Hansen even followed in his fathers footsteps and opened up his own bakery. Galey claims that although she offered to have sex with him, Hanssen declined, saying he was trying to convert her to Catholicism. After Ames's arrest in 1994, some of these intelligence breaches remained unsolved. He became an agent in 1976, and spent two years working in the Indianapolis, Indiana, field office. He was paid handsomely by the Soviets. We particularly appreciate the unhesitating leadership and support of Attorney General Ashcroft from the moment he took office. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 Hanssen became much more wary. Asked what Bonnie Hanssen thinks may have motivated her husband, Brookner said: Who knows? The complaint, however, does not allege any compromises by him at the State Department. FBI leadership decided Hanssen needed to be removed from his temporary position and brought back to FBI Headquarters. [5] His mother was Edna Margret Petersen. 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. 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. 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. After her children endured relentless bullying at school, she decided that her best path led out of Alaska (via The Cinemaholic). Press Release - Veteran FBI Agent Arrested and Charged with Espionage, FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Department of Justice. 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. Yet some investigators believed anger about how his father treated him as a child triggered a need to rebel against authority. In 1979, three years after joining the FBI, Hanssen approached the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) to offer his services, beginning his first espionage cycle, lasting until 1981. 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. Because of these coordinated efforts, the FBI was able to secure original Russian documentation of an American spy who appeared to the FBI to be Hanssen a premise that was soon to be confirmed when Hanssen was identified by the FBI as having clandestinely communicated with Russian intelligence officers. To the residents of the quiet suburb of Vienna, Virginia, Robert Hanssen was the perfect neighbor. Children: Lisa, Greg, Mark, John "Jack," Sue and Jane Education: Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, A.B. He used encrypted communications, dead drops, and other clandestine methods to provide information to the KGB and its successor agency, the SVR. He then applied and was accepted into the FBI. He married Bernadette Wauck in 1968 and, influenced by his devout Catholic wife, he converted to Catholicism. Apparently, even though Hansen was naturally a left-handed person, he was always forced to use his right hand, making his speech problems worse. 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.. in Chemistry, 1966; Attended Northwestern University Dental School, 1966-1968;. He was delegated to probe police officers who were suspected of corruption. Hanssen gave them the name of a Russian general, Dimitri Polyakov, who had been providing information to the Americans. 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. [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. Hansen was convicted of just four of the murders in a deal that spared him . He then enrolled at the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, to study dentistry but after three years shifted to business studies. After a few years working as an accountant, he decided to enter law enforcement. He passed on data related to surveillance activities of FBI and provided the GRU with data of suspected Soviet intelligence spies. [52], However, Hanssen's suspicions did not stop him from making one more dead drop. Their goal was to catch Hanssen red handed in espionage. Instead, he ultimately became the most damaging spy in Bureau history. [4][42], FBI investigators later made progress during an operation where they paid disaffected Russian intelligence officers to deliver information on moles. The most significant information that he shared was about Dmitri Polyakov, who while serving the Soviet Army as a General was spying for Americas CIA. By. 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. During his sessions with investigators, Hanssen claimed his motivation had always been financial. Hansen opened a bakery and learned how to fly the small plane that he purchased. Hanssen's section evaluated Soviet agents who volunteered to give intelligence to determine whether they were genuine or re-doubled agents. Butcher, Baker: The True Account of an Alaskan Serial Killer. A proficient hunter and tracker since childhood, Hansen chased down his victims in the Alaskan wilderness with a Ruger Mini-14 and a knife. He will report directly to the Attorney General and me and we will share his report with the National Security Council and Congress. 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. Wanting to get a fresh start, the newlywed couple migrated to Alaska in 1967 (per the New YorkDaily News). 