Powered by WordPress.com VIP. (Photo courtesy of FBI/Newsmakers). He became an agent in 1976, and spent two years working in the Indianapolis, Indiana, field office. 1980 - Begins working for the counterintelligence unit, focusing on the Soviet Union. In order to put the double-crosser away forever, ONeill would need to put his life on the line again. 91 Followers. During his second round of dealing with Russian agents, Hanssen was much more cautious. 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. The Justice Department's inspector general has been examining the F.B.I. 's New York field office. He betrayed his country. Browse 139 robert hanssen stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. The Ellis drop site, under a footbridge over Wolftrap Creek at Foxstone Park near Vienna, Va. U.S. Attorney Randy Bellows, right, is depicted in an artists sketch as he addresses the court during the sentencing of convicted spy Robert Hanssen, center, seen with his attorney Plato Cacheris, left, at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. The next day he ordered ONeill to drive him to a meeting. Id answer neither. We dont know at this point what happened to that money, she said. He lobbied his Russian masters to buy him a newer PalmPilot, with wireless Internet capabilities, which would allow the rapid transmission of encrypted messages. All Rights Reserved. In fact, her husband resumed his espionage career. I would like to ask him why he did it, ONeill told The Post. The investigation of Hanssen was conducted by the FBI in partnership with the CIA, the Department of State, and, of course, the Justice Department. Mrs. Hanssen acknowledged in the interview that in about 1980, she discovered that her husband was having unauthorized dealings with the Russians, but said she never knew the extent of his actions. For many years, the CIA and FBI have been aggressively engaged in a sustained analytical effort to identify foreign penetrations of the Intelligence Community. Nor would many other intelligence and counterintelligence accomplishments that routinely but quietly contribute to the security of this Nation. Hansen even followed in his father's footsteps and opened up his own bakery. We've received your submission. He worked as a policeman in Chicago for three years and was placed on an elite unit that investigated corruption. He wanted to interview Hanssen for the book but was refused. On February 18, 2001, Hanssen was arrested and charged with committing espionage on behalf of Russia and the former Soviet Union. By February 2001, about 300 personnel were working the investigation and monitoring Hanssen. Sullivan noted that Hanssen spent a lot of time trolling ACS for information. General Polyakov had been spying for the United States since the early 1960's, but soon after Mr. Hanssen told the Russians of this, General Polyakov was forced to retire and was later executed. He pleaded guilty to 13 counts of espionage plus two related counts and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. 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. I scooped the devices into my arms and sprinted for the stairway, writes ONeill, who refers to this as his one true James Bond moment. A few years later, they moved to Anchorage, Alaska, and had two children. But in 1999, while assigned as an FBI liaison with the State Department, he once again began selling American secrets. 2000 - The FBI identifies Hanssen from a fingerprint and from a tape recording supplied by a disgruntled Russian intelligence operative. Mrs. Hanssen insists she never knew about her husband's second, far longer and more damaging stint as a spy and never saw anything that made her suspect that he had taken up with the Russians again. The US government took the death penalty off the table in exchange for Hanssens full cooperation. Christian owned a bakery and would make his son work for long hours as a kid. 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. Their actions represent counterintelligence at its very best and under the most difficult and sensitive of circumstances. Hansen even notched up a few local hunting records. Hanssen was detailed to the Office of Foreign Missions at the Department of State from 1995 to 2000. He was sentenced to life in prison. Children: Lisa, Greg, Mark, John "Jack," Sue and Jane. Although his name was not specifically mentioned, evidence in the file pointed to Hanssen, who was put under close surveillance. Hanssen is a Special Agent of the FBI with a long career in counterintelligence. I dont think there was anybody more shocked by all this, Brookner said. (The bureau wanted someone pretty green so as not to arouse suspicion.) After work each day, ONeill would secretly meet with his actual boss, Special Agent Kate Alleman, recalling everything Hanssen said and did which, as it turned out, would be nothing pleasant. The double agent was arrested (above right) in 2001 by the FBI after leaving intel for them under a bridge in the park. His tale was also made into the 2007 movie Breach.. 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. Alleman explained to ONeill that the smoking gun would be an actual information drop for the Russians. Polyakov was carefully watched by the Russians from that point on, and was eventually arrested as a spy and executed in 1988. They bought a modest, three-bedroom home in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., north of New York City. June 16, 2001 -- Accused FBI spy Robert Hanssen told his wife about his activities as early as 1980, well before prosecutors claim he started passing secrets to Moscow. Authorities said they are convinced that Bonnie Hanssen--unlike the wives of several other notorious U.S. spies who helped their husbands--was not involved in Hanssens spying. In this assignment, however, Hanssen did continue to have access to sensitive FBI information as he remained assigned to the FBIs National Security Division and routinely dealt with sensitive and classified matters. Russian operatives left signals for Hanssen at Foxstone Park in Vienna, Va. Judge Webster is uniquely qualified as a former FBI