FBI Agent Turned Russian Spy | Caught in the Act | 4
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Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American Scandal early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. It's a crisp evening in December 2000, and in the D.C. suburb of Vienna, Virginia, two young FBI agents sit inside a black SUV waiting for a signal from their colleagues up the street. These agents are part of a team keeping Robert Hansen under 24-hour surveillance.

Just a month ago, Hansen became the lead suspect in a decades-long hunt for a mole who's been selling top-secret information to Russia. Their big break came when a former KGB agent handed over the Russian's file on the mole. Inside it, the bureau found a treasure trove of evidence, including letters written by the mole and a recording of his voice, which seemed to match Hansen's.

But the most direct piece of evidence was found in a mysterious envelope marked, Do Not Open. It remained sealed until the former KGB agent returned to the U.S. to explain its contents. Inside was an old plastic garbage bag used by the mole to deliver documents to the Russians. And upon closer examination, the FBI fingerprint lab found two latent prints on the bag, both from Hansen.

The FBI now has enough evidence to arrest Hansen for espionage and likely convict him. But before they do that, they want to determine whether he's still actively spying. If they can catch him in the act, it will make the case against him that much stronger. So the FBI has wiretapped Hansen's phone, hidden GPS trackers on his cars, searched his office, and even covertly purchased a home across the street to watch him around the clock. But so far, not much has happened.

Inside the black SUV, the young agent at the wheel stifles a yawn. Even on a big case like this, surveillance work can be tedious. But the agent isn't expecting much excitement anyways. All the evidence from the KGB file was from 1991 or earlier. As far as anyone knows, Hansen stopped spying nine years ago. His partner's radio chirps. It's a call from colleagues inside the watch house. Hansen is on the move.

So the agent watches his rearview mirror until he sees Hansen drive past in his silver Ford Taurus. When Hansen is a few hundred feet ahead, the agent turns on the ignition of his SUV and pulls out into the street. Well, where do you think he's headed? I'm betting it's the Chinese place on Maple. Takeout night for the family. Oh, no, no, no, no. My money's on St. Andrews. This guy goes to church more than anyone I've ever seen.

But as the agent continues driving, he sees Hansen slowing to half speed. Why is he slowing down? I don't know, but I'll make a note. This is Fox Zone Park here on the left. His KGB file said that was one of his old dead drop sites. No kidding. But even if he is active again, I can't imagine he'd be dumb enough to use the same drop site twice. But yeah, go ahead and log it, and we'll stay on him.

The agents keep their distance, watching as Hansen accelerates past the park before pulling into the parking lot of a McDonald's. Well, I guess you were half right. It's takeout, but not Chinese. Well, hold on. He's not getting out of the car. What's he doing? The second agent takes out a pair of binoculars and focuses them on Hansen. Looks like he's just reading a book. Maybe he's waiting for someone? I don't know. I mean, the guy's got, what, six kids? Maybe this is just his sad way of getting some time alone.

After 20 minutes, Hansen pulls out of the McDonald's and heads back the direction he came from. The agents continue to tail him, but this time Hansen parks his car near the entrance to Foxtone Park. Alright, now he's really up to something. Could be, or maybe he's just taking a trip down memory lane. Nah, he's acting suspicious.

Hansen gets out of the car and walks toward the sign at the park's entrance. The agents watch as he turns on a flashlight and runs it back and forth across the sign. Oh my God, he's looking for a signal. Hansen's still in bed with the Russians. I think you're right. Eventually, Hansen throws up his arms in an apparent gesture of frustration and turns off the flashlight, gets back into his car, and drives home. There will be no exchange of information with the Russians tonight.

But as the FBI agents follow him back toward his house, they know that it's now only a matter of time before they catch Robert Hansen selling government secrets red-handed. T-Mobile has home internet on America's largest 5G network. It's how I stream the game. It's how I knock out the shopping list. It's how I level up. Get T-Mobile 5G home internet for only 50 bucks per month with auto pay and any voice line. Plus, there are no exploding bills or annual contracts. T-Mobile, it's how you internet. Check availability today.

