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The Spy Next Door: The Extraordinary Secret Life of Robert Philip Hanssen, the Most Damaging FBI Agent in U.S. History
Two veteran Time reporters present a riveting glimpse into the life of Robert Hanssen, a seemingly quintessential surburban father and a trusted and loyal FBI agent who, after fifteen years of extremely damaging espionage, betrayed his family, his church, and his country - and got away with it, destroying the confidence of the FBI. 125,000 first printing.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
20 people are currently reading
268 people want to read
About the author
Elaine Shannon
6 books15 followersElaine Shannon, veteran correspondent for Time and Newsweek, is the author of Hunting LeRoux (Michael Mann Books, an imprint of Morrow/Harper Collins), with foreword by acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann. Other works: New York Times bestseller Desperados: Latin Drug Lords U.S. Lawmen and the War America Can’t Win, which served the basis for Michael Mann’s Emmy–winning NBC miniseries Drug Wars: the Camarena Story, and its Emmy-nominated sequel, Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel. Also: No Heroes: Inside the FBI’s Secret Counter-Terror Force, with Danny O. Coulson, and The Spy Next Door: The Extraordinary Secret Life of Robert Philip Hanssen, with Ann Blackman. She lives in Washington, D.C.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
December 12, 2013
My feeling is that if you have read one spy story you have read them all--with some notable exceptions. And often bios are the worst. True Crime these days seems to be more about the author's ego trips, or the long winded histories of minor characters than it is about the clear, crisp, and sometimes very funny prose that Shannon and Blackman dish out. They kept my interest by, I suspect, using about 20% of the material that they had. This is not an earth-shaking book, but it's lots of fun.
March 28, 2021
Robert Hanssen a real Jekyll and Hyde personality. On the surface a devout Catholic Opus Dei member, an Advocate for The Right to Life organisation while all the while for over twenty years he was a traitor to his country, selling documents and information to the Russians and in order to protect his own life risking those Russians working for the United States who were ultimately put to death. So the paradox is; abortion in the eyes of Hanssen was wrong but the signing of death warrants of operatives that could name him as a spy was okay?
The man clearly had double standards and a real dark side. From the pious nature of attending church every other day and various other church activities, to admonishing workmates for their drinking and social activities and then on the other hand visiting a strip joint to view naked women and further, paying for an airline ticket and hotel accommodation for one of the dancers to keep him company when on an overseas assignment, all the while with the ever growing family, the ever tightening purse strings and the very real threat of heading closer to bankruptcy Hanssen was walking a tightrope.
"Those who knew and worked with Hanssen say he was a bright but brittle man, that he never measured up to his father's dreams for him," - {The Spy Next Door by Ann Blackman}.
Children are like sponges absorbing everything that comes their way and their relationship with their parents can have such an important and subliminal effect on them and how they developed into adults. Those with a strong personality are mostly able to throw off the shackles of their upbringing particularly if it's negative but this was obviously not the case for Robert Hanssen. His father saw only failure in the boy, ex army and a Lieutenant in the Police would have seen him as an unbending father. While the family were not religious, through marrying a Catholic girl becoming a Catholic himself would have been necessary. Of course, all that incense tossing, priests' liturgical robes, the rituals and the Code of Canon Law would have made someone like Hanssen feel superior to the average plebeian.
With the building of the Berlin wall and the Cold War it appears that the American agencies of the CIA and FBI were not particularly well organised, poorly funded and seem to have been pretty combativite to each other. From this read it appears to have taken the combined forces the whole of the twenty years plus that Hanssen collected his money from the Russians for them to finally get their man. When the agencies started to chart Hanssen's activities throughout his various transfers from different sections and different duties including computer (new technology developments) operations where he strutted his stuff to his superiors they started to get a hold on him and the tracking, bugging, and intercepting by many agents does read like the classic spy novel.
Hanssen had flown under the radar probably because no one really liked him, no personality, not one of "the boys" so he was shoved around in some instances just to get rid of him, sometimes into menial work. This of course suited him and with an open security clearance he had access to top level security documents.
Hanssen is currently serving fifteen consecutive life sentences without parole at ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison near Florence, Colorado. "Wikipedia".
The man clearly had double standards and a real dark side. From the pious nature of attending church every other day and various other church activities, to admonishing workmates for their drinking and social activities and then on the other hand visiting a strip joint to view naked women and further, paying for an airline ticket and hotel accommodation for one of the dancers to keep him company when on an overseas assignment, all the while with the ever growing family, the ever tightening purse strings and the very real threat of heading closer to bankruptcy Hanssen was walking a tightrope.
"Those who knew and worked with Hanssen say he was a bright but brittle man, that he never measured up to his father's dreams for him," - {The Spy Next Door by Ann Blackman}.