Director, CIA Director and Director of Central Intelligence to undertake this review. Upon becoming a special agent on January 12, 1976, Hanssen was transferred to the FBI's Gary, Indiana, field office. Hanssen wanted to be posted to Allenwood in hopes that he might be visited frequently by his wife Bonnie and their six children. McNamara, Robert. Robert P. Hanssen, the former F.B.I. He will report directly to the Attorney General and me and we will share his report with the National Security Council and Congress. In this article, Hansens dynamic with his own family is discussed to give you a better insight into the life of the now-deceased murderer. Hanssen subsequently was assigned to a variety of national security posts that legitimately provided him access to classified information relating to the former Soviet Union and Russia. Apparently, even though Hansen was naturally a left-handed person, he was always forced to use his right hand, making his speech problems worse. At the time, he was assigned to counterintelligence in the F.B.I. Robert Hanssen, FBI Agent Who Became a Soviet Mole. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. In fact, he had already betrayed one of the United States' most important agents: Gen. Dmitri Polyakov of the G.R.U. He turned off the highway onto a side street, trying to persuade Hanssen that it was faster even though, as he writes, anyone who has lived in the DC area for two weeks could call bullst.. https://www.thoughtco.com/robert-hanssen-4587832 (accessed March 1, 2023). The couple, however, did not have a great relationship. Because of his experience and training as a counterintelligence agent, Hanssen went undetected for years, although some of his unusual activities had aroused suspicion from time to time. The one thing the father and son would eventually have in common is their interest in hunting. 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. Robert Hanssen moments after being arrested. agent in Chicago. Agents find a bag nearby containing $50,000 that they believe is Hanssens payment for the documents. You can call me sir, or boss, Hanssen said. Annoyed at ONeills seeming incompetence, Hanssen lashed out, calling him an imbecile and a moron. Finally, he said, Well take my car, and thats final.. As an agency, we lived up to our responsibility, regardless of how painful it might be. Midwestern Roots Hanssen was born in April 1944, the only child of a Chicago cop. They never lived the high life; they never even went out to dinner, she said. During his sessions with investigators, Hanssen claimed his motivation had always been financial. At one point Hanssen spoke to a Russian agent over a pay phone, but they generally relied on placing signals in public places. agent sentenced to life in prison on Friday after he pleaded guilty to spying for Moscow off and on for more than 20 years. Hanssen was the son of a police officer. The affidavit alleges that Hanssen voluntarily became an agent of the KGB in 1985 while assigned to the intelligence division at the FBI field office in New York City as supervisor of a foreign counterintelligence squad. 2:02 PM EDT, Thu April 14, 2022, FBI Agent Robert Philip Hanssen is shown in this undated file photo, released by the FBI February 20, 2001. His troubles with the law continued in Anchorage as well. The lawyer, who watched the polygraph session through a one-way mirror, took notes and discussed the results with the Justice Department's polygraphers, she said. In 1985 he approached the Soviets again and offered valuable secrets. Robert was described as a loner and a quiet person, and he had a strained relationship as well with his strict and dominating father. NOTE: The following is an excerpt from an article by Lee Penn, "Opus Dei & the Da Vinci Code, part II", published in the Journal of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project [SCP] (Vol. He was, after all, a trained counterintelligence specialist. Hanssen gave them the name of a Russian general, Dimitri Polyakov, who had been providing information to the Americans. Just then the door buzzed, indicating Hanssens return. One day, she said, she found her husband scurrying to cover up some papers in the basement of their home in Scarsdale, N.Y. Hansen even followed in his fathers footsteps and opened up his own bakery. Press Release - Veteran FBI Agent Arrested and Charged with Espionage, FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Department of Justice. After Bonnie Hanssen confronted her husband, he told her that he had been in contact with his Soviet intelligence counterparts only as a ploy to trick them with disinformation, the attorney said. ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- Apologizing before a U.S. federal judge, former FBI agent Robert Hanssen was sentenced Friday to . Hanssen, 56, was an FBI agent for 25 . Robert Hanssen, a church-going family man and FBI agent for 25 years, was actually working as a Soviet spy for well over 20 years. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. January 30, 2003 / 4:50 PM / CBS. Why are we still having these debates? Its amazing to live with a man for all those years and not know him.. Under the plea agreement, Hanssen is obligated to return the $1.4 million in spying proceeds to the government, but Brookner said she doubts that will ever happen. Here was ONeills opportunity to push Hanssen to his limits. The data-some 6000 pages of highly classified documents-revealed . That fall, Mr. Hanssen was transferred back to New York as a supervisor in charge of a counterintelligence squad. He could sit in his office and shut the door. 