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Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2001

Twenty-seven-year FBI veteran Robert Philip Hanssen, 56, was charged with multiple counts of espionage for allegedly providing Soviet and Russian spies with highly sensitive information about U.S. defense and foreign relations policy over 15 years. He also is charged with compromising the safety of three double agents working for the United States in Russia. Two were executed, a court document said.

Asked at a press conference whether the case was "one of the worst" the FBI had ever encountered, Freeh said, "I would clearly characterize it in that fashion." It is the third time an FBI agent has faced such charges.

Underscoring the gravity of the case, Freeh appeared with U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

"The arrest of Robert Hanssen for espionage should remind every American that our nation, our free society, is an international target in a dangerous world," warned Ashcroft. "In fact, the espionage operations designed to steal vital secrets of the United States are as intense today as they have ever been."

Freeh said the alleged actions date back as far as 1985 and, with the possible exception of several years in the 1990s, continued until Hanssen's arrest Sunday. Hanssen was arrested while allegedly using a "dead drop" – a safe place to deposit documents for later pickup – near his Vienna, Va., home in the suburbs of Washington to provide classified documents for Russian handlers.

If found guilty, Hanssen could face the death penalty and fines up to $2.8 million.

Hanssen worked in the FBI's counterintelligence department and spent the bulk of his career working on Russian security concerns. He was assigned to national security posts that provided him with access to classified information relating to the former Soviet Union and Russia, according to Freeh.

Freeh said there can be no doubt that the spy suspect was "keenly aware of the gravity of his traitorous action."

Court documents detail Hanssen's alleged involvement.

Speaking about the severity with which U.S. law punishes those engaged in espionage, Hanssen allegedly wrote his KGB handler saying, "I know far better than most what minefields are laid and the risks."

In another letter, Hanssen allegedly complains about lost opportunities to alert his Russian handlers because the FBI had discovered a microphone hidden in the State Department.

"It is alleged that Hanssen provided to the former Soviet Union and subsequently to Russia substantial volumes of highly classified information that he acquired during the course of his job responsiblities in counterintelligence," said Freeh.

The FBI director said the full extent of the damage is not known because accurate damage assessment could not be conducted earlier without jeopardizing the investigation. Overall, Hanssen was said to have provided Soviet and Russian intelligence with more than 6,000 pages of classified material.

A 100-page document released by the FBI Tuesday details the alleged espionage activities by Hanssen since July 1997. According to the report, Hanssen, using the code name Ramon, used encrypted communications, dead drops and other clandestine techniques to pass on the sensitive documents.

"The information he is alleged to have provided compromised numerous human resources, technical operations, counterintelligence, sources, techniques ... and investigations," said Freeh.

Hanssen allegedly received large sums of money and other compensation from Russia, including diamonds, totaling $600,000.

At the time of his arrest Sunday, the FBI said, it found a package containing highly classified information and another package nearby that contained $50,000 in cash.

Hanssen allegedly disclosed the identity of two KGB officials, double agents whose identities were first revealed by convicted CIA spy Aldrich Ames. The KGB officials were recruited by the U.S. government to serve as "agents in place" at the Soviet Embassy in Washington. When the KGB officials were returned to Moscow, they were tried and convicted on espionage charges and executed.

Freeh said he was "saddened and outraged" by the security breach by an "FBI agent who raised his right hand" and pledged to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

Ashcroft said that he and Freeh have ordered a comprehensive independent review of FBI procedures. The investigation will be headed by former FBI Director and Director of Central Intelligence, Judge William Webster.

Hanssen is being represented by Plato Chacheris, the attorney who represented Ames after his arrest in 1994. More recently, Chacheris, along with fellow attorney Jacob Stein, represented Monica Lewinsky and was a co-counsel for John Mitchell in the Watergate probe.

President Bush was informed of the investigation before the arrest Sunday. He said he was troubled and found the allegations disturbing.

Bush said aboard Air Force One en route to St. Louis that "this has been a difficult day for those who love our country, and especially for those who serve our country in law enforcement and in the intelligence community."

"Allegations of espionage of an FBI counterintelligence agent are extremely serious ... particularly for the thousands of men and women who work for the FBI, whose mission is to protect our national security and who now must deal with allegations that one of their own may have undermined it," said Bush, expressing his confidence in the investigation.

The Pentagon says it does not believe any military intelligence, sources or methods were compromised by the alleged Russian spy, but it will keep a close eye on the proceedings to determine if procedures or equipment need to be changed.

"From what we know so far, there doesn't appear to be any direct involvement with the Department of Defense," Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said at a Tuesday press conference. "But I'm sure as that case plays itself out and more details are known, we're going to be very interested in the overall understanding of what he may have compromised.

"With intelligence issues being as ... cross-cutting as they are today, and impacting on several agencies at once, it is entirely possible that DOD will care very much about some of the information that is brought to light as this case continues."

A Russian Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman said it had no comment on the arrest.

Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved.

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