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Help Dell make a difference and shop AI-ready PCs powered by Snapdragon X-series processors at Dell.com slash deals. That's Dell.com slash deals. From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American Scandal. In November 2000, the FBI was stunned to discover that the mole they'd been chasing for the last two decades was one of their own most reliable counterintelligence agents.

In many ways, Robert Hansen was the unlikeliest of Soviet spies, a devout Catholic and staunch conservative, one who loved his country and hated communism. But he had also been passed over for fieldwork throughout his FBI career and relegated to a series of desk jobs. He didn't seem like the kind of agent who had the cunning and social skills necessary to cultivate relationships with the enemy, let alone pass classified documents to them undetected for years.

So clearly, the FBI had underestimated Hansen. And when they learned that he was still actively spying, they knew they had to proceed with caution. Instead of arresting Hansen immediately, they conceived of a plan to spy on the spy, collecting the evidence they'd need to secure his conviction and possibly sentence him to death. This is Episode 4, Caught in the Act. It's December 2000 at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.,

Michael Wagespack, an assistant director of the FBI's National Security Division, sits behind the desk in his office and takes a deep breath to calm himself. He's preparing for what's sure to be one of the most nerve-wracking meetings of his life, an interview with Robert Hansen.

Waggis Pack needs to help his boss, Division Chief Neil Gallagher, ramp up surveillance on Hansen and make sure he no longer has access to classified information. They need to do both without arousing Hansen's suspicions. If Hansen gets spooked, he could break off contact with the Russians, and if they can't catch him in the act of spying, it could weaken the case against him.

So Wagaspak has asked for a meeting with Hansen to offer him a new, better job with the Bureau. The position is completely fake, but the agency has taken pains to make it look real. Wagaspak thinks he knows how to convince Hansen to accept it.

From studying Hansen's letters to the Soviets, the FBI has learned that Hansen has an enormous ego and that he's felt chronically underappreciated throughout his career. Wagaspak plans to use this knowledge to his advantage by convincing Hansen that this fake job would be a huge step up from his current role.

Wagaspak hears a knock on his door and puts on his best game face. Hey, Bob. Thanks for coming in. Have a seat. It's good to see you. Well, now I'm suspicious. Wagaspak's heart skips a beat, worried that Hansen is onto him already. But then he sees a wry smile on Hansen's face and realizes that Hansen was just kidding. Ha, well, there's nothing to worry about, I promise you. It's just nice to have you in the building like old times.

And on that subject, how would you feel about coming back? I'm not sure. What do you have in mind? Well, we've got an opening in the Information Resources Division. And I told them that there's only one person for the job, Bob Hanson. There's nobody who understands data systems like you do. Well, that's kind of you to say, but you know I'm only about a year from my mandatory retirement age. I'm not sure it's worth changing jobs so late in the game. Well, I'm glad you brought that up. This position comes with a salary of $131,000. Really? Yeah.

Well, that is a decent bump up. Yeah, and it gets better. We'd also like to keep you on for at least another year past the retirement date, which would significantly increase your pension. They'll give me a waiver if I push for it. Well, interesting. I mean, I have kids in college, you know. Wagaspak watches Hansen sit back in his chair and rub his chin. He can't tell if Hansen's considering the offer or growing suspicious that it sounds too good to be true.

So Waggis Pack plays the ace up his sleeve. Well, you know, if you still have questions, why don't I set up a meeting between you and Neil Gallagher? He personally approved you for this position when I brought your name up. I'm sure he'd be happy to discuss it with you further, answer all your questions, give you what you need to decide. Gallagher approved it. I wasn't sure he knew who I was. Of course he does, Bob. He's always respected your work.

I mean, what do you say? Want me to talk it over with the chief? Yeah, yeah, sure, Mike. That sounds good. And thanks for thinking of me for this. I appreciate the recognition. Waggis Pack enthusiastically shakes Hansen's hand. And as soon as Hansen leaves, he picks up the phone and calls Neil Gallagher's office to tell him the good news. Hansen has taken the bait.

