa. Thereafter he enrolled in Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois and in 1966 completed his bachelor degree with Chemistry as major. Hanssen was arrested on February 18, 2001, at Foxstone Park,[5] near his home in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Vienna, Virginia, after leaving a package of classified materials at a dead drop site. Hansen even followed in his fathers footsteps and opened up his own bakery. Heres a look at the life of convicted spy Robert Hanssen. All his six children went to schools linked with Opus Dei. While their exact whereabouts are unknown to the public, it's suspected that they still live in the Midwest. House Belonging To Former Spy Robert Hanssen Won't Sell. Their actions represent counterintelligence at its very best and under the most difficult and sensitive of circumstances. Sullivan noted that Hanssen spent a lot of time trolling ACS for information. Though both Hansen and his wife earned respectable incomes, it would . Hanssen became alarmed that a Russian with knowledge of his activities would tip off the Americans that a highly placed mole was operating within the FBI and the resultant investigation would lead to him. May 10, 2002 - Is sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. [20] In 1985, Hanssen was again transferred to the FBI's field office in New York, where he continued to work in counterintelligence against the Soviets. She went with Hanssen on visits to Hong Kong and the FBI training facility in Quantico, Virginia. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. An FBI arrest team moved into position at Foxstone Park, a location where Hanssen had been spotted before by FBI surveillance. Polyakov was carefully watched by the Russians from that point on, and was eventually arrested as a spy and executed in 1988. He became an agent in 1976, and spent two years working in the Indianapolis, Indiana, field office. The evidence against him was overwhelming, and to avoid the death penalty, Hanssen confessed and agreed to be debriefed by American intelligence officials. He also believed he heard noises on his car radio that indicated it was bugged, although the FBI was later unable to reproduce the noises Hanssen claimed to have heard. The FBI trusted him with some of the most sensitive secrets of the U.S. government, and instead of upholding that trust, he abused and betrayed it. Wikimedia Commons Robert Hanssen made over $1 million spying for the Soviets until he was caught in 2001. He was, after all, a trained counterintelligence specialist. [30], In 1990, Hanssen's brother-in-law, Mark Wauck, who was also an FBI employee, recommended to the FBI that Hanssen be investigated for espionage because his sister, Hanssen's wife, told him that her sister, Jeanne Beglis, had found a pile of cash on a dresser in the Hanssens' house. Yet some investigators believed anger about how his father treated him as a child triggered a need to rebel against authority. [6] [75], The American Court TV (now TruTV) television series Mugshots released an episode on the Robert Hanssen case titled "Robert Hanssen Hanssen and the KGB".[76]. FBI career and first espionage activities (19761981), FBI counterintelligence unit, further espionage activities (19851991), Later FBI career, continued espionage activities (19922001), Lynch, Christopher, The C.I. In 1999, the FBI even interrogated Kelley, his ex-wife, two sisters, and three children. 2000 - The FBI identifies Hanssen from a fingerprint and from a tape recording supplied by a disgruntled Russian intelligence operative. While the risk that an employee of the United States Government will betray his country can never be eliminated, there must be more that the FBI can do to protect itself from such an occurrence. In one letter to his Russian handlers, Hanssen complains about lost opportunities to alert them that the FBI had discovered the microphone hidden at the State Department, known then by the FBI but apparently not by Hanssen as being monitored by a Russian intelligence officer. [5] His mother was Edna Margret Petersen. Though the government alleges that Robert Hanssen, 56,. The couple went on to have two children. May 9, 2002 4:00am. She supports the plea agreement and agrees that the sentence of life in prison without parole, rather than the death penalty, is appropriate in these circumstances.. After his release 20 months later, Hansen worked at putting his life back in order. He had been married twice, and fathered children. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/robert-hanssen-4587832. He was born on April 18, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois, to Howard and Vivian Hanssen. O'Neill ascertained that Hanssen was using a Palm III PDA to store his information. His espionage was described by the Department of Justice as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. His case is considered one of America's greatest intelligence failures, as Hanssen operated as a mole within the bureau's counterintelligence division, the highly sensitive part of the FBI tasked with tracking foreign spies. [56][57], Hanssen never told the KGB or GRU his identity and refused to meet them personally, except for the abortive 1993 contact in the Russian embassy parking garage. In 1979, three years after joining the FBI, Hanss in Chemistry, 1966; Attended Northwestern University Dental School, 1966-1968; Northwestern University, M.B.A. in Accounting and Information Systems, 1971. Did you encounter any technical issues? (Serial Killer) Robert Christian Hansen was a convicted serial killer from America who abducted, raped, and murdered at least 17 women in and around Anchorage, Alaska, in the 1970s and early 1980s. Brookner said that