Robert Hanssen (April 18, 1944 – June 5, 2023) was an American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who spied against the United States for the Soviet and Russian intelligence services from 1979 to 2001. His espionage was described by the U.S. Department of Defense. The case is “perhaps the worst intelligence disaster in American history.”
Bio/Wiki
Age-79years
Born-April 18, 1944
Birthplace-Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Death- 5 June 2023
Death place- ADX Florence, Fremont County, Colorado, U.S.
Occupation-FBI agent (1976–2001)
Spouse-Bernadette “Bonnie” Wauck (m. 1968)
Nationality- American, German
Code Name-Ramon Garcia, Jim Baker, G. Robertson, Gray suit, “B”
Family
Robert Hanssen was born in Chicago, Illinois to a Lutheran family living in the Norwood Park neighborhood, was of Norwegian descent. Her father Howard, a Chicago police officer, allegedly abused Hanssen during his childhood.
Wife
Robert Hanssen met Bernadette “Bonnie” Wauck, a devout Catholic, while attending dental school at North-western. The couple married in 1968, and Hanssen converted from Lutheranism to his wife’s Catholicism.
Children
Robert Hanssen has 6 children, named Sue Hanssen, Jane Hanssen, Lisa Hanssen, Greg Hanssen, John Hanssen, Mark Hanssen.
Education
Robert Hanssen graduated from William Howard Taft High School in 1962 and attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1966. After graduating from college, Hanssen applied for a cryptographic job at the National Security Agency but was turned down due to budget constraints. He entered North-western University’s dental school, but after three years he focused on business. Hanssen earned an MBA in accounting and information systems in 1971 and worked for an accounting firm.
Career
Robert resigned after a year and joined the Chicago Police Department as an internal affairs investigator in the forensic accounting division. In January 1976, Hanssen left the Chicago Police Department to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent who smuggled more than $1.4 million in cash and diamonds for trade secrets to Moscow in one of the most notorious espionage cases in American history, died in prison on Monday.
Upon becoming a special agent on January 12, 1976, Hanssen was transferred to the FBI’s field office in Gary, Indiana. In 1978,
In 1979, Hanssen approached the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and offered his services. He never indicated any political or ideological motive for his actions, telling the FBI after he was caught that his only motivation was financial.
Robert Philip Hanssen (April 18, 1944 – June 5, 2023) was an American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the United States from 1979 to 2001.
Investigation and arrest
Robert has been serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole since 2002 after pleading guilty to 15 counts of espionage and other charges. “Breach” catches the FBI traitor in the law film.
“Breach” catches the FBI traitor in the law.
Robert Hanssen released a trove of information about a U.S. intelligence gathering, including extensive details about how U.S. officials have exploited Russian intelligence operations since at least 1985.
Robert is believed to have been partially responsible for the deaths of at least three Soviet officers working for American intelligence, who were executed after the revelations.
He received more than $1.4 million in cash, bank funds, diamonds, and Rolex watches in exchange for providing highly classified national security information to the Soviet Union and later to Russia.
Robert did not embrace a seemingly extravagant lifestyle, living in modest suburban Virginia with his family of six and driving a Taurus and a minivan.
Robert Hanssen later said he was motivated by money rather than ideology, but a 1985 letter to his Soviet handlers explains that the big win may have caused problems because he couldn’t use it without setting off warning bells.
Using the alias “Ramon Garcia,” he handed over about 6,000 documents and 26 computer disks to his handlers, authorities said. They explained eavesdropping techniques, helped confirm the identities of Russian double agents, and spread other secrets. Officials also believed that he was hinting from Moscow about a secret tunnel that the Americans had built under the Soviet embassy in Washington to eavesdrop. He went unnoticed for years, but later investigations turned up some missing red flags. When Hanssen became the focus of a Russian mole hunt, he was caught taping a garbage bag full of secrets under a footbridge in a “dead drop” by Russian caretakers in the park.
The story was made into a film called Breach in 2007, starring Chris Cooper as Hanssen and Ryan Philippe as the young office worker who helps bring him down.
Cause Of Death
Robert Hanssen, 79, was found unresponsive in his cell at a federal prison in Florence, Colorado, and was later pronounced dead, prison officials said.
He likely died of natural causes; a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss the details of Hanssen’s death, and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.