For 16 years he betrayed the most secret American secrets to Moscow – now he is dead Painting Picasso raises 3.4 million euros in Cologne

It’s all about this

Robert Hanssen is dead He died Monday at the age of 79 after serving more than 20 years in a prison in Florence, Colorado. Why was Hanssen in prison and that’s interesting? Well, Hanssen was perhaps the most damaging Russian spy ever in the US.

For 16 years, the FBI agent passed top secret US information to the nemesis, both during and after the Cold War. He collected millions from the Russians for this, was responsible for the execution of at least two American sources in Russia, and lived a long life without criminal charges – before about 300 investigating agents of the United States Secret Service discovered him and were able to prove high treason.

Who was Robert Hanssen?

Born in Chicago in 1944, Hanssen studied Russian at university and graduated in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. Unenthusiastic about the opportunities this education offered him, Hanssen went to work for a trust company after a university education, including accounting. He didn’t last long there either, resigning a year later and joining the Chicago Police Department, where he was assigned to internal investigations and forensic accounting.

In 1976 he then transferred to the FBI, writes the BBC. This he did diligently for several years. But then he decided to betray his own country. Already in 1979 he offered his services to the Russian secret service. From 1985, Hanssen regularly passed on secret information to the Russian secret service KGB and the military secret service GRU.

What exactly did Hanssen do?

Hanssen used old-fashioned espionage techniques – one of the reasons he was able to behave impeccably for so long. With so-called “dead drops”, also known as “dead mailboxes”, he left huge amounts of sensitive information with Russian informants in the US. He always relied on physical records and avoided digital records. Hanssen operated primarily in the suburbs of Virginia and Washington, DC

For a long time, Hanssen’s FBI superiors had no idea the perfidious double life their agent led. Under the pseudonym “Ramon Garcia”, he communicated with the Russians for a total of 16 years, both before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Among other things, he revealed to the American nemesis how the Russians are wiretapped with a secret tunnel in Washington or betrayed American sources in Russia who were arrested and executed in at least two cases. He also informed his Russian employers of the level of intelligence the US Secret Service had on Soviet activities.

How was he caught?

Since the early 1990s, several US intelligence officials have harbored suspicions that there may be a mole within their own ranks. But it took years before Hanssen was finally identified. The fact that it took so long was due on the one hand to the failure of various control mechanisms in the US authorities and on the other hand to the great care with which Hanssen transferred his information.

Ironically, the spy’s downfall was an office colleague. A Russian agent received a file on «Ramon Garcia». It was extremely unfortunate for Hanssen that this agent shared his penchant for treachery – while also working for the United States. The file contained a recorded telephone conversation that Hanssen had with his Russian contacts, and his fingerprints could also be identified.

As early as November 2000, detectives knew what Hanssen was doing. But first hard evidence had to be found. The FBI did this by supposedly promoting the traitor, a fake job that allowed investigators to track him 24/7. Detectives specially trained in the trials were assigned to his immediate superiors and assistants. Including then only 26-year-old Undervocer agent Eric O’Neill, who became his personal assistant.

At the time, however, only a fraction of FBI employees knew that the “most damaging spy in the agency’s history” was in the middle of the ranks. “It was one of the most important events of my life, going undercover at a relatively young age and facing the most damaging spy in US history,” said O’Neill, who even befriended Hanssen during the investigation, but secretly hated it. worked.

O’Neill and the other investigators waited patiently for Hanssen to make another fatal fall attempt. In February 2001 the time had come: Hanssen was caught in the act, arrested and charged with espionage and high treason. He admitted his guilt in court without hesitation and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

That’s why Hanssen spied

There are several theories about this. Hanssen himself stated at the trial that his only concern was the financial incentive – he allegedly received a total of $1.4 million from the Russians, partly in cash and partly in diamonds. The detectives who opposed him suspected other motives behind Hanssen’s behavior. Among other things, his huge ego and personal satisfaction. One of the researchers told the BBC:

As it turned out, Hanssen not only found professional pleasure in playing doubles. He is said to have had numerous affairs privately despite his marriage.

According to official information, Hanssen died of natural causes on Monday at the maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado, at the age of 79.