Nor would many other intelligence and counterintelligence accomplishments that routinely but quietly contribute to the security of this Nation. On a 2017blog post, Hale revealed that he had attempted to contact Hansen's now adult children, but was unsuccessful. Bonnie had previously told her brother that Hanssen once talked about retiring in Poland, then part of the Eastern Bloc. Literally, Hanssens colleagues and coworkers at the FBI conducted this investigation and did so quietly, securely and without hesitation. McNamara, Robert. Instead, he ultimately became the most damaging spy in. Hansen would force some of these women into the small plane that he owned and fly them to a remote location in the Alaskan wilderness. 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. Hanssen was finally discovered when a former KGB agent contacted American intelligence agents. She went with Hanssen on visits to Hong Kong and the FBI training facility in Quantico, Virginia. (Serial Killer) Robert Christian Hansen was a convicted serial killer from America who abducted, raped, and murdered at least 17 women in and around Anchorage, Alaska, in the 1970s and early 1980s. The agencies initially focused primarilyand incorrectlyon a veteran CIA case officer, who was investigated for nearly two years. Darla was an extremely religious woman, and she felt that faith could be his way out. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Bonnie Hanssens first public statements on the case reveal both her anxiety over her husbands actions and her sense of relief over the fact that she and her six children will retain an estimated $39,000 a year from his government pension. Darla earned a living for the household as well, teaching children with disabilities. He is serving his sentence at the ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison near Florence, Colorado, in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. Children: Lisa, Greg, Mark, John "Jack," Sue and Jane Education: Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, A.B. [72], Hanssen was the subject of a 2002 made-for-television movie, Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story, with the teleplay by Norman Mailer and starring William Hurt as Hanssen. Brian Blomquist. [25] That same year, Hanssen, according to a government report, committed a "serious security breach" by revealing secret information to a Soviet defector during a debriefing. For more than a decade, Hansen had been luring sex workers into his vehicle or home with the promise of an easy transaction. 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. He wrote to them anonymously. After a stint of three years he was shifted to the Soviet Analytical Unit that delved in probing, recognising and catching Soviet agents in the US. His application in the National Security Agency, for the post of a cryptographer, was rejected due to budget restrictions. 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. At some point in 1979, Hanssen made a decision to sell American secrets to the Soviets. At least two movies have been made about Hanssen. Friends of Hanssen later came forward and told journalists that Hanssen had exhibited eccentric behavior, which included an obsession with pornography. He managed to avoid a death penalty by negotiating a plea deal where he agreed to cooperate with government agents. [65], A priest at Oakcrest said Hanssen had regularly attended a 6:30a.m. daily Mass for over a decade. 1999 - Resumes spying, this time for the Russian Intelligence agency. Thereafter he enrolled in Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois and in 1966 completed his bachelor degree with Chemistry as major. A proficient hunter and tracker since childhood, Hansen chased down his victims in the Alaskan wilderness with a Ruger Mini-14 and a knife. [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. 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. In 1967, the couple moved to Anchorage, Alaska, and had two children. NSD chief Johnnie Sullivan ordered the computer impounded after it seemed to have been tampered with. 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. He passed on data related to surveillance activities of FBI and provided the GRU with data of suspected Soviet intelligence spies. 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. [58] Going by the alias "Ramon" or "Ramon Garcia",[59] Hanssen exchanged intelligence and payments through an old-fashioned dead drop system in which he and his KGB handlers left packages in public, unobtrusive places. An FBI arrest team moved into position at Foxstone Park, a location where Hanssen had been spotted before by FBI surveillance. Each time, I share the pride and sanctity of those words when new agents swear 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.. As Hanssen walked back to his car, the arrest team rushed up and took him into custody. He continued with his counter-intelligence work after being shifted to the New York field office in 1985. appreciated. He used encrypted communications, dead drops, and other clandestine methods to provide information to the KGB and its successor agency, the SVR. 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. At present he is serving his fifteen successive life terms as prisoner #48551-083 at a federal supermax prison, the ADX Florence. Christian owned a bakery and would make his son work for long hours as a kid. 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. WASHINGTON - Convicted FBI spy Robert Hanssen, who's set to be sentenced to life in prison tomorrow, asked his best friend to drug and have sex with . His book written about this experience, Gray Day: My Undercover Mission to Expose America's First Cyber Spy, was published in spring 2019. He met his second wife, Darla, shortly after his parole. In her statement, Bonnie Hanssen thanked government officials for allowing her to retain the pension and for recognizing that she and the children clearly are innocent victims.. [14] The next year, Hanssen was transferred to counterintelligence and given the task of compiling a database of Soviet intelligence for the FBI. 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. The level of support and expertise from Acting Deputy Attorney General Robert Mueller, Counsel for Intelligence Policy Frances Fragos Townsend, U.S. Attorney Helen Fahey and Assistant United States Attorney Randy Bellows is superb. Robert Hansen Remains 'Person of Interest' in Mom's Disappearance As for the investigation back in the 1960s when Joan Hansen disappeared, Urquhart was obviously not working for the Sheriff's office. Our joint efforts over the last several years and specifically in this case should give pause to those contemplating betrayal of the Nations trust. He did well in his elective, Russian. The Russian officer, who evidently did not recognize the code name, drove away. Heres a look at the life of convicted spy Robert Hanssen. 