the only time Bonnie Hanssen harbored any suspicions about her husbands activities came around 1979 or 1980, when they lived in Scarsdale, N.Y. She walked in on him and he covered up some papers, so she got suspicious, Brookner said. He is a public speaker and security When these two KGB officials returned to Moscow, they were tried and convicted on espionage charges and executed. Hanssen appeared to be a devoted anti-communist. Robert Hansen died at the age of 75 in 2014, still safely behind bars (via the Anchorage Daily News). When they failed to appear, the Justice Department announced the arrest on February 20. Before concluding, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet for the cooperation and assistance of his agency in this investigation. On February 18, 2001, Hanssen was arrested at a park in northern Virginia after he had placed a package at a dead drop location. He worked as a policeman in Chicago for three years and was placed on an elite unit that investigated corruption. Intelligence officials began debriefing Hanssen this week, defense attorney Preston Burton said Thursday. After a stint of three years he was shifted to the Soviet Analytical Unit that delved in probing, recognising and catching Soviet agents in the US. Robert Hansen. Nor would many other intelligence and counterintelligence accomplishments that routinely but quietly contribute to the security of this Nation. For instance, a piece of adhesive tape placed on a sign in a park in Virginia would indicate that a package had been placed in a "dead drop" location, which was usually under a small footbridge in the park. The Russians then filed an official protest with the State Department, believing Hanssen to be a triple agent. Once when Bonnie caught his espionage, he made a confession to an Opus Dei priest, donated cash to Catholic charity and gave his word of never spying again. For more than a decade, Hansen had been luring sex workers into his vehicle or home with the promise of an easy transaction. His wife was a teacher of theology at Oakcrest. Robert Hanssen, FBI Agent Who Became a Soviet Mole. Darla earned a living for the household as well, teaching children with disabilities. The level of support and expertise from Acting Deputy Attorney General Robert Mueller, Counsel for Intelligence Policy Frances Fragos Townsend, U.S. Attorney Helen Fahey and Assistant United States Attorney Randy Bellows is superb. He then followed his usual routine, taking a package consisting of a sealed garbage bag of classified material and taping it to the bottom side of a wooden footbridge over a creek. It is alleged that Hanssen provided to the former Soviet Union and subsequently to Russia substantial volumes of highly classified information that he acquired during the course of his job responsibilities in counterintelligence. We dont know at this point what happened to that money, she said. His most important leak was the betrayal of Dmitri Polyakov, a CIA informant who passed enormous amounts of information to U.S. intelligence while rising to the rank of general in the Soviet Army. His assistant, Eric ONeill, was tasked with keeping investigators apprised of Hanssens movements. May 31, 2001 - Pleads not guilty to all charges. These reports went nowhere, however (via the New York Daily News). [26], Later that year, Hanssen gave extensive information about American planning for measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT), a general term for intelligence collected by a variety of electronic means, such as radar, spy satellites, and signal intercepts. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. In fact, when his father passed away, Hansen inherited 17 guns from him as well. He was also tasked with observing and learning as much as he could about Hanssens information technology setup in his office and with keeping an eye out on who Hanssen was meeting and talking with. But the government could not prove he had lied, and wishing to avoid a public trial, the government chose not to void his plea agreement. In 1967, the couple moved to Anchorage, Alaska, and had two children. For more information:- Press Release - Veteran FBI Agent Arrested and Charged with Espionage- Affidavit- Statement ofFBI Director Louis J. Freeh on the Arrestof FBI Special Agent Robert Philip Hanssen (see below), Statement of FBI Director Louis J. Freeh On the Arrestof FBI Special Agent Robert Philip Hanssen, For Immediate ReleaseFebruary 20, 2001Washington D.C.FBI National Press Office. As the FBI was in the lookout for a turncoat for long, they first suspected a CIA officer but later zeroed in on Hanssen, probably due to a leak from a Russian defector. Hanssenusing the alias Ramon Garcia with his Russian handlershad provided highly classified national security information to the Russians in exchange for more than $1.4 million in cash, bank funds, and diamonds. The FBI also obtains the complete original KGB dossier on Hanssen. [65], A priest at Oakcrest said Hanssen had regularly attended a 6:30a.m. daily Mass for over a decade. Robert was born in 1939 in Iowa to Danish immigrants Christian and Edna Hansen. Yuzhin was imprisoned for six years before he was released by a general amnesty to political prisoners, and subsequently emigrated to the U.S..