The near-perfect spy

Robert Hanssen: Undetected for 15 years

Tom Mangold has covered every major spy case in the world since the 1960s, but, he says, nothing has ever been as remarkable and bizarre as the case of Robert Hanssen:

Robert Hanssen faces a possible death sentence in the US if he is found guilty as accused, of spying for the Soviets and then the Russians, for the past 15 years.

A former FBI agent, he was one of the bureau's top 5%, a counter-intelligence officer whose job it was to guard the nation's secrets from penetration by the enemy.

David Major, former FBI colleague of Hanssen

But, as a former colleague of his, David Major says: "You can't guard the secrets unless you know what the secrets are."

Indeed, this is why the Hanssen case is so serious. As a counter-intelligence officer he had, as another colleague Harry Brandon puts it: "access to virtually everything".

Because British and American intelligence services are virtually joined at the hip, this means that not only has Hanssen sold American secrets (the Russians eventually paid him £1m in cash and diamonds) but also British and Australian and Canadian secrets too. The implications are awesome.

Harry Brandon was Hanssen's FBI line-manager in Washington.

Harry Brandon, FBI Operations Division, 1990-94

As head of FBI's counter-intelligence section he knows what kind of damage Hanssen has caused - and for the British the message is gloomy.

"I'm afraid the British will have to consider every intelligence operation to which Hanssen had access as technically compromised - blown," he said.

Undetected for 15 years

It gets worse. Hanssen went undetected for 15 years and in that time the enemy had ample opportunity to use their knowledge to "play back" disinformation through channels the West assumed were safe.

Does this matter? Well consider this. Just last week, the Russians succeeded in launching their first Red October attack submarine - a submarine so fast and quiet it can outmanoeuvre the best of the British and American versions.

This matters enormously in the event of conflict between us and can easily make the difference between success and defeat. The real point about this submarine is that it is a triumph for espionage.

The technology was stolen from the West including the United States and Japan.

When Hanssen was given a "wish-list" by his Soviet spy handlers it included information about submarines, allied sources and missile technology.

The Russians paid him in cash and diamonds, and he received messages of gratitude from the chairman of the KGB (Vladimir Kryuchov) himself.

What kind of a man was Hanssen?

If he is found guilty as charged he will rival the UK's Kim Philby at the top of Traitors' League since World War II.

Hanssen has a curious history. He is the son of a late Chicago policeman who, it is said, emotionally abused him. Hanssen became a devout Catholic and joined the discipline of the elite order of Opus Dei ("Work of God").

There is evidence that he became obsessively religious with an evangelical fervour that made him attempt redemption of such widely diverse friends as a stripper with whom he consorted for 18 months, and an author journalist. He failed with both.

There have been many contradictions in Hanssen's tormented life.

Robert Hanssen's home, cordoned off after his arrest

He was sworn to protect his nation yet it is alleged he sold its most coveted secrets to the enemy. He was vehemently anti-communist yet served the anti-Christ of Marxism. He loved his wife and six children yet he spent time with a stripper.

The Hanssen we examine is a hurt and troubled man - more out of Graham Greene than John Le Carre, yet that is what makes the film compulsive viewing and that is what makes 'The Near perfect spy' the strangest spy story I have ever covered.

The Near-perfect spy was broadcast on Sunday 17 June at 18.15 BST on BBC Two.

Reporter: Tom Mangold
Producer: Guy Smith
Editor: Fiona Murch