Described as. Asked what Bonnie Hanssen thinks may have motivated her husband, Brookner said: Who knows? His application in the National Security Agency, for the post of a cryptographer, was rejected due to budget restrictions. Hanssens espionage activities began in 1985. 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. Though both Hansen and his wife earned respectable incomes, it would . 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 FBI entrusted him with some of the most sensitive secrets of the United States Government and instead of being humbled by this honor, Hanssen has allegedly abused and betrayed that trust. After divorcing Robert, Darla was faced with a choice. He also paid visits to various sex workers, two of whom filed complaints to the police about Hansen and his strange and terrifying behaviors. They never lived the high life; they never even went out to dinner, she said. Our joint efforts over the last several years and specifically in this case should give pause to those contemplating betrayal of the Nations trust. 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]. He could sit in his office and shut the door. He passed on data related to surveillance activities of FBI and provided the GRU with data of suspected Soviet intelligence spies. [17][18], In 1981, Hanssen was transferred to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., and he relocated to the suburb of Vienna, Virginia. He used encrypted communications, dead drops, and other clandestine methods to provide information to the KGB and its successor agency, the SVR. The complaint, however, does not allege any compromises by him at the State Department. Hanssen's section evaluated Soviet agents who volunteered to give intelligence to determine whether they were genuine or re-doubled agents. By 1998, using FBI criminal profiling techniques, the pursuers suspected an innocent man: Brian Kelley, a CIA operative involved in the Bloch investigation. [7] On July 6, 2001, he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of espionage, one count of attempted espionage, and one of conspiracy to commit espionage in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. For unknown reasons[dubious discuss], the Soviets did not act against Polyakov until he was betrayed a second time by CIA mole Aldrich Ames in 1985. Some promising suspects were cleared, and the mole hunt found other penetrations, such as CIA officer Harold James Nicholson. For two children, that was devastating. [7][8] On May 10, 2002, Hanssen was sentenced to 15 consecutive sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. , . He was indiscreet enough to type his name into FBI search engines. He did well in his elective, Russian. As Director of the FBI, I am proud of the courageous men and women of the FBI who each day make enormous sacrifices in serving their country. 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. The Russian officer, who evidently did not recognize the code name, drove away. Director Tenet and I have briefed the intelligence committees of Congress because of the clear national security implications. [9] He is of Norwegian descent. I am shamed by it," Hanssen told U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton. The evidence against him was overwhelming, and to avoid the death penalty, Hanssen confessed and agreed to be debriefed by American intelligence officials. He then enrolled at the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, to study dentistry but after three years shifted to business studies. However, Hanssen escaped notice, likely because these efforts concentrated on CIA agents rather than FBI agents. 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. The FBI paid $7 million to a KGB agent to obtain a file on an anonymous mole, whom the FBI later identified as Hanssen through fingerprint and voice analysis. 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. At least three Russian agents he identified had been executed, and it was suspected that he compromised dozens of intelligence operations. 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. Ames was arrested in 1994. Hanssen met Bernadette "Bonnie" Wauck, a staunch Roman Catholic, while attending dental school at Northwestern. In 1981 he was assigned to the Budget Unit in the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. His job in the suburb of Vienna included electronic surveillance and wiretapping, which gave him more access to different FBI activities. Hansen opened a bakery and learned how to fly the small plane that he purchased. Children: Lisa, Greg, Mark, John "Jack," Sue and Jane Education: Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, A.B. 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. Hanssen then began to videotape his sexual encounters secretly and shared the videotapes with Hoschouer. "Robert Hanssen, FBI Agent Who Became a Soviet Mole." [60] He refused to use the dead drop sites that his handler, Victor Cherkashin, suggested and instead chose his own. Hanssen's children returned to school within days of his arrest, family and friends said, to maintain their routines. Hanssen was serving as a detailee to the Office of Foreign Missions at the Department of State at the time suspicions around him arose. That could leave Bonnie Hanssen, who works part time at the Catholic girls' school that her youngest child attends, in dire straits. [23] Martynov and Motorin were recalled to Moscow, where they were arrested, charged, tried, and convicted of espionage against the Soviet government. She is also challenging some of her husbands credit card bills. The crimes alleged are an affront not only to his fellow FBI employees but to the American people, not to mention the pain and suffering he has brought upon his family. 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. Throughout his spying, Hanssen remained anonymous to the Russians. He was finally arrested in early 2001 from Foxstone Park for trading classified information of the US to the Soviet Union and later to the Russian Federation. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. The FBI planned to use it for eavesdropping but never did for fear of being caught. In 1979 he contacted the Soviet military intelligence, GRU, to offer his espionage. Imagine finding out that your husband is a ruthless serial rapist and murderer. When FBI agents observed this incriminating act, they rushed in to arrest Hanssen. They paid $7 million to KGB agent Alexandr Shcherbakov[43] who had access to a file on "B". The Hanssens are active members of Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic group. A Warner Bros. [41] The idea that an FBI agent was the second mole was not considered early enough. Hanssen disclosed this information to the Soviets in September 1989 and received a $55,000 payment the next month, equivalent to $120,232 in 2021. His father, an officer of the Chicago police, often scorned and abused him emotionally. The information he delivered compromised numerous human sources, counterintelligence techniques, investigations, dozens of classified U.S. government documents, and technical operations of extraordinary importance and value. 