[24] Because the FBI blamed Ames for the leak, Hanssen was neither suspected nor investigated. Investigators learned that Hanssen was set to make a dead drop on February 18, 2001. His father served on the police force in Chicago and was serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II when Hanssen was born. NSD chief Johnnie Sullivan ordered the computer impounded after it seemed to have been tampered with. 1981 - Hanssens wife catches him with classified documents and convinces him to stop spying. In 1995 he was designated as a liaison between the Office of Foreign Missions of the Department of State and the FBI. Hanssen applied for a cryptographer job in the National Security Agency but was rebuffed due to budget setbacks. In 1979 he contacted the Soviet military intelligence, GRU, to offer his espionage. In May 2002, Hanssen was sentenced to life in prison. He also paid visits to various sex workers, two of whom filed complaints to the police about Hansen and his strange and terrifying behaviors. To get Hanssen back to FBI Headquarters where he could be closely monitored, Neil Gallagher, assistant director of the National Security Division at the time, called Hanssen to inform him of a bogus assignment to serve on his staff as a special assistant for a technology project. May 16, 2001 - Is indicted on 21 counts of spying for the Soviet Union/Russia and passing top secret material to the Soviet Union/Russia. It would seem as though Hansen's children want their privacy respected, and who could blame them? We particularly appreciate the unhesitating leadership and support of Attorney General Ashcroft from the moment he took office. Agents find a bag nearby containing $50,000 that they believe is Hanssens payment for the documents. After graduating from a public high school, Hanssen attended Knox College in Illinois, studying chemistry and Russian. By. News reports at the time of his sentencing said American intelligence agencies were not entirely satisfied with the extent of his cooperation and believed he was holding back information. During his sessions with investigators, Hanssen claimed his motivation had always been financial. This included all the FBI activities related to wiretapping and electronic surveillance, which were Hanssen's responsibility. However, even though Hansen would go to church with his wife, nothing really changed. Robert was born in 1939 in Iowa to Danish immigrants Christian and Edna Hansen. He could sit in his office and shut the door. [23] Martynov and Motorin were recalled to Moscow, where they were arrested, charged, tried, and convicted of espionage against the Soviet government. As soon as they let their guard down, Hansen would attack, brutally sexually assaulting them before finally killing them (per Anchorage Daily News). He later wrote to his KGB handler, speaking about the severity with which U.S. laws punishes his alleged actions, and acknowledging I know far better than most what minefields are laid and the risks.. A few years later, they moved to Anchorage, Alaska, and had two children. He did well in his elective, Russian. In January 1976, he left the police department to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).[4]. He was made the chief of National Security Threat List Unit of FBI in Washington, D.C. in 1992. Hanssen gave them the name of a Russian general, Dimitri Polyakov, who had been providing information to the Americans. Robert Phillip Hanssen was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 18, 1944. At one point Hanssen spoke to a Russian agent over a pay phone, but they generally relied on placing signals in public places. The following year he was shifted to counter-intelligence division where he was delegated the job of organising data of Soviet intelligence. They gave him a new job supervising FBI computer security. In 1979, Hanssen approached the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and offered his services. Hanssen's story was featured in episode 4, under the name of "Perfect Traitor", of Smithsonian Channel's series Spy Wars, aired end of 2019 and narrated by Damian Lewis.[78]. But Brookner said Hanssens family was never the beneficiary of any spy money and that Bonnie Hanssen has no idea what happened to the proceeds from his spying, including $800,000 that authorities say the Russians deposited for him in a Moscow bank. To bring him back to FBI headquarters, where he could be closely monitored and kept away from sensitive data, they promoted him in December 2000. Through our cooperative efforts, the FBI and CIA were able to learn the true identity of Ramon and the FBI was able to conduct a solid investigation. What makes Hansen seem even more grisly than other serial killers was the way that many of his victims were murdered. On January 12 that year he was posted in FBIs field office in Gary, Indiana, and in 1978 he was again transferred to its field office in New York. 1979 - Begins spying for the Soviet Union. At the Heights, McPherson told the family that they would not have to worry. Instead, he ultimately became the most damaging spy in Bureau history. We believe it was exceptionally grave. According to her, Hanssen never slept with her. Kelley instead reported the incident to the FBI. Robert Hansen died at the age of 75 in 2014, still safely behind bars (via theAnchorage Daily News). history. Its difficult, but its better than seeing him put to death.. At work, he often spoke of his religious faith and conservative values, traits which helped him avoid any suspicion during the years that he was in secret communication with Russian spies. FBI leadership decided Hanssen needed to be removed from his temporary position and brought back to FBI Headquarters. He married his second wife, Darla Henrichsen, within a few months of being released, in 1963. Robert J. McNamara is a history expert and former magazine journalist. The agents working for him reported this breach to a supervisor, but no action was taken. Christian owned a bakery and would make his son work for long hours as a kid. It was not a very demanding job, said Sullivan. Ames was officially blamed for giving Polyakov's name to the Soviets, while Hanssen's