In January of 2001, Robert Hansen settles into his new fictitious job at FBI headquarters, and his colleagues quickly start stockpiling evidence against him. During a secret search of Hansen's new office, authorities find a flash memory card containing copies of several recent letters Hansen wrote to his Russian handlers.

Shortly after that, agents start staking out one of Hansen's regular drop sites. They intercept a garbage bag containing $50,000 in cash and a note with coded instructions. The agents bring the bag back to the FBI lab and photograph its contents, then quickly return the bag to the park before Hansen or the Russians notice it's missing. But the most damning evidence against Hansen is collected by a 27-year-old counterintelligence agent named Eric O'Neill.

Hansen believes O'Neill has been brought on as an assistant in the Information Resources Division. But in reality, O'Neill has been assigned to watch Hansen and collect intelligence.

And as O'Neill documents his boss's every move, he notices that Hansen is especially attached to his personal digital assistant, an electronic device called the Palm Pilot. Hansen takes it everywhere and guards it so closely that O'Neill begins to suspect he's using it to communicate with the Russians. His instincts are quickly proven correct.

As the FBI continues to read through Hansen's letters, they discover that he's using the Palm Pilot's encrypted messaging app to arrange drops with the Russians. At this point, authorities already have enough to arrest Hansen. But if they can catch him actually making a drop, their case will be airtight.

But to get the time and location of Hansen's next drop, the FBI will need to obtain this Palm Pilot, copy its contents, and return it before Hansen notices it's missing. Given how attached Hansen is to the device, they know the task won't be easy. So they cook up a scheme with O'Neill as the centerpiece.

On February 15, 2001, O'Neal is in Hansen's office making small talk just before lunchtime, when suddenly FBI Assistant Director Gene O'Leary walks through the door. O'Leary says he heard Hansen is a great shot and challenges him to a shooting competition over lunch at the FBI's in-house gun range. Hansen is reluctant, saying he's too busy with work. But O'Leary forces the issue, telling him it's not a request but an order.

O'Neill watches closely as Hansen grabs his gun, ear protection, and shooting goggles from his desk and follows O'Leary out the door. But for the very first time, Hansen doesn't take the Palm Pilot with him. Perhaps shaken a bit by the surprise challenge, he leaves it in his briefcase by the desk.

O'Neill's heart races as he watches a security monitor, seeing Hansen and O'Leary enter the elevator down the hall. A moment later, O'Neill's startled by a buzz from his pager. He checks the message, and Hansen is at the shooting range. It's go time. O'Neill heads straight to the briefcase, unzips its various pockets, and roots around for the Palm Pilot. He finds it, pulls it from the briefcase, and sprints out of the room.

Then he runs down three flights of stairs and heads to a small, unmarked office. Inside, he hands off the Palm Pilot to a team of technicians, who immediately get to work copying its contents. But as O'Neill waits outside of the room, his pager lights up again. Hansen is headed back to the office.

O'Neill had previously timed the walk from the shooting range to the office, and he knows he has about nine minutes before Hansen returns. So O'Neill pushes the technicians to work faster. And the very second they're finished, he grabs the Palm Pilot and races back upstairs to the office, arriving with only a few minutes to spare. But now O'Neill realizes he's made a terrible error. When he grabbed the Palm Pilot from Hansen's bag, he failed to make note of which pocket he took it from.

O'Neill looks up and sees on the monitor that Hansen is already in the hallway, just steps from the office. He can't afford to wait a second longer. So he closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and then trying to work from mere muscle memory, he opens the briefcase and shoves the Palm Pilot into one of the pockets.

O'Neill then closes the briefcase and rushes back to his desk. That very second, he hears the electronic lock on the office door beep and watches as Hansen walks in, closing the door behind him. Then he listens as Hansen unzips the bag's pockets and prays that he return the Palm Pilot to its proper place.

