Former FBI Kremlin mole Robert Hanssen found dead in prison

The double agent died Monday at the age of 79. He was long considered “the most harmful spy in FBI history.”

By
Sylvain German

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Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen’s ID and business card. PAUL J. RICHARDS / AFP

Robert Hanssen, 79, was found dead Monday in his cell at Colorado’s maximum security prison. This former FBI agent was sentenced in 2002 to life imprisonment for spying on behalf of the USSR.

Robert Hanssen is considered by the American authorities as the “mole” most “detrimentalfor the United States. The investigations to unmask him called upon more than 300 agents.

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Double agent Ramon Garcia

Robert Hanssen joined the FBI in 1976 where he took an oath to enforce the law and protect the United States. Nine years later, he betrayed his commitment by starting counterintelligence maneuvers for the USSR. Under the pseudonym Ramon Garcia, he sent the Soviets some 6,000 pages of documents, including military plans, counterintelligence software and the names of several double agents operating for the United States. In exchange, the Communists pay him handsomely. According to justice, he would have received 1.4 million dollars in cash, bank funds and diamonds.
Hanssen held a senior position in the counterintelligence section of the FBI’s New York bureau, tasked with tracking down Russian spies on American soil. A position that gives him access to sensitive documents. Thanks to his training as an agent, he succeeded in not arousing suspicion until 1990. Following the arrest of another Russian spy, the FBI and the CIA realized that a “moleoperates within their ranks.
Married, father of six children, he lived without being noticed, while maintaining close ties with the Catholic elite of the capital. In 2001, Hanssen will end up being arrested while preparing to file secret documents for Russian agents in a park in Virginia.
Robert Hanssen avoided the death penalty by agreeing to cooperate with investigators. Admitting to having acted out of greed, he underwent 200 hours of interrogation. In 2002, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of early release.

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