“On Monday, June 5, 2023, at approximately 6:55 a.m., inmate Robert Hanssen was found deceased at the Florence ADMAX Prison in Florence, Colorado,” a statement from the Federal Bureau of Prisons said. Hanssen had been incarcerated at the prison since July 17, 2002.
Hanssen died in prison. Photo: IPE
In 2001, Hanssen pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage and conspiracy in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. Hanssen was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Investigators allege that Hanssen compromised dozens of Soviet employees, sharing details of a number of US technical operations such as wiretapping, surveillance and communications interception.
The Hanssen case has rocked the US intelligence community, exposing major flaws in the way the FBI and other agencies vet people with access to state secrets.
Investigators learned that he had full access to FBI and State Department computer systems and often spent hours searching for classified information without being detected. In his 25 years with the FBI, Hanssen had never been subjected to a polygraph test.
Hanssen began spying for the Soviet Union in 1979, three years after joining the FBI as a special agent. He took a four-year break from espionage in the 1980s after being persuaded by his wife, Bonnie.
The FBI began tracking Hanssen in 2000 after a Russian agent provided the FBI with an audiotape of the spy and a fingerprint sample.
Trung Kien (according to Reuters, CNN)
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