But a moment later, O'Neal is startled by Hansen, suddenly standing over him. Hansen angrily demands to know if O'Neal was in his office. O'Neal chokes back a rising feeling of panic. This is one of the biggest investigations in the history of the FBI. And if he's aroused Hansen's suspicions, the whole thing could be blown. But O'Neal tries to play it cool, stating calmly that, yeah, he was in the office. He just popped in to leave a memo on Hansen's desk. Hansen stares into O'Neal's eyes for a long beat.

Then he tells O'Neill that he never wants to see him in his office again. O'Neill then watches as Hansen picks up the briefcase and then heads to the elevator. O'Neill breathes a sigh of relief. He's done his job, and hopefully Hansen isn't too suspicious. Now, it all depends on what they can find on that Palm Pilot. When FBI technicians crack the encryption on Robert Hansen's Palm Pilot, they discover that he intends to make another drop in just three days. So the FBI starts planning to arrest Hansen in the act.

Authorities know the operation could be risky. Hansen keeps a machine gun in the trunk of his car, and there's no telling how he'll react when confronted. So they plan to arrest him with an overwhelming show of force. Soon, the day of the drop arrives. Sunday, February 18th, 2001. That afternoon, Robert Hansen gives his friend Jack a ride to Dulles Airport, then drives his Ford Taurus to Foxtone Park, just a few blocks from his home in Virginia.

At about 4.30 p.m., he gets out of his car and walks over to the sign at the park's entrance. On the pole beneath the sign, he places a vertical strip of white adhesive tape, signaling to the Russians that he'll be hiding a cache of secret documents at a prearranged spot in the park.

Then Hansen opens the trunk of his car and retrieves a black plastic garbage bag. Inside it are a computer disk and a handful of printed documents, all of them marked secret. With the bag in hand, he makes his way through the park, past leafless strands of poplar trees, and toward a footbridge over a small creek. In the long afternoon shadows, Hansen hides the bag underneath this bridge. Then he begins strolling back to his car, like he's just out for a walk.

He can hear traffic in the distance and a dog barking somewhere. But as he emerges from the woods, he hears a sharper sound. Men shouting his name. Suddenly, two vans screech into the parking lot, blocking in Hansen's car. The van's back doors open and four FBI agents leap out, wearing bulletproof vests and brandishing assault rifles.

More agents emerge from hiding places in the surrounding woods. They all point their weapons at Hansen and scream for him to keep his hands visible. Within seconds, Hansen feels his arms pulled behind his back and cold steel handcuffs locked around his wrists. But as the agents rifle through Hansen's pockets looking for weapons or more evidence, he feels a strange sense of relief. Hansen looks over his shoulder and asks the agent patting him down, what took you guys so long?

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In the hours following Robert Hansen's arrest, his wife Bonnie becomes worried that he hasn't come home. The last time Bonnie saw her husband, he was taking his friend Jack to Dulles Airport after a visit. So that's where she goes to look for him. And when she arrives at the airport, Bonnie is confronted by a team of FBI agents who inform her that her husband has been arrested for espionage.

The Hansen family's assets are immediately frozen. Their home is turned into a crime scene, and Bonnie is forced to explain to her six children why their father won't be coming home. Soon after, the media learns of Hansen's arrest, and the embarrassment to the FBI is immediate and devastating. The press demands to know how one of FBI's own agents got away with selling top-secret documents for more than two decades.

The burden of explaining this falls on FBI Director Louis Freeh, but even he is struggling to understand how it happened. On February 20th, 2001, two days after Hansen's arrest, Freeh calls a press conference in an auditorium inside FBI headquarters. He knows the situation looks bad, so he's hoping to reassure the public and his bosses in Washington that he's got things under control.

Free has been FBI director since 1993, and in that time, he's overseen the fallout from the disastrous sieges in Waco and Ruby Ridge and the faulty investigation into Richard Jewell for the bombing at the Atlanta Olympics. But now, as he prepares to address the press, Free wonders if the Hansen scandal will be the thing that finally costs him his job.