Children are like sponges absorbing everything that comes their way and their relationship with their parents can have such an important and subliminal effect on them and how they developed into adults. Those with a strong personality are mostly able to throw off the shackles of their upbringing particularly if it's negative but this was obviously not the case for Robert Hanssen. His father saw only failure in the boy, ex army and a Lieutenant in the Police would have seen him as an unbending father. While the family were not religious, through marrying a Catholic girl becoming a Catholic himself would have been necessary. Of course, all that incense tossing, priests' liturgical robes, the rituals and the Code of Canon Law would have made someone like Hanssen feel superior to the average plebeian.
With the building of the Berlin wall and the Cold War it appears that the American agencies of the CIA and FBI were not particularly well organised, poorly funded and seem to have been pretty combativite to each other. From this read it appears to have taken the combined forces the whole of the twenty years plus that Hanssen collected his money from the Russians for them to finally get their man. When the agencies started to chart Hanssen's activities throughout his various transfers from different sections and different duties including computer (new technology developments) operations where he strutted his stuff to his superiors they started to get a hold on him and the tracking, bugging, and intercepting by many agents does read like the classic spy novel.
Hanssen had flown under the radar probably because no one really liked him, no personality, not one of "the boys" so he was shoved around in some instances just to get rid of him, sometimes into menial work. This of course suited him and with an open security clearance he had access to top level security documents.
Hanssen is currently serving fifteen consecutive life sentences without parole at ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison near Florence, Colorado. "Wikipedia".
April 23, 2010
I often wonder if people really know the damage that the spys of our generation have done to America. The magnitude of what Robert Hanssen did is mind boggling. While this is a book about what Robert Hanssen did, I feel that it should have touched more on the unbelievable arrogance of the F.B.I. in dealing with a known mole. Still, it is a good read about a real spy operating in the real world.
December 9, 2015
This is the story of convicted spy, FBI employee, Robert Hansen. His father was a police officer. Hansen went to dental school but didn’t finish, then after a master’s in accounting worked for Touche Ross. The FBI at that time recruited middle-class people often Catholics. There were very few Ivy leaders in the garage. Hansen applied and was accepted.
Hansen was a member of and his wife were members of Opus Dei, a Catholic sect with about 8000 members. They run a number of schools in the United States including three in Washington DC. Members go to mass every day and have a meeting once a week. They practice corporal mortification wearing a painful spiked belt called a scillus around their thigh for two hours a day to remind themselves of their sins and flagellating themselves with little whips (like Muslim Shia.) They are supposed to live very organize, regimented lives doing good work and being good people trying to be closer to God in every aspect of their lives. Some of the women are supposed to sleep on boards on top of their mattresses. They have houses where single men and women live spending lives of prayer and service. The women are supposed to cook and clean for the men. The men are to leave the room is when women enter. (Why don't they just go over to Saudi Arabia sounds like opus day and Wahhabism would be a good fit.)
In Hoover's FBI everyone had to use black ink except Hoover who used blue. Hoover did not allow agents to have coffee at their cheap metal desks. Hoover like to go after small cases as they bumped his arrest statistics and did not allow undercover agents. The next director focused on big and did t allow undercover agents. One such agent was Louis Frey who went undercover often and often only in a towel to New York steam baths to uncover corruption on the waterfront.
During the 70s Hansen got transferred into the FBI division that watched the Soviet Union's spying efforts in New York City. The Soviets had hundreds of intelligence agents in New York many of their covers being members of the UN diplomatic corps.
Hansen because he was aloof supercilious, concrete, sour and secretive was not a good candidate for a field agent. Instead he did a lot of computer work and data entry. The names of the top Soviet moles and defectors were not put on computer instead they were on paper in the safe as they still are.
At his position of working with the FBI Soviet counterintelligence database Hansen had access to a tremendous amount of information. Hansen earned a spot on the technical committee of the FBI Division III which handled knowledge about monitoring and listening devices placed in hostile nations and embassies around the United States. For instance he had access to the information that transmitting devices were placed inside the Xerox machine in the soviet embassy.
He was an odd fellow and not well-liked in the office. Other agents had ridiculing names for him behind his back. He felt he was smarter than everyone else and was underappreciated. He did not socialize with other agents when they went to strip clubs or out drinking. He had a holier than thou attitude as a member of Opus Dei.
In 1979 Hansen walked into a business office that he knew was a front for a Soviet Agency in charge of collecting technical and scientific information. He left a false name and phone number. Though he and his wife Bonnie had 5 children and were nearly bankrupt it was not only for the money that Hansen became a Soviet mole. At least part of his motivation was to show how smart he was and how he could fool the people who looked down on him.
