I read that too.
The book made me angry.
Angry that Robert Hanssen could do what he did to his country.
Angry because no one caught on to what he was doing for so long.
The book both confused and enlightened me.
Hanssen was essentially insane. One part of his personality was that of a conservative, Christian, patriotic family man. Another part of his personality was that of a treasonous, grasping porn addict.
It's a disturbingly common phenomenon: Ted Haggard, Eliot Spitzer, etc. - people who secretly do the exact opposite of what they apparently believe and are committed to.
It's upsetting to me - since I consider myself to be a conservative, Christian, patriotic family man just like Hanssen's public face. That's the confusing part: it seems like Hanssen was actually sincere about his beliefs, that it wasn't just a front - he really was that guy, and yet he was also another guy.
And it clearly wasn't just the money - he got paid only $500,000 over 25 years. $20,000 per year to risk his family, his life and his freedom? $20,000 per year to live for a quarter century in constant fear of detection?
Normally the kind of personality that does this - the kind of person who betrays his nearest and dearest in exchange for money - negotiates a better deal. He gave the Soviets material they probably would have happily paid $100 million dollars for - he basically gave them information for free.
He clearly wasn't in it for the money alone, yet he clearly had no real attachment to Soviet ideology either - and that's the most frightening part.
He did evil for evil's sake.
The book was also enlightening - it shows that the CIA and FBI (and the KGB and GRU) have the exact same stupid office politics and managerial squabbles as any other office - the mistakes that were made in catching Ames and Hanssen were due to the exact same moronic territorialism and siloing that happens at every job.