He knows he'll have to walk a tightrope between acknowledging the terrible damage inflicted by Hansen and putting a positive spin on the successful operation to identify and capture him. Walking up to a lectern on stage, Free is dressed in a conservative black suit and red tie. He stands in front of the official seal of the FBI as he looks out over an auditorium packed with reporters. Good afternoon.

This Sunday night, the FBI arrested Robert Philip Hansen, who was charged with committing espionage. Hansen is a special agent of the FBI with a long career in counterintelligence. The full extent of the damage is yet unknown. We believe, however, that it will be exceptionally grave.

None of the security measures in place alerted the Bureau as to his activities. And the risk that a government employee will betray his country can never be eliminated. But we will examine thoroughly the internal security procedures of the FBI and recommend improvements. As difficult as this moment is for the FBI, I am immensely proud of the men and women who conducted this investigation.

It represents for me a brilliant counterintelligence success. And I take solace that the FBI succeeded in this investigation and that we've lived up to our responsibility, no matter how painful that might be. I'll take your questions now. Excuse me, director. And with all due respect.

Free knew this question was coming, yet it's one he's been dreading most. What the reporter does not know is that Hansen was never given a polygraph examination. So Free tries to dance around the question without revealing that fact.

Well, I'd say as an operation and as an investigation, this was an immense success. To conduct this investigation securely, without any leaks, and catch an experienced intelligence officer red-handed in the act of laying down classified documents, yeah, I think any expert would call that a huge success. All right, next question. Yes, was this for you the worst moment since you became director in 1993, given the length of the security breach and the way it went undetected for so long on your watch?

Free takes a sip of water. He's overseen so many scandals at the FBI that it would be hard to pick the worst one, so he falls back on a boilerplate answer. Yeah, well, I think probably the worst moment in this job will always be when we have agents killed in the line of duty.

Fortunately, we didn't lose any in this situation. Next question. I understand you're going to do a review of what happened, but surely you have a sense of what the biggest loopholes were in the FBI's internal security, the ones that allowed Hansen to spy for as long as he did. Have you made any immediate changes to plug those holes?

Well, you're right. All of our systems probably need to be looked at. But at the end of the day, we rely upon agents who, when they take the oath to defend the Constitution, do so honestly. And that's something that did not happen in this case. Well, I guess as a follow up, you're the director of the FBI. How much accountability do you see as your own? Well, the buck stops with me and it did happen on my watch. I have to reexamine my leadership to make sure I didn't let anything go. All right. Thank you very much.

Free walks quickly offstage and out of the room, but he can't let go of that final stinging question. He's forced to wonder if his bosses across town will be reexamining his leadership as well. There are only so many scandals that the Department of Justice and the President can allow in one director's tenure.

In the weeks following Robert Hansen's arrest, U.S. authorities take swift action to retaliate against the Russians. The Bush administration expels 50 Russian diplomats, four of whom are intelligence agents implicated in the Hansen case.

Then, in May of 2001, just three months after Hansen's arrest, FBI Director Louis Freeh resigns, several years before completing his 10-year term. Recent polls indicate that only about a quarter of the public now has confidence in the FBI, a 43% drop from the previous year. But as Louis Freeh's job is winding down, another man's task is just starting. Lawyer Plato Kacheris has taken on the responsibility to defend Robert Hansen.

Kacharis previously represented CIA agent Aldrich Ames in a similar case in the early 90s, so he has a good sense of how the Hansen trial could play out. But this time, the stakes are much higher. After the Ames case, Congress amended sentencing laws allowing the death penalty for espionage.

So, Kacheris calls on psychiatrist David Charney to examine Hansen and help understand what drove his client to spy. Charney jumps at the chance and starts meeting with Hansen at the city jail in Alexandria, Virginia, probing him about what could possibly have motivated him to betray his country. Hansen has a uniquely dark and multilayered psyche that's full of contradictions. So, it takes Charney more than 30 meetings with Hansen over the course of several months to fully understand the defendant.