His first act of espionage was to turn in “Top Hat,” Russian military general who had risen high in the ranks and for years had been disaffected with the communist takeover. Top Hat was providing massive amounts of information to the US. Being exposed would certainly have met this man's execution but somehow the Soviets did not do that but moved him out of his position perhaps assuming that such a low level guy as Hanson might be a double agent or a misinformation guy. The author supposes that Hansen's reasoning in this first exposition was that Top Hat was a generalist and would certainly have access to the information that Hansen was in the FBI and handing secrets over to the Soviets. Since he was in the FBI and since the CIA was the major spying agency in the US Hansen figured that if any breach was discovered the CIA would be looked at first and that they would never get to looking at the FBI.
In 1983 Hansen moved to the Soviet analytical department.
Hansen gave the Soviets huge amounts of information but did not ask for huge amounts of money. He seemed to want to make drops and communications very complicated as though he were playing spy. He could not rise in the FBI management because he had no real ability in spy craft and handling agents. He just got did not have the personality for it. And a stent handling agents was a requirement for advancement. He seemed to want to show his colleagues just how smart he was.
Hansen turned over information about agents of the US in Russia and double agents four of whom were killed. These were people who had access to information that could compromise him. He also handed over many secrets about codes, data collecting techniques, electronic surveillance techniques. He handed over huge amounts of documents and asked for very little money in return. He clearly could use more money with six children and a low salary but he did not do this for the money.
What amazed me was that there were so many moles in the US intelligence services the book describes person after person who was arrested and imprisoned during the 1980s.
Hansen was an odd character. At some point he befriended a stripper, gave her money to get her teeth fixed and sensible shoes encouraging her to get out of the profession. He went so far as to invite her to Hong Kong on an inspection tour. The FBI never noticed that he was having breakfast and dinner with a spiked-heeled young beauty. He bought her a Mercedes and in breach of security listed her address is his home address. Any US agent who found this in discretion would've had a lot of questions for Hansen to answer. But no one noticed it until after he was arrested years later. Apparently this was a platonic relationship. He couldn't spend the money that he was getting from the Soviets on his wife though he would've liked to.
Victor Sheymov the head electronic surveillance in the Soviet Union hated the communist system and defected to the west. He knew the codes the Soviet methods. He was gotten out by a “black extraction.” The US arranged for him and his family to disappear. He was brought to the US where and he lived in Washington under an assumed identity. However, Hansen befriended him and passed all the information about him to the Soviets. (What a fucking bum.) And he did not do this for ideological reasons but just the hat because he had a chip on his shoulder.
Hansen later became an analyst at the FBI and was very good at it. He could see patterns and behaviors that other people could not. He showed others how to analyze data and put in extra hours. His evaluations always said that he was a hard worker, a smart guy and a very upstanding religious family man. He worked hard during the day at serving the United States and at night he worked hard at serving the USSR.
All in all from Hansen’s revelations to the Russians 10 or 12 moles working for the US government were arrested and killed and many more were interrogated and in jail for long periods of time their families were ruined. And searching for the mole the task force called skylight came up with 100 people who had access to the information and 25 or so who had personal problems that might lead indicate they needed money. Aldridge Ames was at the top of the list.
With Gorbachev and Glasnost bringing new cooperation between the CIA and KGB Hansen went silent for eight years. Perhaps he thought that new contacts between the two agencies would lead to his arrest. Hansen’s giving documents to the Soviets occurred mostly in ‘85 and ‘86. The CIA set up operation Skylight to find where these leaks were coming from and uncovered CIA employee Aldrich Ames. In the plea bargain he disclosed all of what he had sold to the Russians. He needed money. He had broken the cover of 10 double agents many of which were the same ones Hanson had disclosed thus giving further cover for Hansen. Hansen was turning over secrets that had to do with CIA agents and the CIA was looking for him.. Hansen did not get investigated as they only looked at CIA agents. But the matrix showed that there were some leaks that could not be explained by Ames.
The hunt was still on. Operation Play Actor followed. Another huge matrix was made that was 6 feet high in 10 feet long that listed all the different blown operations and who had access to that information. They still could not find Hansen. Finally a Russian member of the KGB defected to the west bringing with him records of the mole known as “Baby” by the Russians. This was Hansen. The Russians did not know his name. When the material was analyzed by the CIA and FBI it clearly pointed to Hansen. It had copies of his letters to them which included phrases that only Hansen used. There was a brief recording of a voice identified as Hansen's. Director Frey ordered a criminal investigation. 100 agents would be involved in the investigation. Hansen was trailed 24-7 until he finally collected a drop and was arrested.
