Robert Hanssen was unmasked in 2001, but before this the CIA had already had to face the Ames affair. This had been an incredibly serious case because it was discovered that not only had the spy caused irreparable damage to the CIA, but many American agents stationed behind the Iron Curtain were arrested and executed because of his actions. Yet this was not the only embarrassing affair. In 1996, for example, a CIA department head was arrested as he was about to leave US soil. Harold Nicholson had apparently been working for the Russians for two years and had been revealed in the simplest way possible: every three years CIA agents must submit to a lie detector test, where they are asked the question ‘Are you secretly in contact with a foreign power?' and Nicholson's reaction did not escape the device. It should be noted that Soviet agents are generally trained to take the test, but this required the agent in question to have some form of physical contact with his case officers. In this case, such an option was too dangerous and so only spies from Russia or the former USSR were trained to deceive the lie detector test.
And so Nicholson gave himself away; and although this was not enough to be considered as absolute proof, he was nevertheless put under constant surveillance and a camera installed in his office caught him photographing classified documents. He had chosen to betray his country for money: after living abroad for a long time, when he returned home he clearly did not think that his salary was sufficient enough. The case itself was handled by the FBI, who only have the authority to track down spies on American soil, and the agents were delighted to have the chance to bring down one of their CIA rivals. However, they should not have celebrated so soon.
A month after Nicholson's arrest, the FBI had to admit to a spy in their own midst, a man called Earl Pitts. Charged with supervising KGB agents stationed at the UN, he had now come back. Driven by greed, like Nicholson, he also needed money and so for $200,000 he handed over to the Soviets a list of federal agents who were watching them. However, Pitts was unmasked in 1996, several years after the collapse of the UUSR. His wife, who also worked for the FBI, had suspected that he was engaged in dubious activities and no doubt overcome with remorse, she finally denounced him. Pitts was not arrested immediately as the FBI preferred to catch him in the act. They set up a trap by using federal agents who pretended to be Russian; and because Pitts was always greedy, he fell into it head first.
However, the two examples of Nicholson and Pitt are relatively minor, even if the first led to the CIA director, John Deutch, being fired. On the other hand, Hanssen's betrayal was seen as a disaster because the entire US intelligence network was shaken to the core when the affair was revealed.
By the time he was arrested, Hanssen was just about to retire. He had been born in Chicago at the end of the war and his father had been a police officer, who had spent most of his life tracking down Communists, while his son would later work for the KGB! Did he do this out of rebellion? It would appear that Hanssen's motives, despite appearances, were much more complicated. He had been raised in a very Christian family and was considered by most who knew him at the time as a very polite teenager who was a disciplined student and worker. The only negative was that he was a loner and never involved himself in any outside activities. He studied chemistry and graduated successfully - even choosing Russian as a second language. He then began his dentistry studies, before branching off again into accounting. After easily obtaining his qualifications as a chartered accountant, he worked in a law firm before entering the Chicago Police Department and working as a finance investigator. In 1976 he was recruited by the FBI, which saw the start of a brilliant career with the federal police. He was first assigned to financial crime, but soon enough thanks to his IT skills, he joined the department specifically responsible for counterintelligence. He was given high-level clearance and asked to design a database of all US intelligence officers. Although he now had access to top-secret information, at the time he did not envisage betraying his country, even if, according to a letter he later wrote to his Soviet correspondents, he claimed that he always wanted to be like Kim Philby.120
Hanssen later confessed that he took great pleasure in spying, even though he was well-aware of the risks he was taking, such was the psychological makeup of this amazing character. This austere, very religious man, who despised many of his contemporaries, had found an outlet in the life of a double agent. He was playing with fire by challenging his superiors and colleagues to one day unmask his true identity.
Johanna McGueary
121
At thirty-two, he was more mature than most young recruits, was often condescending towards his colleagues and maintained a very strong religious faith. ‘People who are very religious and for whom God alone is worthy, do not have time to devote to mere mortals’, recalls a retired agent and a former employee in the Soviet division in New York, where he worked with Hanssen from ‘78-81 and then ‘85-87. ‘He thought he was mentally superior to his colleagues and probably his seniors’, says Robert Bryant, the former assistant director of the FBI. As a result of this subtle arrogance, he had few friends in the bureau and was nicknamed ‘the Undertaker’ because of his sallow complexion, black hair, dark suits and his humourless eyes. As he was very awkward in his relationships with others, he was never entrusted with
