Former FBI Agent Robert Hansen Found Dead in Custody
Sold Intelligence to the Soviet Union Until Arrest in 2001
Robert Hanssen, known as the "worst spy in the history of American intelligence agencies," reportedly died in prison on the 5th (local time).
The New York Times (NYT) and the British BBC reported that "former FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) agent Hanssen was found unconscious at a federal prison in Florence, Colorado, and despite life-saving measures, he did not regain consciousness and was pronounced dead." The cause of death has not been disclosed.
Hanssen operated under the alias "Ramon Garcia" and sold classified information to the former Soviet Union for a staggering 20 years until his arrest in 2001.
The information he passed on included the latest status of U.S. weapons, counterintelligence secrets, and U.S. strategies in the event of a nuclear war. In return, Hanssen received cash and diamonds worth approximately $1.4 million (about 1.8 billion KRW). The NYT reported that "government officials at the time estimated that Hanssen's betrayal caused the U.S. losses amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars."
Hanssen's espionage shocked the entire United States at the time of his arrest. He was an ordinary family man living in the suburbs of Virginia with six children and a devout Catholic who attended church every week.
Hanssen joined the FBI relatively late at the age of 32 and worked for 25 years in the National Security Division (NSD). The NSD, which was responsible for rooting out double agents within the organization, was known as the "Dark Side" and was a department many avoided, but it was the perfect environment for a double agent.
Robert Hanson's ID card and business card displayed in a showcase at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, USA, in 2009 [Image source=AFP Yonhap News]
An outstanding intelligence expert, Hanssen was in charge of building a system that digitized the personal details of FBI agents and informants, as well as information on double agents. Especially from 1981 until his arrest, while working at the FBI headquarters in Washington, he had free access to advanced classified information such as the identities of secret informants, contact methods, and covert operations.
Hanssen first made contact with an agent of the Russian intelligence agency in Washington in 1985 and conducted espionage activities using strict anonymity. He did not lead a lavish lifestyle and stayed away from alcohol and gambling, so intelligence agencies suspected the existence of a spy but could not identify him.
However, Hanssen was caught just five weeks after deciding to quit his double agent activities. Authorities, suspicious that information was still leaking even after the arrest of another double agent, CIA agent Aldrich Ames, conducted a background investigation on him. Ultimately, Hanssen was arrested by FBI colleagues on February 18, 2001, while leaving a park in Washington DC where he had left information to be handed over to a Russian agent.
After his arrest, Hanssen stated in his confession that he was "influenced by Kim Philby, the famous British double agent," and that "he decided to become a double agent after reading Philby's book at the age of 14."
Sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in 2002, Hanssen was incarcerated at Florence Prison, the highest security prison in the United States. This prison also houses the Boston Marathon bombing perpetrator Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Ramzi Yousef, one of the main culprits of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York, and Mexican drug lord Joaqu?n Guzm?n.
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