Hansen for years was at the center of the USA’s human intelligence, technical intelligence and counterintelligence. Never has anyone given so much to an enemy for so little. Hansen taught the Russians the way US agencies and human resources worked and the Russians sold that knowledge to Third World countries. It is very different difficult to change the way and organization operates. Hansen damaged US spy capabilities for decades and decades in the future.
For 22 years of service to the USSR Hansen received $475,000. He clearly was not in it for the money. Many in the FBI and CIA wanted to try Hansen and ask for the death penalty, however, attorney general Ashcroft and secretary defense Donald Rumsfeld argue that a trial would reveal many more secrets that would be helpful to the Russians and there would be no way for the government to force Hansen to testify against himself. It was decided to give Hansen the plea in exchange for which he would reveal all that he knew
Hansen was a member of and his wife were members of Opus Dei, a Catholic sect with about 8000 members. They run a number of schools in the United States including three in Washington DC. Members go to mass every day and have a meeting once a week. They practice corporal mortification wearing a painful spiked belt called a scillus around their thigh for two hours a day to remind themselves of their sins and flagellating themselves with little whips (like Muslim Shia.) They are supposed to live very organize, regimented lives doing good work and being good people trying to be closer to God in every aspect of their lives. Some of the women are supposed to sleep on boards on top of their mattresses. They have houses where single men and women live spending lives of prayer and service. The women are supposed to cook and clean for the men. The men are to leave the room is when women enter. (Why don't they just go over to Saudi Arabia sounds like opus day and Wahhabism would be a good fit.)
In Hoover's FBI everyone had to use black ink except Hoover who used blue. Hoover did not allow agents to have coffee at their cheap metal desks. Hoover like to go after small cases as they bumped his arrest statistics and did not allow undercover agents. The next director focused on big and did t allow undercover agents. One such agent was Louis Frey who went undercover often and often only in a towel to New York steam baths to uncover corruption on the waterfront.
During the 70s Hansen got transferred into the FBI division that watched the Soviet Union's spying efforts in New York City. The Soviets had hundreds of intelligence agents in New York many of their covers being members of the UN diplomatic corps.
Hansen because he was aloof supercilious, concrete, sour and secretive was not a good candidate for a field agent. Instead he did a lot of computer work and data entry. The names of the top Soviet moles and defectors were not put on computer instead they were on paper in the safe as they still are.
At his position of working with the FBI Soviet counterintelligence database Hansen had access to a tremendous amount of information. Hansen earned a spot on the technical committee of the FBI Division III which handled knowledge about monitoring and listening devices placed in hostile nations and embassies around the United States. For instance he had access to the information that transmitting devices were placed inside the Xerox machine in the soviet embassy.
He was an odd fellow and not well-liked in the office. Other agents had ridiculing names for him behind his back. He felt he was smarter than everyone else and was underappreciated. He did not socialize with other agents when they went to strip clubs or out drinking. He had a holier than thou attitude as a member of Opus Dei.
In 1979 Hansen walked into a business office that he knew was a front for a Soviet Agency in charge of collecting technical and scientific information. He left a false name and phone number. Though he and his wife Bonnie had 5 children and were nearly bankrupt it was not only for the money that Hansen became a Soviet mole. At least part of his motivation was to show how smart he was and how he could fool the people who looked down on him.
His first act of espionage was to turn in “Top Hat,” Russian military general who had risen high in the ranks and for years had been disaffected with the communist takeover. Top Hat was providing massive amounts of information to the US. Being exposed would certainly have met this man's execution but somehow the Soviets did not do that but moved him out of his position perhaps assuming that such a low level guy as Hanson might be a double agent or a misinformation guy. The author supposes that Hansen's reasoning in this first exposition was that Top Hat was a generalist and would certainly have access to the information that Hansen was in the FBI and handing secrets over to the Soviets. Since he was in the FBI and since the CIA was the major spying agency in the US Hansen figured that if any breach was discovered the CIA would be looked at first and that they would never get to looking at the FBI.
In 1983 Hansen moved to the Soviet analytical department.
Hansen gave the Soviets huge amounts of information but did not ask for huge amounts of money. He seemed to want to make drops and communications very complicated as though he were playing spy. He could not rise in the FBI management because he had no real ability in spy craft and handling agents. He just got did not have the personality for it. And a stent handling agents was a requirement for advancement. He seemed to want to show his colleagues just how smart he was.
Hansen turned over information about agents of the US in Russia and double agents four of whom were killed. These were people who had access to information that could compromise him. He also handed over many secrets about codes, data collecting techniques, electronic surveillance techniques. He handed over huge amounts of documents and asked for very little money in return. He clearly could use more money with six children and a low salary but he did not do this for the money.
What amazed me was that there were so many moles in the US intelligence services the book describes person after person who was arrested and imprisoned during the 1980s.
