As Hanssen walked back to his car, the arrest team rushed up and took him into custody. Nor would many other intelligence and counterintelligence accomplishments that routinely but quietly contribute to the security of this Nation. For two children, that was devastating. 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. The CIA and FBI searched his house, tapped his telephone, and surveilled him, following him and his family everywhere. 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 following year he was shifted to counter-intelligence division where he was delegated the job of organising data of Soviet intelligence. In 1995 he was designated as a liaison between the Office of Foreign Missions of the Department of State and the FBI. McNamara, Robert. The fact that the KGB became aware of the probe triggered the FBI to look for the leak. [41] The idea that an FBI agent was the second mole was not considered early enough. During his sessions with investigators, Hanssen claimed his motivation had always been financial. On May 10, 2002, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Is sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Robert Hansen. 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. Robert J. McNamara is a history expert and former magazine journalist. [14] The next year, Hanssen was transferred to counterintelligence and given the task of compiling a database of Soviet intelligence for the FBI. They paid $7 million to KGB agent Alexandr Shcherbakov[43] who had access to a file on "B". 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. Hanssen restarted communications the next year and continued until his arrest. His espionage of more than two decades had earned him cash of over 1.4 million USD and diamonds. 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. Hansen opened a bakery and learned how to fly the small plane that he purchased. I am shamed by it," Hanssen told U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton. Once there, he would turn them loose and begin a human hunting expedition. The Russian officer, who evidently did not recognize the code name, drove away. After being released, he met his second wife, Darla Henrichsen, and the pair got married in 1963. He became known in the FBI as an expert on computers.[19]. After a few years working as an accountant, he decided to enter law enforcement. In one letter to his Russian handlers, Hanssen complains about lost opportunities to alert them that the FBI had discovered the microphone hidden at the State Department, known then by the FBI but apparently not by Hanssen as being monitored by a Russian intelligence officer. Friends of Hanssen later came forward and told journalists that Hanssen had exhibited eccentric behavior, which included an obsession with pornography. Hanssen's superiors were not amused and began an investigation. 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. After leaving a friend at an airport on February 18, 2001, Hanssen drove to Virginia's Foxstone Park. Hanssen was set to retire, so investigators had to move fast. Our joint efforts over the last several years and specifically in this case should give pause to those contemplating betrayal of the Nations trust. On February 18, 2001, Hanssen was arrested and charged with committing espionage on behalf of Russia and the former Soviet Union. He also designated a code to be used when dates were exchanged. But police also found an aviation map Hansen had marked with various X's, later revealed to be his kill map (via Murderpedia). [7][8] On May 10, 2002, Hanssen was sentenced to 15 consecutive sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. 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. 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. As alleged, he did so using a variety of sophisticated means of communication, encryption, and dead drops. 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 was delegated to probe police officers who were suspected of corruption. His case is considered one of America's greatest intelligence failures, as Hanssen operated as a mole within the bureau's counterintelligence division, the highly sensitive part of the FBI tasked with tracking foreign spies. The 2007 documentary Superspy: The Man Who Betrayed the West describes the hunt to trap Hanssen. [45] FBI analyst Bob King remembered Hanssen using that same quote. 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. He then enrolled at the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, to study dentistry but after three years shifted to business studies. McNamara, Robert. [73], Eric O'Neill's role in the capture of Robert Hanssen was dramatized in the 2007 movie Breach, in which Chris Cooper played the role of Hanssen and Ryan Phillippe played O'Neill.