attempt was not revealed until after his 2001 capture. In short, the trusted insider betrayed his trust without detection. For these reasons, the FBI learned of his true identity before the Russians; they are learning of it only now. [52], However, Hanssen's suspicions did not stop him from making one more dead drop. The October 1 letter began a long, active espionage period for Hanssen. He began providing the Soviets with highly valuable material. The complaint alleges that Hanssen, using the code name Ramon, engaged in espionage by providing highly classified information to the KGB and its successor agency, the SVR, using encrypted communications, dead drops, and other clandestine techniques. They created a list of all agents known to have access to cases that were compromised. But money is. "Butcher, Baker" was adapted into the 2013 film "The Frozen Ground," starring Nicholas Cage, John Cusack, and Vanessa Hudgens (per IMDb). In early February 2001, he asked his friend at a computer technology company for a job. The complaint alleges that he received over $600,000. Polyakov was arrested in 1986 and executed in 1988. Wauck also knew that the FBI was hunting for a mole and spoke with his supervisor, who took no action. As a devout Catholic, Bonnie Hanssen feels that he needs time [in prison] to pray for forgiveness and be redeemed in some way, the wifes attorney, Janine Brookner, said in an interview. He placed a white piece of tape on a park sign, which was a signal to his Russian contacts that there was information at the dead drop site. Hanssen later joined the Catholic organization Opus Dei[13] with like-minded individuals. children: Greg Hanssen, Jane Hanssen, John Hanssen, Lisa Hanssen, Mark Hanssen, Sue Hanssen, education: Kellogg School Of Management, Knox College (Illinois), See the events in life of Robert Hanssen in Chronological Order, (Former FBI Double Agent Who Spied for Russian Intelligence Services Against the United States from 1979 to 2001), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Hanssen.jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert-Philip-Hanssen.jpg. He is serving his sentence at the ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison near Florence, Colorado, in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. [4][31], When the USSR disbanded in December 1991, Hanssen, possibly worried that he could be exposed during the ensuing political upheaval, ended communications with his handlers for a time. Leland Hale and Walter Gilmour co-authored the 1991 book "Butcher, Baker: The True Account of an Alaskan Serial Killer," chronicling the life and crimes of Robert Hansen. I have asked Judge William H. Webster, and he has graciously agreed, to examine thoroughly the internal security functions and procedures of the FBI and recommend improvements. But even as her life regains some sense of normalcy, Bonnie Hanssen struggles to understand the havoc that the last few months have wrought, Brookner said. The CIA and FBI searched his house, tapped his telephone, and surveilled him, following him and his family everywhere. In what is now considered the largest intelligence breach in FBI history, Robert Hanssen's scandal made him millions in diamonds and cash, but cost the FBI $7 million and the lives of three informants. "[3] Hanssen is currently serving 15 consecutive life sentences without parole at ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison near Florence, Colorado. He visited an office of the Russian government's trading company and offered to spy. [64] His three daughters attended Oakcrest School for Girls in Vienna, Virginia, an independent Roman Catholic school. A TV movie called Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story was released in 2002. He restarted his espionage activities in 1985 and continued until 1991, when he ended communications during the collapse of the Soviet Union, fearing he would be exposed. But in 1999, while assigned as an FBI liaison with the State Department, he once again began selling American secrets. [41] The idea that an FBI agent was the second mole was not considered early enough. Hanssen is a Special Agent of the FBI with a long career in counterintelligence. Hanssen was tracked from the time he left his house in Fairfax County, Virginia, to the time he got home at night, and it was confirmed that he was still an active spy. Aside from a few brushes with the law, Hansen led a fairly ordinary life. 1972 - Joins the Chicago Police Department. 1981 - Is assigned to the Intelligence Division at FBI headquarters in DC. The Russian officer, who evidently did not recognize the code name, drove away. In January 2001, Hanssen was given an office and an assistant, Eric O'Neill, who, in reality, was a young FBI surveillance specialist who had been assigned to watch Hanssen. Further, the complaint alleges that Hanssen, using his training and experience to protect himself from discovery by the FBI, never met face-to-face with his Russian handlers, never revealed to them his true identity or where he worked, constantly checked FBI records for signs he and the drop sites he was using were being investigated, refused any foreign travel to meet with the Russians, and even declined to accept any trade craft. Hanssen never displayed outward signs that he was receiving large amounts of unexplained cash.
Jefferson Outpatient Imaging Locations, Electronic Warfare Integrated Reprogramming Database, Cruise Ships Moored Off Limassol, What Type Of Cancer Did Emily Riemer Have?, Jim Shuto Family, Radish Kitchen Nutrition Facts, Signals And Systems: Theory And Applications Solutions, What Is A Good Mets Score By Age?, Do I Need A Fishing Licence For A Private Lake Uk, Best Flavored Cigarillos,