Now, nearing the end of his evaluation, Charney prepares to meet with Hansen one final time. In a dingy, windowless room, Charney takes a seat in a cheap plastic chair across from Hansen. As he takes out his yellow legal pad, a guard removes Hansen's handcuffs and then leaves the room, locking the door behind him.

Charney wants to use this session to go back to the very beginning of Hansen's life, looking for what might have compelled a man with a professed hatred of communism and a love of public service to act against his fundamental beliefs. Charney asks about Hansen's relationship with his father, Howard. And Hansen speaks of him in high regard, even bragging about his father's work in an intelligence division of the Chicago Police Department. Hansen explains that's why he decided to work in law enforcement himself.

But Charney consents that there's more to Hansen's relationship with his father than he's letting on. So he digs deeper, asking Hansen about any abuse he may have suffered. Hansen admits that his father could be harsh, and he begins recounting unpleasant memories from his childhood, including one time when Howard rolled him up in an old mattress and watched with a smile as Hansen cried, trying to free himself.

And as Charney starts taking notes of this, he's interrupted by Hansen, who has a question of his own. He wants Charney's blunt opinion about why he thinks Hansen became a spy. Charney sits back in his chair and takes a deep breath. And then he explains that he thinks that in Hansen's early years with the FBI, he began to feel undervalued and overlooked by the Bureau, like he would never be good enough to earn their praise. Hansen agrees that's true.

Then Charney points out that these feelings mirrored Hansen's relationship with his father, who also never approved of him. Charney explains that in his view, Hansen essentially took his unresolved resentment toward his father and put it onto the FBI. Undermining his bosses, proving that he was smarter than them, was really a way of getting back at his father. Hansen could never go back in time and hurt his father the way he wanted to, so he hurt the FBI instead.

And Charney then suggests that once Hansen began spying for the Russians, he felt truly appreciated for the first time. The Russians showered Hansen with the praise and money he always thought he deserved. And Hansen craved this validation so deeply that he couldn't bring himself to stop. Charney says he also suspects that this need for validation explains the strange behavior in Hansen's personal life, like secretly sending naked pictures of his wife to his friend Jack.

Charney explains that much like Hansen's need to show off his cleverness to the Russians, he also felt a compulsion to show off his beautiful wife. For most men, obtaining an attractive, loving wife would be enough reward in itself. But Hansen needed further validation. After a moment, Hansen flashes a grim smile and says he thinks that Charney is making it all too complicated. Instead, he explains that when he first started selling secrets to the Russians, he did it for the money and nothing more.

He had a family to support. Charney counters that even this desire for money came from the same insecurity. Deep down, Hansen never felt he was good enough, not to his father and not to his wife. He was terrified that if he couldn't provide a good enough standard of living, she wouldn't really love him.

As the session wraps, Hansen shakes Charney's hand and thanks him for the honest appraisal. As Charney watches Hansen get escorted out of the room in shackles, he knows the man will likely spend the rest of his life alone in a prison cell with nothing to do but think about the wrongs he's done. It sounds like an incredibly lonely life. But Charney thinks that ever since the day Robert Hansen first decided to spy for the Russians, he's probably been one of the loneliest people on Earth.

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In the spring of 2001, as the Justice Department prepares its case against Robert Hansen, they make it clear that they're considering the death penalty. Attorney General John Ashcroft even discusses the idea publicly, telling the press that capital punishment for espionage would send a signal to any future would-be spies.

Hansen's lawyer, Plato Kacheras, has to take these threats seriously. He knows the government has a mountain of evidence against his client. And Ashcroft's boss, President George W. Bush, was a strong supporter of the death penalty when he was governor of Texas. So Kacheras believes it's in Hansen's best interest to strike a plea bargain and avoid trial.

But Kacharis also believes that avoiding trial is in the government's best interest as well. A trial judge could force classified information to be presented into evidence, thereby making it public, which could be a disaster for the FBI. So Kacharis decides to play a high-stakes game of chicken. At an arraignment on May 31, 2001, he instructs Hansen to enter a plea of not guilty to more than a dozen counts of espionage. The trial date is set for October.

