Since his guilty plea in July, Hanssen has been polygraphed twice and interviewed 75 times by the Webster Commission and three other government agencies trying to assess his activities and the damage he caused. That is what will happen to anyone who betrays our country." "He was an expert in what it took to avoid being caught, and he was caught and he was punished. "Robert Hanssen was trained to catch spies," McNulty said. McNulty said Hanssen's fate should serve as a warning to would-be spies. None of them are valid, or we wouldn't be here today." Hanssen attorney Plato Cacheris, who also represented Ames and other spies, said Hanssen's "artfulness in conducting this activity is the best I have ever seen."Ĭacheris declined to speculate on why his client turned to treachery. Trained in counterintelligence, Hanssen was able to evade capture for decades until a defector warned the FBI of a high-level traitor and provided examples of the highly classified information that had been compromised. preparations for nuclear war, several top-secret communications programs and a listening tunnel beneath the Soviet Embassy in Washington. history, he turned over 6,000 pages of highly classified documents and provided details about U.S. A commission headed by former FBI director William Webster recently detailed a series of investigative failures that allowed Hanssen to escape detection for so long.Ĭonsidered one of the most damaging spies in U.S. The spying case has also provoked recriminations at the FBI, which began routinely polygraphing agents after Hanssen's arrest. "I wish to thank all my family, friends and co-workers and those who have provided support for my family and friends," he said. In his brief statement, Hanssen made a point of recognizing the help he and his family have received since his arrest. Yet, when Bonnie Hanssen discovered her husband's spying in the early 1980s, he agreed to stop, consult a priest and give some of his early profits to Mother Teresa's charities in India. Hanssen also posted explicit stories about his wife on the Internet. The case has captured the public's imagination because Hanssen's image as a faithful Roman Catholic, a devoted family man and a hard-edged conservative agent contrasted so sharply with his espionage and a series of sexual secrets that have come to light.Īlthough Hanssen spent much of the money he received from the Russians on home improvements and school tuition, he also lavished gifts, including a car, on a local stripper. He pleaded guilty to receiving $643,000 in cash and diamonds and $800,000 in a Russian bank. Hanssen, who began spying in 1979, was arrested in February 2001 shortly after he was videotaped leaving a package of classified documents in a Fairfax County park for his Russian handlers. a traitor in our midst with no line he would not cross." Hanssen "broke every promise he ever made to the FBI, the American government and the American people. ![]() "Their blood is on hands," Assistant U.S. Two of the Soviet spies were executed by their country. Ames, who betrayed some of the same Soviet double agents as Hanssen. Hanssen has asked to serve the time in the federal prison in Allenwood, Pa., which houses other prominent spies, including former CIA officer Aldrich H. Hilton did not comment on the case as he handed down the life sentence, which does not allow for the possibility of parole. His wife, Bonnie, and six children did not attend, but several of Hanssen's friends came, and dozens of FBI agents packed the courtroom to bear witness to the fate of the former colleague who betrayed them. I opened the door for calumny against my totally innocent wife and children. Hanssen, 58, an agent for 25 years, twisted his hands behind his back and scanned the courtroom for familiar faces before stepping to the microphone and reading a carefully written statement: But the seven-minute hearing in a federal courtroom in Alexandria marked the first time the veteran FBI counterintelligence agent has spoken a full sentence in public since his arrest. Hanssen's fate had already been settled under a July 2001 plea agreement that spared him the death penalty in exchange for his cooperation. Hanssen, gaunt and soft-spoken, was sentenced to life in prison yesterday as he apologized for two decades of spying for Moscow that caused nearly unparalleled damage to the United States in one of the FBI's most embarrassing chapters.
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