2023 Cable News Network. Robert Hanssen (left), a 25-year career FBI man, pleaded guilty to, among other charges, 13 counts of espionage for Russia. On Feb. 18, 2001, Hanssen left a package presumably full of classified documents wrapped in trash bags underneath a bridge in Foxstone Park, then placed a piece of tape at a nearby location, indicating the drop had been made. After graduating from a public high school, Hanssen attended Knox College in Illinois, studying chemistry and Russian. The first time around, his wife divorced him after a mere half-year because of his incarceration for arson in Iowa. So Alleman instead asked ONeill to drive Hanssen to a meeting at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in an FBI vehicle that way, she could have someone search Hanssens car while he was out of the office. Among the files was a letter from Hanssen to the Russians arranging to meet. We believe it was exceptionally grave. Literally, Hanssens colleagues and coworkers at the FBI conducted this investigation and did so quietly, securely and without hesitation. In 1978, Hanssen was transferred to the FBI office in New York City and was assigned to a counterintelligence post. Browse 139 robert hanssen stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Hanssen was detailed to the Office of Foreign Missions at the Department of State from 1995 to 2000. He then applied and was accepted into the FBI. The full extent of the damage done is yet unknown because no accurate damage assessment could be conducted without jeopardizing the investigation. The FBI also obtains the complete original KGB dossier on Hanssen. I take solace and satisfaction, however, that the FBI succeeded in this investigation. 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. 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. Therefore, after he was given a 461-year sentence for his crimes, she chose to divorce him. 02 victoria warehouse manchester. four in a bed contestant dies. agent in Chicago. For these reasons, the FBI learned of his true identity before the Russians; they are learning of it only now. Robert Hanssen is a family man, devout Catholic, career FBI agent, and the most damaging spy in American history. They were deported and arrested. Midwestern Roots Hanssen was born in April 1944, the only child of a Chicago cop. Hanssen was the son of a police officer. Robert Hanssen, in full Robert Philip Hanssen, (born April 18, 1944, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.), agent of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who was one of the Soviet Union 's and Russia's most valuable double agents and the most damaging spy ever to penetrate the FBI. McNamara, Robert. Hanssen, in full blowhard mode, got back in the car and the two took the slow route as he lectured ONeill. A few years later, they moved to Anchorage, Alaska, and had two children. He and his wife relocated to Anchorage, Alaska in 1967. For years, Hanssen stopped contacting the Russians. (CNN) -- While he acted the patriot and family man, FBI agent Robert Hanssen was selling his country's most classified . 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. Hanssen parked on a residential street and walked down a wooded path to a footbridge with the classified materials wrapped in a plastic bag. ONeill, 46, left the FBI in May 2001. However, even though Hansen would go to church with his wife, nothing really changed. Father Bucciarelli came up with a plan to save Mr. Hanssen from prison, Mrs. Hanssen told investigators during the polygraph test, her lawyer said. (I have come about as close as I ever want to come to sacrificing myself to help you, and I get silence. 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. Chicago Tribune July 4, 2001. 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. 1981 - Is assigned to the Intelligence Division at FBI headquarters in DC. He was arrested in 2001 and sentenced to life without parole in federal prison in 2002 Born: April 14, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois Education: Knox College and Northwestern University, where he received an MBA Or, rather, one person does. One eye twitched.. I raised my chin and met his eyes, puffed out my chest and stood with my feet shoulder-width apart. One notable example was the information that the Americans had dug a tunnel under the Russian embassy in Washington to install sophisticated listening devices. and finally hopped out of the car, determined to walk back to the office. . Were you in my office? Hanssen leaned over my desk, his face inches from mine. Since he held key counterintelligence positions, he had authorized access to classified information. At the time, he was assigned to counterintelligence in the F.B.I. The double agent was arrested (above right) in 2001 by the FBI after leaving intel for them under a bridge in the park. The answer shocked ONeill, then 26. All three were arrested; two were executed. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. She sold their house and bakery in Alaska and shifted closer to her family in Arkansas after the children were getting bullied massively at their school. Now 74, he is serving time at ADX Florence, the federal supermax prison in Colorado. Hanssen would now be ONeills boss. He began to make small payments over several years to a charity affiliated with Mother Teresa's Catholic organization, moving the family close to bankruptcy, Mrs. Hanssen told the Justice Department investigators. By Sherri Day. The investigation of Hanssen was conducted by the FBI in partnership with the CIA, the Department of State, and, of course, the Justice Department. 