Then, just days later, Kacheris heads to Alexandria, Virginia, to meet with Randy Bellows, the assistant U.S. attorney leading the prosecution. This one-on-one meeting will decide his client's fate.

The two men have already met several times before, so Kacharis quickly gets down to business. "Well, thanks for meeting with me, Randy. I'm hoping we can make a good faith effort to come to an agreement today." "Does that mean your client's finally willing to consider a plea bargain?" "Because I'm sure he's eager to avoid a trial." "Well, not half as eager as the government." "Oh? How do you figure?" "Look, we both know you can't take this to trial. The FBI is already sick with embarrassment over the whole thing.

Now, imagine putting a string of agents on the stand to explain how they bungled their way through a 20-year-old mole hunt in their own office. Well, you know, I'm sure the Bureau is embarrassed, but I don't work for them. This is my prosecution, and I'm going to ensure justice for the American people, whatever that may require. And I gather you still think it requires the death penalty. Absolutely. The Attorney General and I are on the same page about that.

Hansen's crimes rise to the level of capital punishment. Even though the bulk of my client's alleged espionage occurred before the change to the sentencing laws? I mean, you can't apply the new laws ex post facto. It doesn't matter, Plato. My team believes there's sufficient evidence of capital crimes committed in the last 10 years. And look, here's the bottom line. We've got a dozen of Hansen's letters to the Russians. We've got him on tape talking to the KGB. We picked him up in the middle of a drop.

The amount of incriminating evidence is almost comical, so if you're really serious about avoiding a trial and a death penalty conviction, you'll need to give me something in return. Well, okay, here's your offer. You've alleged that my client began spying in 1979 for the GRU, but everything you know comes from a KGB file that only begins in 85. So without my client's cooperation, the intelligence community will never know what happened in those early years.

I mean, certainly plugging those gaps is probably more important than sending some message by executing Hansen. So you're telling me Hansen is offering full cooperation? He's not going to play games with us? I saw the way he was smirking at the arraignment. He's assured me that he'll give you every last detail if you take the death penalty off the table. And that's the final one-time offer. Take it or leave it. Kachera sits back in his chair and waits for the response. He suspects it's a deal the government can't refuse.

And he's quickly proven right. Bellas agrees to the deal, and Hansen's life is spared. In accordance with his plea agreement, Robert Hansen begins debriefing the government about his more than two decades of selling secrets to the Russians. He meets twice a week with investigators from the FBI and CIA in a windowless room in the basement of a federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. And after six months of these debriefings, the FBI comes away satisfied that they have the whole story.

Then, on May 10, 2002, Hansen arrives at the same courthouse for sentencing. He shuffles into the courtroom in handcuffs and a green prison jumpsuit. After more than a year in jail, he's lost 40 pounds and looks like a shell of the man he was before.

As Hansen gazes around the courtroom, he finds none of his family members or friends in attendance. He does, however, see a number of his former FBI colleagues sitting on benches in the gallery, staring at him. Hansen quickly looks away. It's a humiliating experience, seeing them for the first time since the arrest.

For 25 years, Hansen was considered an awkward but brilliant and loyal member of the team. He was given enormous access to the most closely guarded secrets and trusted to build data systems the Bureau still uses to this day. But now Hansen stands before his former co-workers as a criminal and traitor.

As the proceedings get underway, Hansen reads a statement to Judge Claude Hilton. He tells the court that he feels ashamed for what he's done to his country. Beyond that, he feels the most guilt for what he's brought upon his wife and children, completely upending their lives.

After Hansen concludes his statement, lead prosecutor Randy Bellows stands to read one of his own. He uses it to lash out at Hansen, saying he broke every promise to the country he ever made. Hansen hangs his head as he listens, knowing every word is true. Then, Judge Hilton makes his final ruling. He sentences Hansen to life in prison without the possibility of parole, to be served at ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison in Colorado.

