“Agent of Betrayal, FBI Spy Robert Hanssen” – with CBS’ Major Garrett and Friends

Summary

Andrew leads a SPY Museum panel discussion between four experts on the most damaging mole in FBI history, Robert Hanssen. This program was in collaboration with CBS/Paramount on their new podcast “Agent of Betrayal"

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

• The story of Robert Hanssen
• How his colleagues reacted to his betrayal
• A psychological analysis of Hanssen 
• How the Hanssen case has impacted the FBI and U.S. intelligence

Reflections

• Disillusionment and betrayal
• “The child is father of the man”

And much, much more …

Episode Notes

This episode of SpyCast is a recording of a recent program held at the International Spy Museum in collaboration with our friends at CBS/Paramount. To accompany their new podcast, “Agent of Betrayal,” we hosted a panel of experts to discuss the story and historical significance of the Robert Hanssen case. They discuss how an FBI agent sworn to protect America’s most precious secrets instead became a damaging and deadly mole.

The panel features Major Garrett, host of Agent of Betrayal; Dr. David L. Charney, the psychiatrist who met with Hanssen for a year after he went to jail; Dr. John F. Fox, Jr., FBI historian; and David Major, retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent and Spy Museum Advisory Board Member who knew Hanssen as a colleague.

And… 

Robert Hanssen received at least $1.4 million from the Russians in exchange for American national security secrets. Pretty big pay day, but he’s beat out monetarily by Aldrich Ames, who made over $4 million spying for the Russians.

Quotes of the Week

“He used those insights and, again, the computer skills, he was able to move and navigate all through the very rudimentary FBI computer systems in ways that were without detection, so he had eyes on lots of things. And the thing he was most relentlessly curious about was anyone looking at him. And he had a way of knowing that at a level of confidence that allowed him to be as audacious as he was.” – Major Garrett. 

Resources 

SURFACE SKIM

*SpyCasts*

• The Counterintelligence Chief with FBI Assistant Director Alan Kohler (2023)
• Code Name Blue Wren: Cuban Spy Ana Montes with Jim Popkin (2023)
• SPY@20 – “The Spy of the Century” with Curators Alexis and Andrew on Kim Philby (2022)
• America's Most Damaging Russian Spy, FBI Agent Robert Hanssen with Lis Wiehl (2022)

*Beginner Resources*

• Here's the damage notorious Russian spy Robert Hanssen caused the US in over 20 years, YouTube (2023) [5 min. video]
• How Robert Hanssen Spied for the Soviets, History (2017) [Short article]
• How is a mole different from a spy?, The Times of India (2006) [Short article]

DEEPER DIVE

Books

• Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West, C. Walton (Simon & Schuster, 2023)
• A Spy in Plain Sight: The Inside Story of the FBI and Robert Hanssen―America's Most Damaging Russian Spy, L. Wiehl (Pegasus Books, 2022) 
• Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America, D. Wise (Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003)

Articles

• CBS’s Major Garrett steps into the spy world with new Robert Hanssen podcast, J. Kurtz, The Hill (2023)
• Robert Hanssen, called the most destructive spy in U.S. history, dies at 79, NPR (2023)
• Robert Hanssen: The fake job that snared FBI agent who spied for Moscow, K. Epstein, BBC News (2023)
• My Two Moles: A Memoir, B. B. Fischer, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (2021) 
• Insider threats: The FBI and the Robert Hanssen espionage case, R. L. Vogel, Journal of the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (2014)
• Policing and Psychopathy: The Case of Robert Philip Hanssen, J. S. Sanford & B. A Arrigo, Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice (2008)

Video

• Spy in the FBI (2020)

Primary Sources 

• A Review of the FBI’s Progress in Responding to the Recommendations in the Office of the Inspector General Report on Robert Hanssen (2007)
• The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Voted Today to Begin a Formal Investigation of the Robert Philip Hanssen Espionage Case (2001)
• George W. Bush Remarks on the Robert Hanssen Espionage Case (2001)
• Affidavit in Robert Hanssen Spy Case (2001)
• Veteran FBI Agent Arrested and Charged with Espionage (2001)
• Statement of FBI Director Louis J. Freeh On the Arrest of FBI Special Agent Robert Philip Hanssen (2001)

*Wildcard Resource*

• Live in the DMV and looking for a nice place for a hike?! Look no further than Foxstone Park, a 2-mile path through the wooded hills of Reston, VA. And the location of many of Hanssen’s dead drops he left for his Russian handlers.