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. Polyakov was carefully watched by the Russians from that point on, and was eventually arrested as a spy and executed in 1988. He betrayed his wife. ONeill quickly replaced the items and ran out of the office. He looked the quintessential suburban dad, devoted to his wife and six kids, working a government job to. .) And there was more than a touch of obvious paranoia: My security concerns have proven reality-based, Hanssen wrote. Blood rushed to my face. The actions alleged date back as far as 1985 and, with the possible exception of several years in the 1990s, continued until his arrest on Sunday. Nor would many other intelligence and counterintelligence accomplishments that routinely but quietly contribute to the security of this Nation. As alleged, he did so using a variety of sophisticated means of communication, encryption, and dead drops. (The bureau wanted someone pretty green so as not to arouse suspicion.) agent who confessed to selling secrets to Moscow, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole today by a . 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. 42-67.) 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. Children: Lisa, Greg, Mark, John "Jack," Sue and Jane. The family hopes Mr. Hanssen will be sent to the federal prison in Allenwood, Pa., which would be close enough for Mrs. Hanssen to continue to visit regularly. Many of them were agents of the Soviet intelligence agency, the KGB, or its military counterpart, the GRU. The Robert Hanssen Story" was released in 2002. Why is it so important to take [that] car? Hanssen demanded to know. Before getting caught in 2001 and sentenced to life in prison, he sold thousands of pages of sensitive material to the Soviet Union and ruined massive U.S. intelligence plans. 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. 1991 - Breaks off relations with the KGB. A former FBI Supervisory Special Agen. Director Louis Freeh discusses the arrest of veteran FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen on spy charges. 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. He betrayed his children. Here was ONeills opportunity to push Hanssen to his limits. The next day he ordered ONeill to drive him to a meeting. I have hurt so many deeply." Hanssen, who began working with Soviet military intelligence in 1979, was. The Justice Department's inspector general has been examining the F.B.I. agent sentenced to life in prison on Friday after he pleaded guilty to spying for Moscow off and on for more than 20 years. Is sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. On May 10, 2002, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Robert Philip Hanssen had drifted through several false starts in life before he settled in at the FBI. John Cusack plays the villain in the movie, and if youre curious to know, let me tell you that the story is inspired by the serial killer Robert Hansen. He has never answered that question for anyone. The news that he used to literally hunt women and kill them after sexually assaulting them sent shockwaves through the state of Alaska, and on occasion, even beyond its borders. Imbecile! His job was to help assemble a database of foreign officials posted in New York who, while posing as diplomats, were actually intelligence officers spying on the United States. Robert hanssen: the fox guarding the henhouse. Yet Brookner said Bonnie Hanssen has no intention of divorcing her husband. He will report directly to the Attorney General and me and we will share his report with the National Security Council and Congress. Without the current unprecedented level of trust and cooperation between the CIA and FBI, making this case would not have been possible. [Your wifes genetic code] demands she stay home and nurture the children. As difficult as this moment is for the FBI and for the country, I am immensely proud of the men and women who conducted this investigation. Pressed to explain what he was doing, she said, he acknowledged that he was dealing with the Russians. Hanssen gave them the name of a Russian general, Dimitri Polyakov, who had been providing information to the Americans. After five years working at the bureau as a ghost following suspects for a living he would be stepping out of the shadows: spying on someone in plain sight. After being released, he met his second wife, Darla Henrichsen, and the pair got married in 1963. Born in 1939 to a father who forced him to work long hours at the family bakery while subjecting him to ridicule and mockery and a mother who . "Robert Hanssen, FBI Agent Who Became a Soviet Mole." The Russian had obtained Hanssen's KGB file. But Hanssen couldn't afford the lifestyle that he thought he deserved. Sun, Feb 12, 2023. . While this arrest represents a counterintelligence investigative success, the complaint alleges that Hanssen located and removed undetected from the FBI substantial quantities of information that he was able to access as a result of his assignments. As a young man, he seemed to be seeking a way out of the blue-collar life represented by his boyhood neighborhood. Robert Hanssen Ryan Phillippe Eric O'Neill Dennis Haysbert Dean Plesac Laura Linney Kate Burroughs Caroline Dhavernas Juliana O'Neill Gary Cole Rich Garces Kathleen Quinlan Bonnie Hanssen Bruce Davison John O'Neill Jonathan Watton Geddes Tom Barnett Jim Olsen Jonathan Potts D.I.A. January 12, 2001 - Hanssen is reassigned from counterintelligence to an obscure office at FBI headquarters. Hes also a sign of Mexicos healthcare crisis, Black residents of Jackson, Miss., blast plans by white-dominated Legislature for more state control, Spain approves menstrual leave, teen abortion and trans laws. The premise of The Frozen Ground is that a state trooper, played by Nicolas Cage, teams up with a surviving victim of a serial killerto bring him down. The data-some 6000 pages of highly classified documents-revealed . After being released, he met his second wife, Darla Henrichsen, and the pair got married in 1963. Even without knowing who he was or where he worked, Hanssens value to the Russians was clear both by the substantial sums of money paid and the prestigious awards given to their own agents for Hanssens operation. 