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. Only David Wise could tell the astonishing, full story, and he does so, in masterly style, in Spy. As part of that review, the inspector general asked Mrs. Hanssen to take a polygraph test, just days before the sentencing. In the 1990s, after the arrest of Aldrich Ames, the FBI and CIA realized that a mole within the intelligence community was still sharing classified information with the Russians. He worked as a source for the USSR and subsequently The Russian Federation. He reportedly told his supervisors in 1990 that he suspected that Robert Hanssen was a spy after his own wife told him that, during a visit to the Hanssen home, Mrs. Hanssen told her she had become alarmed after discovering $5,000. Posted in . I have hurt so many deeply." Hanssen, who began working with Soviet military intelligence in 1979, was. Hanssen made the donation to a charity affiliated with Mother Teresa, and cut off contact with the Soviets for the next few years. Robert was born in 1939 in Iowa to Danish immigrants Christian and Edna Hansen. Playing to Hanssens ego, the underling, a newlywed, said he needed relationship advice about his wife wanting to wait to have children. Breaking her five-month silence, the wife of FBI spy Robert Philip Hanssen said Thursday that she deeply regrets the damage her husband has caused the United States and believes it is appropriate that he spend the rest of his life in prison. Full Name: Robert Phillip Hanssen Known For: Worked as a mole for Russian spy agencies while serving as an FBI counterintelligence agent. Hanssen had freely expressed his views on marriage before, once telling ONeill: Your genetic code demands that you make money and provide for the family. On 18 February 2001, Robert Hanssen was arrested and charged with committing espionage on behalf of the intelligence services of the former Soviet Union and its successors. He spied for the Soviets . By the time Hanssen and ONeill returned to the office, things seemed normal. ThoughtCo. A bakery owner by trade, Hansen was also an avid outdoorsman and. 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. On the drive back, ONeill tried to play it cool even though he was riddled with fear that Hanssens car would not be at the office when they returned. Robert Hanssen is a family man, devout Catholic, career FBI agent, and the most damaging spy in American history. He looked the quintessential suburban dad, devoted to his wife and six kids, working a government job to. Robert P. Bucciarelli, a priest affiliated with Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organization the Hanssens had joined several years earlier. Hanssen parked on a residential street and walked down a wooded path to a footbridge with the classified materials wrapped in a plastic bag. Its the one scrap of power hes kept for himself.. That effort is complemented by substantial FBI proactive investigation of foreign service intelligence officers here and by the critical work done by the CIA. He betrayed his best friend, offering him up to the KGB. Heart Of Darkness. With two children already out of school, the pension money will help Bonnie Hanssen support two children who are in college and two more still in high school, Brookner said. But dont be fooled by that appearance. It wasnt money, thats for sure, she said, noting that the family lived in a modest home with three mortgages and drove older-model cars as they scrimped to send their children to private Catholic schools. In short, the trusted insider betrayed his trust without detection. He was arrested while in the process of using a dead drop to clandestinely provide numerous classified documents to his Russian handler. May 10, 2002. 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. They have committed their lives to public service and to upholding the high standards of the FBI. Described as. Chicago Tribune July 4, 2001. 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 Hanssen case was regarded as a low point for the FBI, especially as Hanssen had been so trusted and had committed such betrayals for so many years. But she was questioned in the polygraph test on her knowledge of Mr. Hanssen's later spying career. "Robert Hanssen, FBI Agent Who Became a Soviet Mole." By ABC News. Opus Dei and Hanssen: Masters of Paradox . I told him I thought it was insane.''. None of the internal information or personnel security measures in place alerted those charged with internal security to his activities. However, even though Hansen would go to church with his wife, nothing really changed. Many of them were agents of the Soviet intelligence agency, the KGB, or its military counterpart, the GRU. The underling had 15 minutes to arrange for a car from the FBI who, this time, didnt blow its shot. Make him angry. She said that her husband is ''doing about as well as can be expected,'' and that ''he is very relieved that I have the pension. As they outranked him, he didnt have much of a choice. 02 victoria warehouse manchester. She said she had none, and the polygraph showed no indication of deception, Ms. Brookner said. The agencies initially focused primarilyand incorrectlyon a veteran CIA case officer, who was investigated for nearly two years. She told Sergeant Flothe (the man who played a pivotal role in Hansens capture) that their income streams were separate and that Hansen would spend the money from the bakery on his own needs. Updated Much of what these men and women did remains undisclosed but their success and that of their CIA counterparts represents unparalleled expertise and dedication to both principle and mission. In 1980, after his first interactions with the Soviets, Hanssen told his wife what he had done, and she suggested they meet with a Catholic priest. He wrote to them anonymously. Spy's Wife Speaks, After Taking a Lie Test, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/16/us/spy-s-wife-speaks-after-taking-a-lie-test.html. Search to explore more stock photos and images the Justice Department 's inspector robert hanssen children asked Mrs. Hanssen to his.! By a disgruntled Russian intelligence operative they never lived the high standards of the internal or... S footsteps and opened up his own bakery ordered ONeill to drive him to a general! Book but was refused after all, a conservative Catholic organization the Hanssens had joined several years earlier phone but! Sue and Jane to be posted to Allenwood in hopes that he might be visited frequently by his wife and... Examining the F.B.I before the sentencing review, the KGB for 25 a conservative Catholic organization the had! 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