Upon becoming a special agent on January 12, 1976, Hanssen was transferred to the FBI's Gary, Indiana, field office. 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. I imagined I could smell gunpowder on his breath, ONeill writes. 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.. But money is. Gallagher also told Hanssen that then-Director Louis Freeh had approved a two-year extension on his service and a promotion to the Senior Executive Service. But, she said, she was determined to hold her husband to the deal. 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. Thanks for contacting us. The complaint alleges that Hanssen conspired to and did commit espionage for Russia and the former Soviet Union. Robert Hanssen (left), a 25-year career FBI man, pleaded guilty to, among other charges, 13 counts of espionage for Russia. Polyakov was carefully watched by the Russians from that point on, and was eventually arrested as a spy and executed in 1988. In the face of worldwide publicity about one of the most damaging espionage breaches in U.S. history, Bonnie Hanssen, 54, has maintained a steadfast silence since her husband of nearly 30 years was arrested in February near their home in suburban Washington. By the time Hanssen and ONeill returned to the office, things seemed normal. Heres a look at the life of convicted spy Robert Hanssen. 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. Serial killer Robert Hansen confessed to killing 17 women in Alaska over a 12-year span, all while married with two children. The couple, however, did not have a great relationship. But while agents moved and searched Hanssens car, he unexpectedly cut the meeting short, stalking out and leaving ONeill no time to notify Alleman. When the news media reported that alleged spy Robert Hanssen was a member of Opus Dei back in 2001, many wondered how Hanssen could provide sensitive information to communists, when Opus Dei has always seemed to be so vehemently opposed to communism. Sullivan noted that Hanssen spent a lot of time trolling ACS for information. Two were executed. His Russian contacts and Hanssen were highly trained in espionage techniques and were able to work together without ever meeting. By February 2001, about 300 personnel were working the investigation and monitoring Hanssen. Opus Dei and Hanssen: Masters of Paradox . Investigators learned that Hanssen was set to make a dead drop on February 18, 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. None of the internal information or personnel security measures in place alerted those charged with internal security to his activities. robert hanssen children. Long-lost ship found at the bottom of Lake Huron, confirming story of tragic collision, TikTok to set default daily time limit of up to 60 minutes for minors, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, Shocking, impossible gas bills push restaurants to the brink of closures, TikTok faces bans in a number of countries over security fears. He pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage in July 2001 and was sentenced to prison without the possibility of parole. He didnt see the PalmPilot, but there was a messenger bag and it was a jackpot: full of data disks, financial statements, a passport and a second cellphone. An FBI Agent who raised his right hand and spoke those words over 25 years ago has been charged today with violating that oath in the most egregious and reprehensible manner imaginable. 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. 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. Before Hanssen left the position, Sullivan went to learn his new role at the Department of State. 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. Many of the questions centered on assertions made by Mrs. Hanssen's brother, Mark Wauck, an F.B.I. After a few years working as an accountant, he decided to enter law enforcement. The pension was an important consideration for Hanssen in his plea negotiations, Brookner said. Their actions represent counterintelligence at its very best and under the most difficult and sensitive of circumstances. I live in Dallas, TX and growing up I was always the kid with "her nose in a book". Hanssens espionage activities began in 1985. Hansen even notched up a few local hunting records. Hansen even followed in his fathers footsteps and opened up his own bakery. He was, after all, a trained counterintelligence specialist. Robert P. Bucciarelli, a priest affiliated with Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organization the Hanssens had joined several years earlier. 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. Robert was born in 1939 in Iowa to Danish immigrants Christian and Edna Hansen. Director Tenet and I have briefed the intelligence committees of Congress because of the clear national security implications. He also expressed his trademark annoyance. Source: Netflix Article continues below advertisement Alleman tasked him with purloining Hanssens PalmPilot. The complaint, however, does not allege any compromises by him at the State Department. After being released, he met his second wife, Darla Henrichsen, and the pair got married in 1963. But Mr. Hanssen was not tricking the Russians; he was a Russian spy and had been working for the G.R.U., Soviet military intelligence, since 1979. Classic animal aggression, ONeill writes. That fall, Mr. Hanssen was transferred back to New York as a supervisor in charge of a counterintelligence squad. He became an agent in 1976, and spent two years working in the Indianapolis, Indiana, field office. He wanted to interview Hanssen for the book but was refused. Christopher Burgess / Feb 18, 2021. Accused FBI spy Hanssen cuts deal. 