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. One might propose that I am either insanely brave or quite insane. Its amazing to live with a man for all those years and not know him.. I told him I thought it was insane.''. She visits her husband in prison regularly. On February 18, 2001, Hanssen was arrested and charged with committing espionage on behalf of Russia and the former Soviet Union. Unlike Cold War spies of an earlier era, Hanssen claimed to have no political motivation for selling out his country. They drove to New Rochelle to meet with the Rev. ONeill would have no problem achieving that but he did have a major concern. The Spy Who Loved Spying A good spy needs a good cover, and Hanssen had one of the best. On February 18, 2001, Hanssen was arrested at a park in northern Virginia after he had placed a package at a dead drop location. May 10, 2002 - Is sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Christian owned a bakery and would make his son work for long hours as a kid. Fourth, there is the case of Robert Philip Hanssen, a top-level FBI agent responsible for counterintelligence in the US, who spied for the Russians from 1979 until his arrest in February 2001. This story has been shared 106,031 times. He pleaded guilty to 13 counts of espionage plus two related counts and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. As alleged in the complaint, computer forensic analysis, substantial covert surveillance, court authorized searches and other sensitive techniques revealed that Hanssen has routinely accessed FBI records and clandestinely provided those records and other classified information to Russian intelligence officers. For decades, the quirky but respected counterintelligence expert, religious family man, and father of six, sold top secret information to agents of the Soviet Union and Russia. July 6, 2001 - Pleads guilty to 15 counts of espionage and conspiracy in exchange for the government not seeking the death penalty. ''He never said he was spying. But money is. Warmer storms could cause problems, Jaguars, narcos, illegal loggers: One mans battle to save a jungle and Maya ruins, Dr. Simi is a TikTok star. 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. Biography of Vladimir Putin: From KGB Agent to Russian President, The Biggest Donald Trump Scandals (So Far), President Truman's Executive Order 9835 Demanded Loyalty, Biography of Louis Armstrong, Expert Trumpeter and Entertainer, Biography of Alger Hiss: Government Official Accused of Spying, Biography of Mata Hari, Infamous World War I Spy, Haym Salomon, Spy and Financier of the American Revolution, Biography of Virginia Hall, WWII's Most Wanted Spy, Biography of Fred Hampton, Black Panther Party Leader, Biography of Robert Kennedy, US Attorney General, Presidential Candidate, John Dillinger's Life as Public Enemy Number 1, The Most Important Inventions of the Industrial Revolution. (Photo courtesy of FBI/Newsmakers). TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Now she says she has chosen to speak out at last because she wants to answer one question she has heard dozens of times: How could Robert P. Hanssen's wife of 34 years not have known he was a spy? 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. Follow. Their actions represent counterintelligence at its very best and under the most difficult and sensitive of circumstances. Marriage: Bernadette Bonnie (Wauck) Hanssen (August 10, 1968-present), Children: Lisa, Greg, Mark, John Jack, Sue and Jane, Education: Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, A.B. 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. This time, Mrs. Hanssen insisted that they find a cheaper place to live than Scarsdale. The Hanssens are active members of Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic group. The priest told Hanssen to stop his illegal activities and donate the money he had gotten from the Russians to charity. 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. So it appears that the Justice inspector general, an independent office that monitors the department's work, was trying to determine whether the F.B.I. She said she told the bureau the same thing immediately after her husband's arrest last year. The agencies initially focused primarilyand incorrectlyon a veteran CIA case officer, who was investigated for nearly two years. If he gave the money from the Soviets to charity, and promised not to spy again, he would have the priest's blessing not to report the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I hate silence . In court proceedings the government stated that Hanssen had been paid more than $1.4 million during his spying career, most of which he never actually received, as it was held for him in a Russian bank. When Eric ONeills supervisor turned up unannounced at his Washington, DC-area home early on a Sunday morning, the still-groggy FBI employee was perplexed. Hanssen took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same, but he decided to violate that oath. The US government took the death penalty off the table in exchange for Hanssens full cooperation. Darla, who had a masters degree in Education, would earn her own income by teaching learning disabled kids. Interestingly, Hansen got married twice. Robert Hanssen's business cards, chalk and thumb tacks, which he used to communicate with his Russian contacts, according to the FBI.
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