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. [69], Hanssen frequently visited D.C. strip clubs and spent a great deal of time with a Washington stripper named Priscilla Sue Galey. Hanssen would later claim that his goal was simply to make some extra money, as living in New York City was putting a financial squeeze on his growing family. Judge Webster is uniquely qualified as a former FBI Director, CIA Director and Director of Central Intelligence to undertake this review. He was tasked with studying all known and rumored penetrations of the FBI to find the man who had betrayed Martynov and Motorin; this meant, in effect, that he was charged with searching for himself. After graduating from a public high school, Hanssen attended Knox College in Illinois, studying chemistry and Russian. [64] His three daughters attended Oakcrest School for Girls in Vienna, Virginia, an independent Roman Catholic school. This brief union did not produce any children. Hanssen's story is the subject of the 2021 documentary A Spy in the FBI. However, two cases- the Bloch investigation and the embassy tunnel- remained unsolved. We particularly appreciate the unhesitating leadership and support of Attorney General Ashcroft from the moment he took office. Before Hanssen left the position, Sullivan went to learn his new role at the Department of State. Martynov and Motorin were condemned to death and executed via a gunshot to the back of the head. The Russian had obtained Hanssen's KGB file. On February 18, 2001, Hanssen was arrested and charged with committing espionage on behalf of Russia and the former Soviet Union. His twenty two years of espionage against the US began in 1979. To the residents of the quiet suburb of Vienna, Virginia, Robert Hanssen was the perfect neighbor. He was born on April 18, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois, to Howard and Vivian Hanssen. 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. Since becoming Director over seven years ago, I have administered the FBI oath to each graduating class of Special Agents at the FBI Academy. 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. Hanssen received payments of $1.4 million in cash and diamonds from the information he gave the Soviet Union and Russia. Please be aware how deeply Mrs. Hanssen regrets the damage that her husband, Robert Hanssen, has caused to our country and to their family, the statement said. Hanssen ensured that he did not reveal himself with his study, but in addition, he gave the entire studyincluding the list of all Soviets who had contacted the FBI about FBI molesto the KGB in 1988. Darla earned a living for the household as well, teaching children with disabilities. To be very clear on this issue, at no time was he authorized to communicate information to agents of the KGB/SVR. 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. But police also found an aviation map Hansen had marked with various X's, later revealed to be his kill map (via Murderpedia). [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. 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. "I apologize for my behavior. [5] His mother was Edna Margret Petersen. FBI and CIA personnel who debriefed Hanssen about his 21 years. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. With the mole finally identified, locations, dates, and cases were matched with Hanssen's activities during the period. In return, he received large sums of money and other remuneration. Robert was born in 1939 in Iowa to Danish immigrants Christian and Edna Hansen. 2023 Cable News Network. The FBI believed his story, and Hanssen was merely given a warning. Is sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. [65], A priest at Oakcrest said Hanssen had regularly attended a 6:30a.m. daily Mass for over a decade. [77] David Wise wrote Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America. A feature film called Breach was released in 2007. Hanssen pled guilty to 15 counts of espionage on July 6, 2001. Regrettably, I stand here today both saddened and outraged. All denied everything. 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. Wauck also knew that the FBI was hunting for a mole and spoke with his supervisor, who took no action. After his release 20 months later, Hansen worked at putting his life back in order. [15] During his first espionage cycle, Hanssen provided a significant amount of information to the GRU, including details of the FBI's bugging activities and lists of suspected Soviet intelligence agents. I have hurt so many deeply. Robert Hansen was actually married twice. 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. The money Hansen generated from his bakery went elsewhere. He wrote to them anonymously. At present he is serving his fifteen successive life terms as prisoner #48551-083 at a federal supermax prison, the ADX Florence. Robert Hanssen moments after being arrested. The FBI waited two more days to see if any of Hanssen's SVR handlers would show up at Foxstone Park. Though the Russians made an official protest, he managed to get away with it as FBIs probe in this matter did not make any progress. Its amazing to live with a man for all those years and not know him.. May 10, 2002 - Is sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. He often steered conversations to talk of religion and his very conservative values, which were aligned with the very conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. 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. 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. All his six children went to schools linked with Opus Dei. [12] Hanssen received an MBA in accounting and information systems in 1971 and took a job with an accounting firm. The full extent of the damage done is yet unknown because no accurate damage assessment could be conducted without jeopardizing the investigation. appreciated. Hanssen refused. Although his name was not specifically mentioned, evidence in the file pointed to Hanssen, who was put under close surveillance. "Robert Hanssen, FBI Agent Who Became a Soviet Mole." Sullivan noted that Hanssen spent a lot of time trolling ACS for information. Hanssen's three sons attended The Heights School in Potomac, Maryland, an all-boys preparatory school. Born In: Chicago, Illinois, United States. [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. On January 12, 1976, Robert Philip Hanssen swore an oath to enforce the law and protect the nation as a newly minted FBI special agent. A reader replied to the blog, claiming to have been roommates with Hansen's daughter in the early 1990s, but this has yet to be substantiated. In 1985 he approached the Soviets again and offered valuable secrets.
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