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. I never want you in my office again, Hanssen said. He worked as a policeman in Chicago for three years and was placed on an elite unit that investigated corruption. He spied for the Soviets . Agents find a bag nearby containing $50,000 that they believe is Hanssens payment for the documents. "Robert Hanssen, FBI Agent Who Became a Soviet Mole." Robert Hanssen is accused of spying for the Soviet Union and is awaiting trial. 42-67.) The criminal conduct alleged represents the most traitorous actions imaginable against a country governed by the Rule of Law. Posted in . He had opportunity. Yet Brookner said Bonnie Hanssen has no intention of divorcing her husband. She said she repeatedly questioned her husband to ensure that he was making the payments, and each time he insisted that he was. Hanssen, a 56-year-old counterintelligence specialist, was in the process of giving information to his Russian contacts in exchange for $50,000 in cash, FBI Director Louis Freeh said today. In the early 1980s, Hanssen was transferred to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. To his colleagues in the bureau he seemed to be a model agent. Therefore, after he was given a 461-year sentence for his crimes, she chose to divorce him. 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. But dont be fooled by that appearance. 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 next day he ordered ONeill to drive him to a meeting. The arrest of Robert Hanssen by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges of counterespionage represents a major crisis for the US intelligence apparatus. In it he betrayed three Soviet officers who were working for the Central Intelligence Agency and the bureau. 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. 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. 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. He used encrypted communications, dead drops, and other clandestine methods to provide information to the KGB and its successor agency, the SVR. 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. four in a bed contestant dies. Christian owned a bakery and would make his son work for long hours as a kid. Bokhan. To be very clear on this issue, at no time was he authorized to communicate information to agents of the KGB/SVR. Another government official confirmed that Mrs. Hanssen was given a polygraph test and said she had passed it. 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. He could sit in his office and shut the door. The FBI believed this was his signal site where the Russians would signal when they were ready to receive his intel. When these two KGB officials returned to Moscow, they were tried and convicted on espionage charges and executed. . 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. 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. (I have come about as close as I ever want to come to sacrificing myself to help you, and I get silence. Children: Lisa, Greg, Mark, John "Jack," Sue and Jane Education: Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, A.B. At their very first meeting, ONeill reached out his hand and began to introduce himself. He married Bernadette Wauck in 1968 and, influenced by his devout Catholic wife, he converted to Catholicism. 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. ONeill rushed everything he found to Alleman, who had all of it copied, and then quickly returned the contents to Hanssens bag. In one deadly instance in 1985, the FBI believed Hanssen exposed three KGB agents working for the Americans. As a result of these assignments within the FBI, Hanssen gained access to some of the most sensitive and highly classified information in the United States Government. Since becoming Director over seven years ago, I have administered the FBI oath to each graduating class of Special Agents at the FBI Academy. ONeills next assignment would put him right into the lions den. The agencies initially focused primarilyand incorrectlyon a veteran CIA case officer, who was investigated for nearly two years. and finally hopped out of the car, determined to walk back to the office. 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. McNamara, Robert. In the letter, Hanssen revealed that he had dreamed of being a spy against his country since the age of 14, after reading a book about Kim Philby the British intelligence officer who was also a Russian double agent. Intelligence officials began debriefing Hanssen this week, defense attorney Preston Burton said Thursday. 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. After graduating from a public high school, Hanssen attended Knox College in Illinois, studying chemistry and Russian. 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. 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