Hansen was an odd character. At some point he befriended a stripper, gave her money to get her teeth fixed and sensible shoes encouraging her to get out of the profession. He went so far as to invite her to Hong Kong on an inspection tour. The FBI never noticed that he was having breakfast and dinner with a spiked-heeled young beauty. He bought her a Mercedes and in breach of security listed her address is his home address. Any US agent who found this in discretion would've had a lot of questions for Hansen to answer. But no one noticed it until after he was arrested years later. Apparently this was a platonic relationship. He couldn't spend the money that he was getting from the Soviets on his wife though he would've liked to.
Victor Sheymov the head electronic surveillance in the Soviet Union hated the communist system and defected to the west. He knew the codes the Soviet methods. He was gotten out by a “black extraction.” The US arranged for him and his family to disappear. He was brought to the US where and he lived in Washington under an assumed identity. However, Hansen befriended him and passed all the information about him to the Soviets. (What a fucking bum.) And he did not do this for ideological reasons but just the hat because he had a chip on his shoulder.
Hansen later became an analyst at the FBI and was very good at it. He could see patterns and behaviors that other people could not. He showed others how to analyze data and put in extra hours. His evaluations always said that he was a hard worker, a smart guy and a very upstanding religious family man. He worked hard during the day at serving the United States and at night he worked hard at serving the USSR.
All in all from Hansen’s revelations to the Russians 10 or 12 moles working for the US government were arrested and killed and many more were interrogated and in jail for long periods of time their families were ruined. And searching for the mole the task force called skylight came up with 100 people who had access to the information and 25 or so who had personal problems that might lead indicate they needed money. Aldridge Ames was at the top of the list.
With Gorbachev and Glasnost bringing new cooperation between the CIA and KGB Hansen went silent for eight years. Perhaps he thought that new contacts between the two agencies would lead to his arrest. Hansen’s giving documents to the Soviets occurred mostly in ‘85 and ‘86. The CIA set up operation Skylight to find where these leaks were coming from and uncovered CIA employee Aldrich Ames. In the plea bargain he disclosed all of what he had sold to the Russians. He needed money. He had broken the cover of 10 double agents many of which were the same ones Hanson had disclosed thus giving further cover for Hansen. Hansen was turning over secrets that had to do with CIA agents and the CIA was looking for him.. Hansen did not get investigated as they only looked at CIA agents. But the matrix showed that there were some leaks that could not be explained by Ames.
The hunt was still on. Operation Play Actor followed. Another huge matrix was made that was 6 feet high in 10 feet long that listed all the different blown operations and who had access to that information. They still could not find Hansen. Finally a Russian member of the KGB defected to the west bringing with him records of the mole known as “Baby” by the Russians. This was Hansen. The Russians did not know his name. When the material was analyzed by the CIA and FBI it clearly pointed to Hansen. It had copies of his letters to them which included phrases that only Hansen used. There was a brief recording of a voice identified as Hansen's. Director Frey ordered a criminal investigation. 100 agents would be involved in the investigation. Hansen was trailed 24-7 until he finally collected a drop and was arrested.
Hansen for years was at the center of the USA’s human intelligence, technical intelligence and counterintelligence. Never has anyone given so much to an enemy for so little. Hansen taught the Russians the way US agencies and human resources worked and the Russians sold that knowledge to Third World countries. It is very different difficult to change the way and organization operates. Hansen damaged US spy capabilities for decades and decades in the future.
For 22 years of service to the USSR Hansen received $475,000. He clearly was not in it for the money. Many in the FBI and CIA wanted to try Hansen and ask for the death penalty, however, attorney general Ashcroft and secretary defense Donald Rumsfeld argue that a trial would reveal many more secrets that would be helpful to the Russians and there would be no way for the government to force Hansen to testify against himself. It was decided to give Hansen the plea in exchange for which he would reveal all that he knew
October 29, 2024
Another book I learned of through an NPR interview. I think the book has everything there is to tell about Robert Hanssen without going into mundane minutia. It actually tells a good amount from his childhood through the time he starts working for the FBI. It even covers the early part of his career there before he actually started collecting information and giving it to the Russians. I believe it starts to get more interesting at that point. I still didn't really enjoy the book that much. I think that if the writing moved along better it might have been more enjoyable and flowed more quickly. But how do I criticize the authors? I think all the info is there. It just didn't read all that pleasantly. That sounds sissy of me, but that is how I feel about it. Anyway, it is scary to think about how Hanssen did his crimes and the exact nature of them the consequences of those crimes. People were executed in Russia as a result of what he told them. I do admit that the part of the book (The last 25 or 30 pages) that details the CIA and FBI search for the suspected "mole" and the telling of the closing in on said mole was not only better reading but suspenseful as well, even knowing the outcome ahead of time. If you are a non-fiction fan and like history you might get something out of this book. Otherwise I couldn't recommend it.
