Robert Hanssen
Robert Philip Hanssen (born April 18, 1944 in Chicago ) is an American double agent and former employee of the FBI , who worked as an agent for the Soviet Union and later for Russia in the USA for more than 20 years . Among other things, he worked as a reconnaissance expert in the FBI's counter-espionage department .
Life
Agent activity
Hanssen is said to have started his espionage activities in 1985 when he forwarded to Moscow the names of KGB employees who were working as double agents for the FBI. On two other occasions Hanssen passed on a list of all American double agents to its clients. He also handed over classified information about the locations of US government protection facilities to be used in the event of a nuclear attack .
In 1999 he revealed the existence of a tunnel under the Russian embassy in Washington , in which the Americans had operated elaborate listening devices for years .
Robert Hanssen always tried to avoid direct encounters with his clients and created a system of dead mailboxes and signals to get in touch with his KGB liaison officers or to transmit material. He kept his identity secret from his clients.
Exposure and condemnation
Hanssen was arrested on February 18, 2001 at Foxstone Park , near his home in Virginia .
His exposure during the tenure of US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell led to brief resentments in relations between Russia and the United States . For the first time since a mass expulsion of Soviet diplomats under US President Ronald Reagan in 1986, more than 51 Russian diplomats , including four embassy staff, who had acted as contacts for Robert Hanssen, were expelled . The case was considered a disgrace for the FBI, which in 1994, after the uncovering of the CIA double agent Aldrich Ames , who spied on Moscow, made contemptuous comments about the security margins at the CIA.
On July 6, 2001, Robert Hanssen was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment without the option of early release. He is serving his sentence in solitary confinement at ADX Florence Federal Prison , a maximum security detention facility in Florence, Colorado.
Others
Robert Hanssen was married and has three children. He is said to have received $ 1.4 million in cash, diamonds, and payments into a Moscow account over the last 15 years of spying . Except for his resolute anti-communism , he had not been noticed before the exposure and had not lived a lavish lifestyle. He was a member of the Roman Catholic lay association Opus Dei .
After his exposure, details of a private double life with extramarital affairs became known.
Movies
Hanssen's espionage activities became the subject of two films: Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story , an American television film from 2002 in which Hanssen was played by William Hurt , and the 2007 film Unmasked - Treason at the highest level with Chris Cooper in the lead role.
literature
- David Wise: Spy. The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America. Random House, New York 2002, ISBN 0-375-75894-1
Web links
- In service with the KGB since 1985. The Hanssen case - spy for Moscow . In: RP Online . March 22, 2001.
- FBI Famous Cases Robert Philip Hanssen Espionage Case (English)
- A Review of the FBI's Performance in Deterring, Detecting, and Investigating the Espionage Activities of Robert Philip Hanssen on justice.gov
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Uwe Schmitt : Washington shows 51 Russian diplomats. In: The world . March 23, 2001. Retrieved October 18, 2017 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hanssen, Robert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hanssen, Robert Philip (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American double agent and former FBI agent |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 18, 1944 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago |