Editing Robert Hanssen (section)

{{Short description|American double agent spy (1944–2023)}}
{{hatnote group|
{{for multi|the serial killer|Robert Hansen}}
{{similar names|Robert Hansen (disambiguation)}}
}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox spy
 |prefix           = 
 |name             = Robert Hanssen
 |suffix           = 
 |image            = Robert Hanssen.jpg
 |caption          =Hanssen in 2001 
 |upright          = 
 |alt              = 
 |birth_name       = Robert Philip Hanssen
 |birth_date       = {{Birth date|1944|4|18}}
 |birth_place      = Chicago, Illinois,<!-- DO NOT LINK this, see [[MOS:OVERLINK]]. --> U.S.
 |death_date       = {{death date and age|2023|6|5|1944|4|18}}
 |death_place      = [[ADX Florence]], Fremont County, [[Colorado]], U.S.
 |death_cause      = 
 |buried           = 
 |other_names      = 
 |education        = 
 |alma_mater       = {{unbulleted list|[[Knox College (Illinois)|Knox College]] ([[Bachelor's Degree|BS]])|[[Northwestern University]] ([[MBA]])}}
 |occupation       = [[FBI agent]] (1976–2001)
 |known_for        = 
 |criminal_charge  = {{uscsub|18|794|a}} and {{uscsub2|18|794|c}}<ref name="fashans" /> ([[Espionage Act of 1917|Espionage Act]])
 |criminal_penalty = 15 consecutive [[Life imprisonment|life sentences]] without parole
 |spouse           = {{marriage|Bernadette "Bonnie" Wauck|1968-2023}}
 |children         = 6
 |awards           = 
 |country          = United States
 |allegiance       = {{unbulleted list|[[Soviet Union]]|Russia}}
 |branch           = 
 |agency           = [[FBI]]
 |corporation      = 
 |serviceyears     = {{unbulleted list|1979–2001}}
 |rank             = 
 |codename         = {{cslist|Ramon Garcia|Jim Baker|G. Robertson|Graysuit|"B"}}
 |codename2_label  = 
 |codename2        = 
 |operation_label  = 
 |operation        = 
 |other            = 
 |module           = 
 |signature        = 
}}

'''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 periodically from 1979 to 2001. His espionage was described by the [[U.S. Department of Justice]] as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fbi/websterreport.html |title=A Review of FBI Security Programs (Webster Report) |date=March 2002 |work=Commission for Review of FBI Security Programs |publisher=[[United States Department of Justice]] |access-date=October 26, 2019 |archive-date=November 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107040304/https://fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fbi/websterreport.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1979, three years after joining the FBI, Hanssen approached the Soviet [[GRU (Soviet Union)|Main Intelligence Directorate]] (GRU) to offer his services, beginning his first espionage cycle, lasting until 1981. He restarted his espionage activities in 1985 and continued until 1991, when he ended communications during the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]], fearing he would be exposed. Hanssen restarted communications the next year and continued until his arrest. Throughout his spying, he remained anonymous to the Russians.

Hanssen sold about six thousand classified documents to the [[KGB]] that detailed U.S. strategies in the event of [[nuclear war]], developments in military weapons technologies, and aspects of the U.S. [[counterintelligence]] program.<ref name="oig" /> He was spying at the same time as [[Aldrich Ames]] in the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA). Both Ames and Hanssen compromised the names of KGB agents working secretly for the U.S., some of whom were executed for their betrayal. Hanssen also revealed a [[Operation Monopoly|multimillion-dollar eavesdropping tunnel]] built by the FBI under the [[Embassy of Russia, Washington, D.C.|Soviet Embassy]]. After Ames's arrest in 1994, some of these intelligence breaches remained unsolved, and the search for another spy continued. The FBI paid $7{{nbsp}}million to a KGB agent to obtain a file on an anonymous [[Mole (espionage)|mole]], whom the FBI later identified as Hanssen through fingerprint and voice analysis.

Hanssen was arrested on February 18, 2001, at [[Foxstone Park]],<ref>{{cite web |first=Adrian |last=Havill |work=crimelibrary.com |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hanssen/2.html |title=His fate is sealed |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070907223240/http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hanssen/2.html |archive-date=September 7, 2007 |access-date=September 10, 2007}}</ref> near his home in the Washington, D.C., suburb of [[Vienna, Virginia]], after leaving a package of classified materials at a [[dead drop]] site. He was charged with selling U.S. intelligence documents to the Soviet Union and subsequently Russia for more than $1.4 million in cash, diamonds and Rolex watches over twenty-two years.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wise|2003|p=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-04-21-0204210451-story.html | title=Secret Passage | website=[[Chicago Tribune]] | date=April 21, 2002 | access-date=May 3, 2023 | archive-date=May 3, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230503014942/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-04-21-0204210451-story.html | url-status=live}}</ref> To avoid the death penalty, Hanssen pleaded guilty to 14 counts of espionage and one of [[Conspiracy (criminal)|conspiracy]] to commit espionage.<ref name="transcript">{{cite web |url=https://cryptome.wikileaks.org/usa-v-rph-gp.htm |title=Transcript of Hanssen Guilty Plea |date=July 6, 2001 |access-date=February 22, 2007 |archive-date=October 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006033849/https://cryptome.wikileaks.org/usa-v-rph-gp.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="usdoj.gov">{{cite report |work=United States Department of Justice |url=https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2001/July/308ag.htm |title=Thompson Statement Regarding Hanssen Guilty Plea |date=July 6, 2001 |access-date=February 22, 2007 |archive-date=November 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106100111/http://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2001/July/308ag.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> He was sentenced to 15 life terms without the possibility of parole, and was incarcerated at [[ADX Florence]] until his death in 2023.<ref name="death">{{Cite web |date=June 5, 2023 |title=Robert Hanssen, former FBI agent convicted of spying for Russia, dead at 79 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-hanssen-dies-convicted-spying-for-russia-dead-age-79/ |access-date=June 5, 2023 |website=[[CBS News]] |language=en-US |archive-date=June 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605201156/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-hanssen-dies-convicted-spying-for-russia-dead-age-79/ |url-status=live}}</ref>