Robert Philip Hanssen
The only child of a doting mother and an abusive father, Robert
Hanssen was a gifted but troubled youth before meeting his fervently religious wife, Bonnie, and
following his dad into the Chicago Police Department. Soon, Bob had started a family,
converted to Catholicism, and joined the FBI. But beneath the quiet exterior lurked a more dangerous
man -- one who for three decades betrayed his family and his country by selling billions of dollars
worth of national security secrets to the Soviet Union and Russia. Hiding his identity from the
Russians and his activities even from those closest to him, Hanssen became a phantom that haunted
the Bureau from within.
Louis Freeh
Louis Freeh's lifelong ambition to be an FBI agent was fulfilled in 1975,
when he completed agent training shortly after graduating from law school. His professional
rise -- hard-nosed FBI investigator, New York Mafia buster, federal district judge -- culminated in his
appointment to the helm of his beloved Bureau by President Bill Clinton in 1993. However, Freeh's
ambitious goal to turn the FBI into a global crimefighting force was hindered by Bureau snafus, and
his legacy tarnished by a mole who eluded the director even as the two attended the same church and
sent their sons to the same school.
The Wife
Bonnie Hanssen
Bonnie Hanssen, a schoolteacher and mother of six, has been a devoted wife
to Bob for 33 years. Born into a devout family, she eagerly passed on her Catholic faith to her
husband.
However, Bonnie has also been described by those close to her as "naïve", and easily
manipulated by Bob, who also betrayed their marriage by carrying on an 18-month relationship with a
local stripper. In 1980, Bonnie found her husband in the basement writing a letter to his Soviet
handlers, yet he convinced her that he was selling false information to the Communists and that he
would never do it again. On February 18, 2001, when FBI agents informed Bonnie of her husband's
arrest on espionage charges, she replied, "He did it, didn't he?"
The Stripper
Priscilla Galey
Working at Joanna's Stripclub, Priscilla Galey met Bob Hanssen after he sent a $10
tip to her dressing room with a note complimenting her grace and beauty. Soon, the two were meeting
often, and
Hanssen was showering Galey with cash, jewels and a Mercedes, while also urging her to
quit stripping and to live her life through God. When the Bureau sent Hanssen to Hong Kong, he bought
an extra ticket for Galey. Hanssen later admitted that he had sex with Galey during the two week trip.
But when Galey misused a credit card Hanssen had given her, he cut her off completely, denying her
assistance even as she descended into a life of drug addiction and prostitution.
The Parents
Howard & Vivian Hanssen
Vivian Hanssen was a housewife and a loving mother to her only
son, but she could not protect Bob from the physical and emotional abuse leveled at him by
his father,
Howard, who worked for years in the Chicago P.D.'s anti-communist unit. According to psychologists,
Bob's childhood relationship with his father affected nearly every aspect of his adult life, including
his career with the FBI, which he came to view as a corrupt father figure. Now living in Florida,
Vivian struggles to understand why her son would choose to betray everyone and everything he
loved.
The Handler
Viktor Cherkashin
In 1985, Viktor Cherkashin was the No. 2 man in the KGB's Washington
station, and the case officer for FBI agent Robert Hanssen and CIA officer Aldrich
Ames, the Soviet
Union's two most valuable double agents. Hanssen particularly knew of Cherkashin's talent for running
agents and maintaining secrecy, and requested that Cherkashin handle his operation. Cherkashin,
meanwhile, allowed Hanssen to keep his identity a secret from the KGB, a highly unorthodox practice.
"It was only Cherkashin who had the position, authority and courage to assume responsibility for such
an act," said Yuri Shvets, a former senior KGB official.
The Exposed
Dmitri Polyakov, Valeri Martynov, Sergei Motorin
Dmitri Polyakov, codenamed TOPHAT, worked
for the GRU and was a highly valued spy for the CIA before being exposed by Hanssen in Hanssen's first
espionage foray in 1979. Polyakov was executed in 1987. Valeri Martynov and Sergei Motorin were two of
three Soviet double agents exposed in Hanssen's initial letter to the KGB in 1985. They were both
recalled to the Soviet Union and executed within two years.
The Fugitive
Osama bin Laden
The attacks orchestrated by Osama bin Laden on September 11, 2001 were the most
deadly acts of terrorism ever committed on American soil, and a colossal failure of FBI counterterrorism
efforts. The Bureau for years had managed a 24-hour "bin Laden watch" from its headquarters, yet the
months or even years of planning for the attacks went undetected. The Hanssen family watched the 9/11
attacks with horror -- and fear that Bob would be blamed. Months earlier, a newspaper reported that
technology given to the Russians by Hanssen had been sold to al Qaeda for $2 million, enabling bin Laden
to monitor U.S. efforts to catch him. An FBI agent called Bonnie Hanssen to assure her that the attacks
were not her husband's fault.
