Robert Hanssen was an FBI agent who turned traitor. He spied on behalf of the Soviet Union, and then the Russians. Hanssen died in his cell, where he had been serving 15 consecutive sentences for life for betraying the United States, according to federal prison officials.
Hanssen was found “unresponsive” at 6:55 am in the federal “Supermax”, Florence, Colorado prison, according to a Bureau of Prisons statement.
The BOP reported that despite attempts to revive Hanssen, EMS workers had pronounced him dead.
The FBI was informed, but the BOP didn’t indicate whether Hanssen was being investigated.
Hanssen started spying for Soviets in 1979. Three years after joining the FBI, he began to work as a Soviet agent.
The FBI stated on its official history that Hanssen, a Chicago native, used the alias of “Ramon Garcia” and sold “highly classified national security information” in Moscow for $1.4M in cash, bank money, and diamonds.
Hanssen, who had been under FBI surveillance for several months, was arrested after he dropped a dead body in a Virginia Park.
Hanssen, caught red-handed by the FBI, pleaded guilty for selling thousands of classified documents detailing U.S. nuclear war strategies as well as counterintelligence data over a period of years.
Hanssen revealed to his Moscow spies the existence of a secret underground eavesdropping tube built by the FBI beneath the Soviet Embassy.
The Justice Department at the time described the situation as the “possibly worst intelligence disaster in US History.”
Hanssen was incarcerated at Supermax since July 17, 2002. It is the nation’s most secure federal prison, where other prominent inmates reside, including Al-Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussi, Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar tsarnaev and failed “shoe-bomber” Richard Reid.
This story is in progress. Please check back often for updates.
