Life sentence for FBI traitor

Hanssen's home was scoured for clues after his arrest

Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen - one of the most prominent traitors in US history - has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Blood is on his hands

Randy Bellows, Asst US Attorney

Hanssen pleaded guilty to spying charges, after a deal with his prosecutors last year.

An FBI agent for 25 years, Hanssen was charged with selling secrets to Moscow for $1.4m in money and diamonds.

He gave thousands of pages of highly classified material to the Soviet Union and later to the Russian Government, telling them about American plans to keep the country functioning in a nuclear war.

Hanssen: Spied intermittently over a 20- year period

He also disclosed the presence of a listening tunnel underneath Moscow's embassy in Washington.

Two KGB double agents he betrayed were subsequently executed by the Russians.

Speaking outside court after the sentencing, Assistant US Attorney Randy Bellows said: "He [Hanssen] is certainly responsible for the death of several individuals who chose to help the United States.

"Blood is on his hands."

'Shamed'

Mr Bellows told the judge before sentencing that Hanssen "broke every major promise he made" and that he "took the nation's most critical secrets... and used them as personal merchandise". He called him "the cruellest kind of thief".

Hanssen told the court he was "shamed" by what he had done.

I could have been a devastating spy, but I didn't want to be a devastating spy

Robert Hanssen

He told US District Chief Judge Claude Hilton who sentenced him: "I betrayed the trust of so many. I've hurt so many deeply. For all this, I stand ready to accept the sentence of this court."

Hanssen was arrested in February last year after allegedly dropping off classified material at a park near his home in suburban Virginia to be picked up by his Russian handlers.

He was just a few years from retirement at the time of his arrest.

In July last year, the former agent admitted 15 counts of espionage and one count of conspiracy to commit espionage in a spying career spanning more than two decades.

Prosecutors dropped their attempt to seek the death penalty in exchange for the former agent's full co-operation in disclosing his spying activities.

'Deceitful'

"There is no way that I can justify what I have done," Hanssen told investigators during the interviews.

Many have wondered about Hanssen's motives - he has only said the damage he has caused could have been much greater.

"I could have been a devastating spy, but I didn't want to be a devastating spy," he said. "I wanted to get a little money and to get out of it."

Hanssen had originally pleaded not guilty and a trial had been set for October 2001.