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. Robert Hanssen is a former FBI agent who sold highly classified material to Russian intelligence agents for decades before he was finally arrested in 2001. [71], The Hanssen spy case is told in Ronald Kessler's book The Secrets of the FBI in chapter 15, "Catching Hanssen," chapter 16, "Breach", and chapter 17, "Unexplained Cash", based in part on interviews with Michael Rochford, who directed the FBI team that eventually caught Hanssen after initially wrongly assuming a CIA officer was the master spy. But in 1999, while assigned as an FBI liaison with the State Department, he once again began selling American secrets. The evidence against him was overwhelming, and to avoid the death penalty, Hanssen confessed and agreed to be debriefed by American intelligence officials. For years, Hanssen stopped contacting the Russians. Bonnie had previously told her brother that Hanssen once talked about retiring in Poland, then part of the Eastern Bloc. Polyakov was carefully watched by the Russians from that point on, and was eventually arrested as a spy and executed in 1988. For these reasons, the FBI learned of his true identity before the Russians; they are learning of it only now. Hansen would frequent the strip clubs in the area. He was made the chief of National Security Threat List Unit of FBI in Washington, D.C. in 1992. After working in the FBI division that developed secret listening devices, Hanssen was again placed in a position to track Russian agents operating in the United States. Robert Hansen was actually married twice. In 1979, three years after joining the FBI, Hanss McNamara, Robert. The attorney estimated that Hanssen contributed $10,000 to $20,000 to Mother Teresa in small installments over the years, although the FBI has not been able to verify the payments. Nor would many other intelligence and counterintelligence accomplishments that routinely but quietly contribute to the security of this Nation. I dont think there was anybody more shocked by all this, Brookner said. He was eventually placed on administrative leave, where he remained falsely accused until after Hanssen was arrested. 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. As an agency, we lived up to our responsibility, regardless of how painful it might be. In fact, when his father passed away, Hansen inherited 17 guns from him as well. Hanssen was serving as a detailee to the Office of Foreign Missions at the Department of State at the time suspicions around him arose. 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. The Hanssens are active members of Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic group. Hansen was convicted in 1984 after confessing to killing 17 women, mostly dancers and prostitutes, during a 12-year span. While not identifying himself, he was able to gain their trust by initially providing information which the Soviets found both credible and valuable. 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. In the last letter he wrote to the Russians, which was found by the FBI when he was arrested, Hanssen said that he had been promoted to a "do-nothing job outside of regular access to information," and that, "Something has aroused the sleeping tiger". 1981 - Is assigned to the Intelligence Division at FBI headquarters in DC. As Hanssen walked back to his car, the arrest team rushed up and took him into custody. All his six children went to schools linked with Opus Dei. After his release 20 months later, Hansen worked at putting his life back in order. Darla, who had a masters degree in Education, would earn her own income by teaching learning disabled kids. [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. Robert Phillip Hanssen was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 18, 1944. Hanssen warned the KGB that Bloch was being investigated, causing the KGB to end contact with him abruptly. His active and long stint as a Soviet spy began on October 1, 1985, when he sent an unsigned letter to KGB, where he mentioned the names of at least three agents of KGB who were covertly serving FBI. It belongs to his wife . [54], With the representation of Washington lawyer Plato Cacheris, Hanssen negotiated a plea bargain that enabled him to avoid the death penalty in exchange for cooperating with authorities. Investigators learned that Hanssen was set to make a dead drop on February 18, 2001. During the early 1990s, KGB veterans began to approach western intelligence agencies and provide information. At least two movies have been made about Hanssen. Hanssen's children returned to school within days of his arrest, family and friends said, to maintain their routines. "Robert Hanssen, FBI Agent Who Became a Soviet Mole." Christian owned a bakery and would make his son work for long hours as a kid. [66] Opus Dei member C. John McCloskey said he also occasionally attended the daily noontime Mass at the Catholic Information Center in downtown Washington. For more than a decade, Hansen had been luring sex workers into his vehicle or home with the promise of an easy transaction. Robert Hanssen's business cards, chalk and thumb tacks, which he used to communicate with his Russian contacts, according to the FBI. . [16] CIA and FBI officials, including Deputy Director William Sullivan, believed that, at some point, Polyakov was made into a triple agent by the Soviets, who thereby deceived the West with misinformation. Robert Philip Hanssen is a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent, who became infamous as a notorious double agent of the intelligence services of Soviet Union and later Russia. The plea bargain allows Bonnie Hanssen to receive about 55% of Hanssens pension, which will total an estimated $39,000 per year. [37], During the same period, Hanssen searched the FBI's internal computer case record to see if he was being investigated. Hansen and Darla set down roots. Eric Michael O'Neill is an American former FBI counter-terrorism and counterintelligence operative. Darla earned a living for the household as well, teaching children with disabilities. appreciated. 