[74]. Robert Hansen's Parents. As soon as they let their guard down, Hansen would attack, brutally sexually assaulting them before finally killing them (per Anchorage Daily News). For more information:- Press Release - Veteran FBI Agent Arrested and Charged with Espionage- Affidavit- Statement ofFBI Director Louis J. Freeh on the Arrestof FBI Special Agent Robert Philip Hanssen (see below), Statement of FBI Director Louis J. Freeh On the Arrestof FBI Special Agent Robert Philip Hanssen, For Immediate ReleaseFebruary 20, 2001Washington D.C.FBI National Press Office. Though both Hansen and his wife earned respectable incomes, it would be revealed that it was Darla who was supporting the household. "Butcher, Baker" was adapted into the 2013 film "The Frozen Ground," starring Nicholas Cage, John Cusack, and Vanessa Hudgens (per IMDb). Director Tenet and I have briefed the intelligence committees of Congress because of the clear national security implications. In short, the trusted insider betrayed his trust without detection. A few years later, they moved to Anchorage, Alaska, and had two children. A Warner Bros. NSD chief Johnnie Sullivan ordered the computer impounded after it seemed to have been tampered with. Hanssen's wife, Bonnie, retired from teaching theology at Oakcrest in 2020. Hanssen then began to videotape his sexual encounters secretly and shared the videotapes with Hoschouer. The one thing the father and son would eventually have in common is their interest in hunting. He worked in an accounting firm for a year after which he was selected in the Chicago Police Department. 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. He was born on April 18, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois, to Howard and Vivian Hanssen. Described as. Although Hanssen was unaware of it, Ames had already exposed all three agents earlier that year. He did well in his elective, Russian. The failure of the Bloch investigation and the FBI's investigation of how the KGB learned that they were investigating Bloch caused the mole hunt that eventually resulted in the arrest of Hanssen. Clearly she doesnt approve of what hes done, and there was a whole part of this man she doesnt know, but I think with her deep religious convictions, he will, at least in mind and in spirit, continue to be her husband and the father of her children., Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Im afraid for her life: Riverside CC womens coach harassed after Title IX suit, Six people, including mother and baby, killed in Tulare County; drug cartel suspected, Want to solve climate change? 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. He enrolled in dental school at Northwestern University[11] but switched his focus to business after three years. O'Neill ascertained that Hanssen was using a Palm III PDA to store his information. May 10 Robert Hanssen, FBI agent turned Russian spy, is sentenced to life in prison On May 10, 2002, Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent who intermittently sold state secrets to Russia over. 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. All Rights Reserved. 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, 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. He was, after all, a trained counterintelligence specialist. [6] Hanssen gave them the name of a Russian general, Dimitri Polyakov, who had been providing information to the Americans. 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. 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. This wedded bliss was short-lived, however. He managed to avoid a death penalty by negotiating a plea deal where he agreed to cooperate with government agents. He then followed his usual routine, taking a package consisting of a sealed garbage bag of classified material and taping it to the bottom side of a wooden footbridge over a creek. [9] He is of Norwegian descent. 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. "[3] Hanssen is currently serving 15 consecutive life sentences without parole at ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison near Florence, Colorado. Intelligence officials began debriefing Hanssen this week, defense attorney Preston Burton said Thursday. [62] Hanssen took the risk of recommending to his handlers that they try to recruit his closest friend, a colonel in the United States Army. Hanssen sold thousands of classified documents to the KGB that detailed U.S. strategies in the event of nuclear war, developments in military weapons technologies, and aspects of the U.S. counterintelligence program. Did you encounter any technical issues? His espionage was described by the Department of Justice as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. [6] To avoid the death penalty, Hanssen pleaded guilty to 14 counts of espionage and one of conspiracy to commit espionage. Sullivan noted that Hanssen spent a lot of time trolling ACS for information. Hansen was convicted in 1984 after confessing to killing 17 women, mostly dancers and prostitutes, during a 12-year span. He was eventually placed on administrative leave, where he remained falsely accused until after Hanssen was arrested. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much When these two KGB officials returned to Moscow, they were tried and convicted on espionage charges and executed. Kelley instead reported the incident to the FBI. [5] His mother was Edna Margret Petersen. After confirmation by the FBI CART Unit, Sullivan filed a report with the Office of Professional Responsibility requesting the further investigation of Hanssen's attempted hack. 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. During the early 1990s, KGB veterans began to approach western intelligence agencies and provide information. 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. They attended Mass weekly and were very active in Opus Dei. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. He was sentenced to life in prison. Robert was described as a loner and a quiet person, and he had a strained relationship as well with his strict and dominating father. 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. 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. [49][50][51], During his final days with the FBI, Hanssen began to suspect something was wrong. 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.. FBI and CIA personnel who debriefed Hanssen about his 21 years. 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. In January 2001, Hanssen was given an office and an assistant, Eric O'Neill, who, in reality, was a young FBI surveillance specialist who had been assigned to watch Hanssen. Hanssen refused. [52], However, Hanssen's suspicions did not stop him from making one more dead drop. Nor can there be any doubt that he was keenly aware of the gravity of his traitorous actions. In 1978, he and his growing family of three children (and eventually six) relocated to New York City when the FBI transferred him to its field office there. His father served on the police force in Chicago and was serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II when Hanssen was born. The first marriage lasted only for six months; his wife divorced him while he was serving a 3-year sentence for arson in Iowa. He also believed he heard noises on his car radio that indicated it was bugged, although the FBI was later unable to reproduce the noises Hanssen claimed to have heard. The FBI waited two more days to see if any of Hanssen's SVR handlers would show up at Foxstone Park. Hanssen became alarmed that a Russian with knowledge of his activities would tip off the Americans that a highly placed mole was operating within the FBI and the resultant investigation would lead to him. He compromised information about Americas plan of forming Measurement and Signature Intelligence, its bugging plan over the Soviets by digging a tunnel under the decoding room of the Soviets new embassy and data on double agents of the US. A TV movie called Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story was released in 2002. Judge Webster and anyone he selects to assist him will have complete access and whatever resources are necessary to complete this task. appreciated. 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. After executing a search warrant, authorities found items in Hansen's home that belonged to other missing women from the area. A proficient hunter and tracker since childhood, Hansen chased down his victims in the Alaskan wilderness with a Ruger Mini-14 and a knife. 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. It would seem as though Hansen's children want their privacy respected, and who could blame them? His wife was a teacher of theology at Oakcrest. After graduating from a public high school, Hanssen attended Knox College in Illinois, studying chemistry and Russian. In 1978, Hanssen was transferred to the FBI office in New York City and was assigned to a counterintelligence post. "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. For a while he was in contact with Priscilla Sue Galey, a stripper in Washington, who received cash, jewelry and other benefits from Hanssen. The criminal conduct alleged represents the most traitorous actions imaginable against a country governed by the Rule of Law. He worked as a policeman in Chicago for three years and was placed on an elite unit that investigated corruption. But money is. 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. Two fingerprints collected from a trash bag in the file were analyzed and proved to be Hanssen's. He once said in a letter to the KGB that it should emulate the management style of Mayor of Chicago Richard J. Daleya comment that easily could have led an investigator to look at people from Chicago. Yet Brookner said Bonnie Hanssen has no intention of divorcing her husband. Hanssen was recalled yet again to Washington, D.C., in 1987. 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. We believe it was exceptionally grave. 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. Both Ames and Hanssen compromised the names of KGB agents working secretly for the U.S., some of whom were executed for their betrayal. Darla fled the state to Arkansas, where she had family. [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. In the end, officials believed his claim that he was merely demonstrating flaws in the FBI's security system. Six was to be added to the month, day, and time of a designated drop time, so that, for example, a drop scheduled for January 6 at 1:00p.m. would be written as July 12 at 7:00p.m..[61], Despite these efforts at caution and security, Hanssen could sometimes be reckless. When Robert Hansen was arrested in 1983, it would soon be revealed that this mild-mannered Alaskan baker was responsible for the deaths of as many as 17 young women in the Last Frontier. [27][28] When the Soviets began construction on a new embassy during 1977, the FBI dug a tunnel beneath their decoding room. In 1979, Hanssen approached the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and offered his services. We dont know at this point what happened to that money, she said. He often steered conversations to talk of religion and his very conservative values, which were aligned with the very conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. 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