Robert J. McNamara is a history expert and former magazine journalist. Hanssen disclosed this information to the Soviets in September 1989 and received a $55,000 payment the next month, equivalent to $120,232 in 2021. He placed a white piece of tape on a park sign, which was a signal to his Russian contacts that there was information at the dead drop site. Hanssen parked on a residential street and walked down a wooded path to a footbridge with the classified materials wrapped in a plastic bag. Two fingerprints collected from a trash bag in the file were analyzed and proved to be Hanssen's. Though the government alleges that Robert Hanssen, 56,. He worked in an accounting firm for a year after which he was selected in the Chicago Police Department. The one thing the father and son would eventually have in common is their interest in hunting. He will report directly to the Attorney General and me and we will share his report with the National Security Council and Congress. The FBI believed his story, and Hanssen was merely given a warning. The couple went on to have two children. Hanssen was detailed to the Office of Foreign Missions at the Department of State from 1995 to 2000. He continued with his counter-intelligence work after being shifted to the New York field office in 1985. 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. A TV movie called Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story was released in 2002. He had opportunity. The FBI paid $7 million to a KGB agent to obtain a file on an anonymous mole, whom the FBI later identified as Hanssen through fingerprint and voice analysis. 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. While it did not contain Hanssen's name, among the information was an audiotape of a July 21, 1986, conversation between "B" and KGB agent Aleksander Fefelov. 1979 - Begins spying for the Soviet Union. Literally, Hanssens colleagues and coworkers at the FBI conducted this investigation and did so quietly, securely and without hesitation. 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. [45] FBI analyst Bob King remembered Hanssen using that same quote. She and her young children could remain in their home, or they could seek refuge elsewhere. Eric Michael O'Neill is an American former FBI counter-terrorism and counterintelligence operative. 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. He then applied and was accepted into the FBI. Hanssen was finally discovered when a former KGB agent contacted American intelligence agents. The information he is alleged to have provided compromised numerous human sources, technical operations, counterintelligence techniques, sources and methods, and investigations, including the Felix Bloch investigation. At work, he often spoke of his religious faith and conservative values, traits which helped him avoid any suspicion during the years that he was in secret communication with Russian spies. , . Please be aware how deeply Mrs. Hanssen regrets the damage that her husband, Robert Hanssen, has caused to our country and to their family, the statement said. 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. Hanssen was set to retire, so investigators had to move fast. After her children endured relentless bullying at school, she decided that her best path led out of Alaska (via The Cinemaholic). When these two KGB officials returned to Moscow, they were tried and convicted on espionage charges and executed. [63], According to USA Today, those who knew the Hanssens described them as a close family. One notable example was the information that the Americans had dug a tunnel under the Russian embassy in Washington to install sophisticated listening devices. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/robert-hanssen-6997.php. By February 2001, about 300 personnel were working the investigation and monitoring Hanssen. Brian Blomquist. We particularly appreciate the unhesitating leadership and support of Attorney General Ashcroft from the moment he took office. Though both Hansen and his wife earned respectable incomes, it would be revealed that it was Darla who was supporting the household. An FBI arrest team moved into position at Foxstone Park, a location where Hanssen had been spotted before by FBI surveillance. "I apologize for my behavior. (2020, August 28). FBI leadership decided Hanssen needed to be removed from his temporary position and brought back to FBI Headquarters. During his second round of dealing with Russian agents, Hanssen was much more cautious. But Brookner said Hanssens family was never the beneficiary of any spy money and that Bonnie Hanssen has no idea what happened to the proceeds from his spying, including $800,000 that authorities say the Russians deposited for him in a Moscow bank. As an agency, we lived up to our responsibility, regardless of how painful it might be. May 9, 2002 4:00am. While their exact whereabouts are unknown to the public, it's suspected that they still live in the Midwest. [52], However, Hanssen's suspicions did not stop him from making one more dead drop. 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. Yuzhin was imprisoned for six years before he was released by a general amnesty to political prisoners, and subsequently emigrated to the U.S..[24] Because the FBI blamed Ames for the leak, Hanssen was neither suspected nor investigated. 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. [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. Its difficult, but its better than seeing him put to death.. Did you encounter any technical issues? In fact, when his father passed away, Hansen inherited 17 guns from him as well. They created a list of all agents known to have access to cases that were compromised. in Chemistry, 1966; Attended Northwestern University Dental School, 1966-1968;. 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. 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? On October 1, 1985, Hanssen sent an anonymous letter to the KGB offering his services and asking for $100,000 in cash, equivalent to $251,949 in 2021. 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. In return, he received large sums of money and other remuneration. Butcher, Baker: The True Account of an Alaskan Serial Killer. Polyakov was carefully watched by the Russians from that point on, and was eventually arrested as a spy and executed in 1988. He began providing the Soviets with highly valuable material. The October 1 letter began a long, active espionage period for Hanssen. 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. Hanssen is a Special Agent of the FBI with a long career in counterintelligence. Robert Hanssen moments after being arrested. February 18, 2001 - Is arrested in a Virginia park after making a drop of classified documents. 2023 Cable News Network. [49][50][51], During his final days with the FBI, Hanssen began to suspect something was wrong. A few years later, they moved to Anchorage, Alaska, and had two children. Hanssen made the donation to a charity affiliated with Mother Teresa, and cut off contact with the Soviets for the next few years. 1980 - Begins working for the counterintelligence unit, focusing on the Soviet Union. After graduating from a public high school, Hanssen attended Knox College in Illinois, studying chemistry and Russian. The FBI also obtains the complete original KGB dossier on Hanssen. For a time he planned to become a dentist, but eventually wound up obtaining an MBA and becoming an accountant. Press Release - Veteran FBI Agent Arrested and Charged with Espionage, FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Department of Justice. 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. Desk: FBI and CIA Counterintelligence As Seen From My Cubicle Dog Ear Publishing 2010, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Gray Day: My Undercover Mission to Expose America's First Cyber Spy, Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America, "USA v. Robert Philip Hanssen: Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint, Arrest Warrant and Search Warrant", "Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator", "A Review of FBI Security Programs (Webster Report)", "A Review of the FBI's Performance in Deterring, Detecting, and Investigating the Espionage Activities of Robert Philip Hanssen", Thompson Statement Regarding Hanssen Guilty Plea, "Spy's Wife Speaks, After Taking a Lie Test", "Riddle Resolved: Who Dimed Out American Traitor and Super-Spy, Robert Hanssen? Robert Philip Hanssen is an American former Federal Bureau of Investigation double agent who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the United States from 1979 to 2001. 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