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. [60] He refused to use the dead drop sites that his handler, Victor Cherkashin, suggested and instead chose his own. 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. 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. In 1980, after his first interactions with the Soviets, Hanssen told his wife what he had done, and she suggested they meet with a Catholic priest. FBI career and first espionage activities (19761981), FBI counterintelligence unit, further espionage activities (19851991), Later FBI career, continued espionage activities (19922001), Lynch, Christopher, The C.I. 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. The couple married in 1968, and Hanssen converted from Lutheranism to his wife's Catholicism. 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. Instead, the 57-year-old defendant will be sentenced to life in prison without parole if he honors his pledge to tell the government all the secrets behind his two-decade career as a Russian spy. The pension was an important consideration for Hanssen in his plea negotiations, Brookner said. She would then use this money to run her house and support her children. His father, Howard, a Chicago police officer, was allegedly emotionally abusive to Hanssen during his childhood. Hansen even followed in his fathers footsteps and opened up his own bakery. 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. Undated file photo released by the FBI February 20, 2001 shows a package recovered at the 'Lewis' drop site containing $50,000 cash allegedly left by Russians for FBI Agent Robert Philip Hanssen. "Robert Hanssen, FBI Agent Who Became a Soviet Mole." Hanssen's superiors were not amused and began an investigation. "Butcher, Baker" was adapted into the 2013 film "The Frozen Ground," starring Nicholas Cage, John Cusack, and Vanessa Hudgens (per IMDb). After Ames's arrest in 1994, some of these intelligence breaches remained unsolved. In January 1976, he left the police department to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).[4]. [32] The following year, after the Russian Federation assumed control of the defunct Soviet spy agencies, Hanssen made a risky approach to the GRU, with whom he had not been in contact in ten months. [41] The idea that an FBI agent was the second mole was not considered early enough. In his office, Hanssen had full access to the FBIs Automated Case Support (ACS) system and the State Departments computer systems. [7][8] He was sentenced to 15 life terms without the possibility of parole. Hanssen was tracked from the time he left his house in Fairfax County, Virginia, to the time he got home at night, and it was confirmed that he was still an active spy. In 1979 he contacted the Soviet military intelligence, GRU, to offer his espionage. In 1999, the FBI even interrogated Kelley, his ex-wife, two sisters, and three children. His wife was a teacher of theology at Oakcrest. 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. He began providing the Soviets with highly valuable material. Discovery Company. Robert Hanssen's business cards, chalk and thumb tacks, which he used to communicate with his Russian contacts, according to the FBI. Robert was described as a loner and a quiet person, and he had a strained relationship as well with his strict and dominating father. But Thursday, Bonnie Hanssen issued a statement through her attorney revealing the torment that the case has caused. [22] Yuzhin had returned to Moscow in 1982 and had been subject to an intensive investigation by the KGB there due to having lost a concealed camera in the Soviet consulate in San Francisco, but he was not arrested until being exposed by Ames and Hanssen. Furthermore, she supported her husband when he was first incarcerated for theft, and then for abducting and sexually abusing a housewife and a prostitute (although the rape charge concerning the latter was dropped when he pleaded guilty.) 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. He was arrested while in the process of using a dead drop to clandestinely provide numerous classified documents to his Russian handler. She would use her money to run the household and support the couple's children, while Hansen would spend the money he made at the bakery on "his own needs," according to what she would later tell Sergeant Flothe, who played a pivotal role in his capture. [66] Opus Dei member C. John McCloskey said he also occasionally attended the daily noontime Mass at the Catholic Information Center in downtown Washington. [21][29] On two occasions, Hanssen gave the Soviets a complete list of American double agents. Because of his sexual deviancy and espionage conviction, the organization's reputation was badly hurt. Nor can there be any doubt that he was keenly aware of the gravity of his traitorous actions. 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. Still, he was not identified as a spy. The evidence against him was overwhelming, and to avoid the death penalty, Hanssen confessed and agreed to be debriefed by American intelligence officials. He often steered conversations to talk of religion and his very conservative values, which were aligned with the very conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. (2020, August 28). [37], During the same period, Hanssen searched the FBI's internal computer case record to see if he was being investigated. In 1978, Hanssen was transferred to the FBI office in New York City and was assigned to a counterintelligence post. 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. After being released, he met his second wife, Darla Henrichsen, and the pair got married in 1963. The complaint alleges that Hanssen conspired to and did commit espionage for Russia and the former Soviet Union. While their exact whereabouts are unknown to the public, it's suspected that they still live in the Midwest. He became an agent in 1976, and spent two years working in the Indianapolis, Indiana, field office. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. During the early 1990s, KGB veterans began to approach western intelligence agencies and provide information. He was charged with selling U.S. intelligence documents to the Soviet Union and subsequently Russia for more than $1.4 million in cash and diamonds over 22 years. . 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