Today in History: Robert Hanssen Espionage Case

Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies ^ | CI Centre

[K-oneTexas]

Counterintelligence & Espionage News

Today in History:

Robert Hanssen Espionage Case

 

Arrested: Sunday, February 18, 2001, Foxstone Park, Vienna, VA

Indicted: May 16, 2001

Sentenced to Life in Prison: Friday, May 10, 2002, Alexandria, VA

Current Location: Inmate #48551-083/D, Supermax prison in Colorado; no letters, no phone calls, no visitors, cement cell, called "the prisoner" instead of his name

 

Picture Gallery: Robert Hanssen

 

More information on the Hanssen Case

[sinanju]

More needs to be written about the period 1999 to 2001 when Hanssen resumed his spying for the FSB.

[wideawake]

To this day most people don't realize how blatantly obvious his spying was or how deeply perverted an animal he is.

His psychology is mystifying.

[TriGirl]

I am interested... where is more information that is legit?
Thanks!

[wideawake]

There's a book called Spy: The Inside Story Of How The FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America by David Wise, a pretty well-respected reporter in the intelligence field.

He did a ton of research on the original sources.

The book reveals some amazing things:

Hanssen thinks that his sentence is too harsh.

Hanssen deliberately leaked the identities of US intelligence operatives in the hopes that they would be killed - because he was afraid that if they were not killed they might discover who he was.

Hanssen built a special room in his basement so his best friend could watch Hanssen in bed with Mrs. Hanssen over closed-circuit TV. Hanssen also put together a plan in which he would orchestrate the rape of his own wife by his best friend so she could have a child by his best friend.

Hanssen physically assaulted a female FBI agent and did not get in trouble. Hanssen took his cash payoffs - which were sometimes more than his annual salary - and brought them to work with him, so he could deposit them into his own savings account in his own name at the bank across the street from his FBI offices.

Hanssen refused promotions that required a polygraph - which should have been a red flag. Hanssen's brother-in-law reported suspicious activity, suspicious statements, and unexplainable amounts of cash to FBI brass - who sat on the information without investigating.

[AlaskaErik]

Hanssen thinks that his sentence is too harsh.

The only fitting sentence for this traitorous human refuse is the death penalty. Too bad it wasn't used.

[Gaetano]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401997/

Netflix the movie Breach. Amazingly good film about Hanssen.

[MplsSteve]

You know, I’d normally agree with you - until I read the original post.

No mail, no visitors, no calls and though unmentioned, this likely includes no contact with other prisoners.

I think this would drive most people right out of their skulls. You have nothing else to do but eat, sleep, stare at the walls and think...

A fitting punishment for him.

Although it would be good to use the death penalty again. I think it would put many others on notice that if you commit treason, the death penalty is automatic.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I read somewhere the agents use the acronym "MICE" to sum up the motivation for spies like Hanssen:

• Money: they just want to get rich
• Ideology, they're "True Beliefers" in the enemy's cause
• Corruption, they're doing it because they're being blackmailed for some offense like drug addiction or gay promiscuity (or they're being supplied with drugs and pretty boys as part of their payoff)
• Excitement, or Ego, somebody who does it just because he gets off on risks, and enjoys putting something over on his superiors.

  Though Hanssen got money, that didn't seem to be the main thing with him: he seems to be an E.

  As far as I can tell.

[wideawake]

I agree with your general analysis - the money he took was a fraction of what Ames was paid, he was not a believer in the Soviet cause and he was not being blackmailed because his handlers did not have a clear idea of his identity.

But even if he did it for excitement and ego - and he clearly expresses those as motives - he still took elaborate steps in some regards to minimize the risk.

[Borges]

You have nothing else to do but eat, sleep, stare at the walls and think...

and read.