March 31, 2024
Crazy mofo
December 15, 2025
“The KGB replaced the documents with a payment of $25,000. If Hanssen had forced the Soviets to bid for them, he could have put several new roofs on his house. He might even have gone home with enough money to retire. One of the many paradoxes of Bob Hanssen's psyche was that he placed a low material value on his work, even as he held himself to be vastly superior to everyone with whom he worked. It rankled Hanssen endlessly that most of the people vaulting past him up the FBI ladder weren't nearly as well read as he, nor as insightful, nor as well prepared for the blossoming of the information age. He didn't suffer fools glad-ly, and those he took for fools felt the same way about him. In a meeting, when colleagues offered different perspectives or challenged him, he bri-dled. "You could see him lock down," said Harry
"Skip" Brandon, who became deputy assistant) director of the Intelligence Division in 1980. "Most of us would encourage some back and forth, an exchange of ideas. But he was very rigid. As a result, he wasn't listened to as much as others." The KGB, which truly appreciated his services, would have showered him with spectacular rewards if he had insisted, yet over and over again, he let the buyers set their own price, and they lowballed him.
Perhaps he felt that negotiating would mark him as a common money-grubber like crude, greedy John Walker, sodden Edward Lee Howard or Richard Miller, who was pathetic. Did he rationalize his crimes by telling himselt he was simply playing intellectual tricks on a system that didn't deserve respect?”
"Skip" Brandon, who became deputy assistant) director of the Intelligence Division in 1980. "Most of us would encourage some back and forth, an exchange of ideas. But he was very rigid. As a result, he wasn't listened to as much as others." The KGB, which truly appreciated his services, would have showered him with spectacular rewards if he had insisted, yet over and over again, he let the buyers set their own price, and they lowballed him.
Perhaps he felt that negotiating would mark him as a common money-grubber like crude, greedy John Walker, sodden Edward Lee Howard or Richard Miller, who was pathetic. Did he rationalize his crimes by telling himselt he was simply playing intellectual tricks on a system that didn't deserve respect?”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 10, 2017
I randomly picked this up at the library the other day. All in all, a pretty solid (2002) read, written by two (Time Magazine) journalists who know how to write breezy, interesting, easy-to-read prose. I learned a lot of interesting facts about this case. I love reading nonfiction books about the spy world.
My main problem with this book is the judgmental nature of the authors' at some points. Some of their sentences might be seen as 'slut shaming' by the contemporary reader. These authors likely come from relatively comfortable upbringings. Even if that's not the case, these two women are women who (by virtue of landing jobs at Time and, thus, being a part of the cultural elite) have achieved success in "good, honest, important" jobs (per society's standards). Owing to that, it's rather pompous for these women to write about strippers in the way that they do. As I mentioned early, these parts of the book come off in a self-righteous, holier-than-thou attitude.
Also at times, the authors make statements that might win a "Captain Obvious" award. Your reader doesn't need everything over-explained.
All in all, I definitely recommend this book if you enjoy reading nonfiction about the intelligence community.
My main problem with this book is the judgmental nature of the authors' at some points. Some of their sentences might be seen as 'slut shaming' by the contemporary reader. These authors likely come from relatively comfortable upbringings. Even if that's not the case, these two women are women who (by virtue of landing jobs at Time and, thus, being a part of the cultural elite) have achieved success in "good, honest, important" jobs (per society's standards). Owing to that, it's rather pompous for these women to write about strippers in the way that they do. As I mentioned early, these parts of the book come off in a self-righteous, holier-than-thou attitude.
Also at times, the authors make statements that might win a "Captain Obvious" award. Your reader doesn't need everything over-explained.
All in all, I definitely recommend this book if you enjoy reading nonfiction about the intelligence community.
July 29, 2020
I never realized that over the years there were so many dirty and double spies in the FBI. This book describes a few of them but is focused on Robert Hanssen. He spent two decades selling our most valuable secrets to Russia. He exposed our nuclear war strategies, our weapons technologies, and our own counterintelligence program. He also betrayed many Russian double agents that hated the KGB resulting in them being executed or sent to Gulags.
November 4, 2024
great investigative reporting
This compelling story of the American spy John Hanssen concludes with immense drama, but building up to Hanssen’s arrest the authors explain both the huge secrets this spy sold cheaply to the Russians and the ordinariness of his daily life. For 22 years this spy betrayed his country and every virtuous thing he pretended to represent: his family, his religion, and his profession.