As a veteran of the FBI, Hansen knows the place well. He'll be joining other notorious criminals like the Oklahoma City Bombers, Al-Qaeda terrorists, and the Unabomber. Hansen realizes that these terrible men are now his peers. This is how he'll be remembered, as one of the most prolific enemies of the country he swore to defend.

In its final assessment of the Robert Hansen case, the Justice Department deemed it possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history. Over the course of more than 20 years, Hansen compromised some of the country's most important secrets, including the identities of dozens of human sources, at least three of whom were executed.

He gave the KGB thousands of pages of highly classified documents detailing U.S. nuclear strategy, top-secret military technology, active espionage cases, and America's Soviet counterintelligence program. For his efforts, Hansen was paid a total of approximately $1.4 million, $600,000 delivered in cash and diamonds, and another $800,000 left unretrieved in a bank account in Moscow.

In the wake of the Hansen debacle, the Justice Department created a blue-ribbon commission to determine the full extent of the damage and to study how Hansen was able to go undetected for so long. The FBI responded by instituting new security protocols. They now require all agents with access to sensitive material to undergo background checks and sit for polygraph tests. Hansen himself was never given a polygraph during his 25 years with the Bureau.

Following Hansen's arrest, his wife Bonnie learned not only about his spying, but also the unspeakable betrayals he committed against her. She was shocked to discover that he had a long-running relationship with a stripper, and for years had shared explicit pictures and video of their sex life with his friend Jack Hochschauer. Hochschauer reached out to Bonnie to apologize, and she forgave him, but it ended the 30-year friendship between their families.

Bonnie visited Hansen in jail and confronted him about the sexual betrayals and his spine. Hansen didn't have much to say about either subject. And for a time, Bonnie considered annulling their marriage, a rarity in the Catholic Church. But ultimately, she couldn't bring herself to break her vows. She stayed with Hansen and continued to visit him behind bars.

Robert Hansen spent the rest of his life at the Supermax prison in Colorado, kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day. In June of 2023, he died in prison at the age of 79. To this day, the full details of the secrets Robert Hansen sold to Russia and the Soviet Union, and the full extent of the damage they caused, remain classified. From Wondery, this is Episode 4 of FBI Agent Turned Russian Spy from American Scandal.

In our next episode, I speak to former FBI Special Agent Eric O'Neill, who went undercover and posed as Robert Hansen's assistant to bring the infamous spy to justice.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge American Scandal early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. If you enjoy American Scandal, be sure to give us a five-star rating and leave a review. I read every one of them. I also have two other Wondery podcasts you might like, American History Tellers and Business Movers. Follow American Scandal on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You

You can binge all episodes of American Scandal early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. And before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. And to find out more about me, including my other podcasts, go to notthatlindseygram.com. That's notthatlindseygram.com.

If you'd like to learn more about Robert Hansen, we recommend the books Spy by David Wise, The Spy Next Door by Anne Blackman and Elaine Shannon, and Gray Day by Eric O'Neill. This episode contains reenactments and dramatized details. And while in most cases we can't know exactly what was said, all our dramatizations are based on historical research.

American Scandal is hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham, for Airship. Audio editing by Christian Paraga. Sound design by Gabriel Gould. Music by Lindsey Graham. This episode is written by Corey Metcalf. Edited by Emma Cortland. Produced by John Reed. Managing producer, Olivia Fonte. Senior producer, Andy Herman. And executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman, Marsha Louis, and Erin O'Flaherty for Wondery.

It started with a backpack at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. A backpack that contained a bomb. While the authorities focused on the wrong suspect, a serial bomber planned his next attacks: two abortion clinics and a lesbian bar. But this isn't his story. It's a human story.

One that I've become entangled with. I saw, as soon as I turned the corner, basically someone bleeding out. The victims of these brutal attacks were left to pick up the pieces, forced to explore the gray areas between right and wrong, life and death. Their once ordinary lives, and mine, changed forever. It kind of gave me a feeling of pending doom. And all the while, our country found itself facing down a long and ugly reckoning with a growing threat.

Far-right, homegrown religious terrorism. Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.