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. When they failed to appear, the Justice Department announced the arrest on February 20. While Darla suspected that he had been frequenting prostitutes, she had no idea of the literal manhunt he conducted. 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. In November 1998, they had a man with a foreign accent come to Kelley's door, warn him that the FBI knew he was a spy, and tell him to show up at a Metro station the next day to escape. After being released, he met his second wife, Darla Henrichsen, and the pair got married in 1963. Hanssen, carrying a package of documents, identified himself by his Soviet code name, "Ramon Garcia", and described himself as a "disaffected FBI agent" who was offering his services as a spy. Hanssen's jailers allowed him to watch this movie, but he was so angered by it that he turned it off. His assistant, Eric ONeill, was tasked with keeping investigators apprised of Hanssens movements. Hanssen is mentioned in the seventh episode of The History Channel series America's Book of Secrets, as well as in the fifth episode of Netflix series Spycraft. Mark Wauck, an FBI employee and brother-in-law of Hanssen, prompted his superior in 1990 to investigate Hanssen after a heap of cash was found in Hanssens house, but no action was taken. Many of them were agents of the Soviet intelligence agency, the KGB, or its military counterpart, the GRU. [41] The idea that an FBI agent was the second mole was not considered early enough. When told that he would have to take a lie detector test to join, Hanssen changed his mind. The complaint alleges that Hanssen conspired to and did commit espionage for Russia and the former Soviet Union. Hanssen was finally discovered when a former KGB agent contacted American intelligence agents. For many years, the CIA and FBI have been aggressively engaged in a sustained analytical effort to identify foreign penetrations of the Intelligence Community. 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.. This wedded bliss was short-lived, however. It would seem as though Hansen's children want their privacy respected, and who could blame them? Hanssen refused. [4] He was spying at the same time as Aldrich Ames in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He worked as a policeman in Chicago for three years and was placed on an elite unit that investigated corruption. His espionage was described by the Department of Justice as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. 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. 1972 - Joins the Chicago Police Department. Although Hanssen was unaware of it, Ames had already exposed all three agents earlier that year. [34], In 1994, Hanssen expressed interest in a transfer to the new National Counterintelligence Center, which coordinated counterintelligence activities. The investigation that led to these charges is the direct result of the longstanding FBI/CIA efforts, ongoing since the Aldrich Ames case, to identify additional foreign penetrations of the United States Intelligence Community. He continued with his counter-intelligence work after being shifted to the New York field office in 1985. Robert Christian Boes Hansen was born in Estherville, Iowa, at Coleman Hospital on February 15, 1939, the elder of two children to an American mother and a Danish father. Authorities say Hanssen was driven by greed, but Brookner rejected that assertion. The pension was an important consideration for Hanssen in his plea negotiations, Brookner said. 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 investigation is covered in O'Neill's memoir Gray Day: My Undercover Mission to Expose America's First Cyber Spy, published by Penguin Random House in the spring of 2019. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/robert-hanssen-4587832. Hanssen wanted to be posted to Allenwood in hopes that he might be visited frequently by his wife Bonnie and their six children. [70] Hanssen gave her money, jewels, and a used Mercedes-Benz but ended contact with her before his arrest when she began abusing drugs and doing sex work. Realizing the importance of the material, the United States paid $7 million for it. [64] His three daughters attended Oakcrest School for Girls in Vienna, Virginia, an independent Roman Catholic school. All Rights Reserved. Interestingly, Hansen got married twice. Sullivan noted that Hanssen spent a lot of time trolling ACS for information. 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. Though she named Hansen as the man who held her captive and sexually assaulted her, it wasn't until a more thorough investigation was completed that Hansen was formally charged with crimes. Hanssen was detailed to the Office of Foreign Missions at the Department of State from 1995 to 2000. Since he held key counterintelligence positions, he had authorized access to classified information. The 2007 documentary Superspy: The Man Who Betrayed the West describes the hunt to trap Hanssen. Hanssen claimed he was trying to connect a color printer to his computer but needed the password cracker to bypass the administrative password. 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