Robert Hanssen: ‘He wanted to be James Bond, and he thought they made him a librarian’
An FBI “spy catcher” who helped convict one of America’s most notorious traitors has expressed grief over his death, saying he had hoped to confront him one last time.
Robert Hanssen was found dead in his cell at the supermax in Colorado on Monday at the age of 79.
An FBI agent, he had been convicted of spying for Russia in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison. His demise shook the intelligence community and shocked the country.
A counterintelligence supervisor, Hanssen was a devout Catholic father of six and a follower of the strict Opus Dei group.
Yet it turned out that he was a sexual deviant who invited his best friend to watch him have sex with his wife on a secretly installed television system that she never knew about. He sent nude photos of her to the same friend and prowled strip clubs, trying to convert strippers to Catholicism. In particular, he spent time with a stripper named Priscilla Sue Galey, who gave her money, jewelry, and a Mercedes-Benz.
A psychiatrist hired by Hanssen’s defense team to examine him said his sexual perversions were part of a mental disorder.
Robert Hanssen (left) was serving 15 consecutive life sentences in federal prison after pleading guilty to espionage charges. Eric O’Neill (right) helped convict him
FBI agents arrest Hanssen near his home in Virginia in February 2001
Here, FBI agents are seen sealing Hanssen’s home before searching it for further evidence
After Hanssen’s death, the man who held the key to his downfall said he regretted not being able to ask him why he had betrayed the United States.
“Just heard that the FBI’s most damaging spy, Robert Hanssen, codename: Gray Day, passed away today in his cell,” Eric O’Neill tweeted.
“This closes the door to a huge moment in my life. I had hoped to confront him one last time, face to face.’
O’Neill was a 27-year-old FBI newcomer when his boss assigned him in 2001 to spy on Hanssen – who was already suspected of leaking top-secret information to Russia at the time.
O’Neill told The Washington Post that he was still processing Hanssen’s death.
When asked why Hanssen did it, O’Neill said Hanssen was a patriot, but also a disgruntled employee.
Hanssen was not paid well and raising six children took its toll. He paid $1.4 million and received diamonds from his Russian handlers.
But part of his motivation was pride: he wanted to be a field agent, rather than a desk-bound analyst.
Hanssen negotiated a plea deal to share information with officers so that he would avoid the death penalty and be sentenced to life in prison without parole
The photo shows FBI agents removing evidence of Hanssen’s espionage from his Virginia home
He began his espionage operation just three years after being hired by the FBI and continued until shortly before his scheduled retirement
O’Neill said Monday he was still processing Hanssen’s death
O’Neill and Hanssen’s story was made into a 2007 film, Breach, directed by Billy Ray
“He wanted to be James Bond, and he thought they made him a librarian,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill worked closely with Hanssen, observing him and trying to confirm the rumor that he was on Moscow’s payroll.
Their story was made into a movie in 2007, Breach, starring Ryan Philippe as O’Neill and Chris Cooper as Hanssen. It was directed by Billy Ray.
As time passed, O’Neill realized that Hanssen was always with his PalmPilot, and so he began to suspect that it contained vital information.
He came up with a plan where Hanssen was challenged to a shooting competition, with a bet of $20.
Hanssen is pictured in his official FBI photo
Hanssen left the office, leaving behind his PalmPilot, which O’Neill then ran downstairs to be copied by the FBI – along with a floppy disk and a data card from Hanssen’s purse.
“They’re starting to do the work and it’s slowly picking up,” O’Neill told the Spyscape website.
Hanssen then suddenly returned, leaving O’Neill to sprint back to the office and try to put the objects back where they belonged.
At that point, Hanssen had already caused the deaths of at least two KGB agents, whom he told Moscow was secretly working for Washington.
O’Neill was terrified that his ruthless boss would do something drastic like stage an “accident.”
But the evidence was convincing and Hanssen was arrested days later.
Hanssen never explained why he continued to spy for Moscow when he no longer needed the money.
“It was the thing that made him feel like he was the best at something in the world. No one was better,” said O’Neill.
And he knew it would make him immortal. And it did.’
Hanssen, pictured here with his wife Bonnie and their six children, gave up spying a few years when confronted by his wife
A cause of death has not yet been released, but Hanssen is said to have died of natural causes.
O’Neill managed to obtain and copy a letter which revealed that Hanssen had “dreamed of being a spy against his country for 14 years, after reading a book about Kim Philby – the British intelligence officer who was also a Russian double agent” .
In the letter, Hanssen wrote, “It could be argued that I am insanely brave or quite deranged. I would answer neither. I would say insanely loyal. Choose. There’s madness in all the answers.’
It also revealed Hanssen’s frustrations with the Russians and how he came to request the PalmPilot device that would eventually help him get locked up for life.
“I’ve come as close as I could ever want to sacrifice myself to help you, and I get silence. I hate silence…’ Hanssen wrote at one point.
“The US can be wrongly compared to a strongly built but retarded child, potentially dangerous, but young, immature and easily manipulated. But don’t let that appearance fool you. It’s also one that can quickly become ingenious, like an idiotic savant, once convinced of a goal.’
Following his arrest and conviction, the federal government instituted mandatory financial disclosures for all of its agents.
It also created the Commission for the Review of FBI Security Programs, which described Hanssen’s espionage as “arguably the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.”
And a review by the Inspector General also called Hanssen “the most damaging spy in FBI history.”
Hanssen negotiated a plea deal to share information with officers so that he would avoid the death penalty and be sentenced to life in prison without parole
Hanssen received $1.4 million in cash from the KGB and its successor during his efforts
After his arrest, friend and neighbors seemed shocked by the allegations and many said Hanssen did not fit the profile.
In articles shortly after his arrest in 2001, they described him as a man who didn’t swear, who sent his children to a private school of the Opus Dei Church, and who was a bland piece of clothing who didn’t have the personality traits to move up in the FBI . ladder.
Hanssen’s former colleagues said they would have been shocked if he spent the money he earned from espionage on women.
Instead, they told the New York Timesthey suspected that he probably used the money to pay for his sons’ prep school and his daughters’ Catholic school.
His story captivated America and inspired the 2007 film Breach.
“The death of Robert Hanssen brings a dismal end to one of the most notorious espionage cases in U.S. history,” said Javed Ali, former senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council. ABC news.