This compelling story of the American spy John Hanssen concludes with immense drama, but building up to Hanssen’s arrest the authors explain both the huge secrets this spy sold cheaply to the Russians and the ordinariness of his daily life. For 22 years this spy betrayed his country and every virtuous thing he pretended to represent: his family, his religion, and his profession.
February 21, 2020
Although I couldn't put the book, down as I wanted to see what happened. The story itself reads like bad fiction. Although it's true. With less details, this book would have been better. So unless one likes reading about how FBI and CIA both were clueless enough to miss someone who was a spy for 20 years, it's not one I would recommend.
September 5, 2020
Good but not great. I actually have several books on Hanssen and this is possibly the second best I've read, but there's at least one that I thought the author did a better job in their approach to the subject at hand. Still, recommended.
March 20, 2023
I learned a lot about Robert Hanssen and how he was able to sell America's secrets all those years. The book was interesting and also explained how the bureau had to scramble to find out who the mole was. Well written.
February 13, 2019
pretty interesting story, I remember parts of it while I lived in the DC Maryland area at the time
March 22, 2019
Makes you wonder how good the FBI is at their investigations if they couldn’t find the mole sitting in plain sight. Oh, brother! And that Opus Dei stuff, yuck.
August 3, 2023
I decided to read this book when I read the news of Robert Hanson’s death. I enjoyed learning about Hanson and how he came to be a spy for Russia. It’s an interesting story but a sad one as well.
April 25, 2024
This guy was a real piece of work. Knowing that it’s real ,,,
November 10, 2024
Read this book prior to a trip to Washington D.C., where I went to the International Spy Museum. There was a presentation there about the (true) character in the book - Robert Hanssen.
May 2, 2016
Despite what is a fascinating subject--a double agent--this book is dull. After reading more than 200 pages, the only insight gained is that Bob Hannsen was a bit strange. He was socially awkward, not liked by his co-workers, and had the zeal of a religious convert regarding his association with Opus Dei. There are hints that he had father issues. There is no real explanation for his treason, just some vague speculation that he did not feel properly appreciated by his colleagues. Perhaps it is not possible to know what moved him to spy for the Soviet Union, but the authors did not give any sense of Bob Hanssen as a real person operating in the complex world of work and family. What was his day-to-day life like? He had six children, but there is no discussion about his relationship with any of them, either before or after he was arrested. It is likely his family would not participate with the authors, but the authors could perhaps have delved into when and how Bob Hanssen converted to Catholicism, how the socially backward Bob was able to attract the vivacious Bonnie, how his wife's family felt about him, whether he remained in contact with his mother after his father died. Presumably, as a devout Catholic, his wife did not divorce him, but does she maintain a relationship with him? Do his children visit him in prison? Perhaps Bob Hanssen is simply too much of an enigma for the authors to figure out; but if that is the case, then why bore us with so many words and so little information? For example, the overly long excerpts of letters between Bob Hanssen and his Soviet contacts seem to just be padding to a weak opus of the authors. The information contained in this book can be more quickly learned by reading a few pages on the Internet. One site is found at http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/te....
January 20, 2013
I really liked the premise of the book, chronicling Bob Hanssen's career of spying on the U.S. government for the Russians. It made me think about topics that had never entered my mind: the sheer amount of secret information that an FBI agent has access to, the extent that intelligence agencies plan their strategies of courting spies from other countries, the complexity of planning communications interceptions.
I was so surprised by the things that Bob Hanssen got away with. It seemed that an FBI agent (or other intelligence staff) without loyalty to the U.S. government wouldn't have much problem revealing secrets to another country; I wonder how prevalent the practice is actually. It also struck me as ironic how Bob Hanssen and other U.S. spies were condemned so harshly by the author and the higher-ups in the book, but then the Russian spies working with the U.S. government were seen as heroes to some extent. Contradictory?
The one big downside was the amount of space devoted to detailing the specific people and secrets that Bob Hanssen dealt with. The amount of Russian names and details were not that relevant to the story, but were so complicated to keep straight, I had a hard time figuring out how much energy to devote to understanding all the connections in depth.
I was so surprised by the things that Bob Hanssen got away with. It seemed that an FBI agent (or other intelligence staff) without loyalty to the U.S. government wouldn't have much problem revealing secrets to another country; I wonder how prevalent the practice is actually. It also struck me as ironic how Bob Hanssen and other U.S. spies were condemned so harshly by the author and the higher-ups in the book, but then the Russian spies working with the U.S. government were seen as heroes to some extent. Contradictory?
The one big downside was the amount of space devoted to detailing the specific people and secrets that Bob Hanssen dealt with. The amount of Russian names and details were not that relevant to the story, but were so complicated to keep straight, I had a hard time figuring out how much energy to devote to understanding all the connections in depth.
March 19, 2009
This is the true story upon which the movie "Breach" was based, about Robert Hanssen, the man who worked for the FBI and spied for the Soviet Union (and after the breakup of the USSR, Russia) for over 20 years. It is a fascinating story--how this pious, upstanding, downright boring man was able to fool everyone around him as he passed along infomation in "dead drops" as "Ramon Garcia." The more I read, I also gained a real understanding of how something like 9-11 happened without it being uncovered by intelligence agencies. The technology the FBI possessed was behind the times, the flow of information amongst intelligence agencies was poor, plus there was an attitude among the people of the FBI that their agents were of a higher caliber than most people, and were beyond reproach and incapable of such treachery.
The book is written pretty much like an extended magazine article, offering background when needed, trying to offer answers where possible, but still the best answer is that no one really knows why Hanssen did what he did. And to this day the information he sold to our enemies could still be used to hurt us. Frightening stuff.
The book is written pretty much like an extended magazine article, offering background when needed, trying to offer answers where possible, but still the best answer is that no one really knows why Hanssen did what he did. And to this day the information he sold to our enemies could still be used to hurt us. Frightening stuff.
September 21, 2013
I vaguely remember hearing about this. Many things went through my mind as I listened to this on CD. For one, Hanssen never really explains why he stole all those secrets and gave them to the USSR and later the Russians. The book insinuates it was because he had a superiority complex and the Russians would flatter him and give him the attention he felt he deserved. Another theory was that he had daddy issues and his dad was in law enforcement and this was one giant f*ck you to his father. Another thing is it took a long time for him to get caught. The Government knew there was a spy for a long time and never once did they suspect him. Kind of scarey considering they are a huge law enforcement agency. Very few people liked him and I wonder if they just said it later because they were embarrassed that they never knew what he was doing. This book was a pretty interesting listen.
July 31, 2009
Meh, it was an interesting read, but not really what I was looking for. I love me a good spy story, but you have to give me more than just the bare bones facts. This book has a good time line of when Hanssen started to spy, but very little about WHY he spied. I wanted to know more about his life and some of the things that led him to that spot.
One part of this story that got a lot of play was that despite being a "good Catholic" he sent nude pictures of his wife to his friends and posted X-rated stories about her online. I don't understand how reprinting these stories in a book tells me anything more about Hanssen. It just seemed to degrade his wife even further.
I'd suggest looking elsewhere for an in depth portrait of the man. You won't get it here.
One part of this story that got a lot of play was that despite being a "good Catholic" he sent nude pictures of his wife to his friends and posted X-rated stories about her online. I don't understand how reprinting these stories in a book tells me anything more about Hanssen. It just seemed to degrade his wife even further.
I'd suggest looking elsewhere for an in depth portrait of the man. You won't get it here.
February 13, 2016
This should be a companion piece to the movie, "Breach," about the FBI spy-traitor Robert Hanssen. Hanssen, you'll remember, operated for 20 years as a Russian spy. His activities resulted in the execution of a number of Russian intelligence agents and who knows how many American agents.
The book will fill in some of the blanks about Hanssen and how he got away with it. The first 3/4 of the book is excellent, but the final 1/4 loses its way. It never clearly shows the man and his motives, except in the most superficial way.
The book will fill in some of the blanks about Hanssen and how he got away with it. The first 3/4 of the book is excellent, but the final 1/4 loses its way. It never clearly shows the man and his motives, except in the most superficial way.
December 12, 2015
I personally did not like this book quite that much or quite frankly at all. I Thinks its because my own personal interests rejected the idea of CIA spy's and a very predictable plot. I was not able to finish the book and I abandoned it towards the middle. The predictable plots and un interesting characters make it hard to read. I would not recommend it to many people unless you are very into spy books to which this would not make you as bored as it made me.
August 29, 2014
Although I was an adult when his arrest was made, I don't remember any of this. The book tells the story of Robert Philip Hanssen, double agent. I was shocked at how he got away with it all those years. It was amazing how he was able to blend into the background and become unnoticed by everyone.
July 10, 2012
A very good book to attempt to understand the sociopathic and self centered character and why he betrayed his country. A sick person who did great damage to America and even though it took so long to catch him, being as smart as he was, it was the FBI that nailed him Good on ya FBI!
October 20, 2014
This is a thorough, and I think well-balanced, biography of Robert Hanssen the notorious FBI agent who sold US secrets to the Russians and caused the death of perhaps as many as 50 people and compromised billions of dollars of US expenditures on surveillance and secrecy.
June 27, 2007
Here's what I learned from this book:
Don't be a spy. You'll go to jail.
Don't be a spy. You'll go to jail.
November 29, 2009
Excellent. Worth the read. Great insights into teh damage that can be done by a spy.
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