The Spy Who Stayed Out in the Cold: The Secret Life of FBI Double Agent Robert Hanssen FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
Have you ever wondered what the true lives of spies are like? For 15 years FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen pulled off a fantastic charade while receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Soviet government, until an FBI sting operation brought him to justice in February 2001. Adrian Havill, author of While Innocents Slept, takes readers on a harrowing trip through the life and actions of the accused spy.
After interviewing hundreds of Hanssen's friends, family members, and former coworkers, Havill details Hanssen's childhood in Chicago, his college and graduate school years, his early career with the Chicago Police Department's secret C-5 Unit, his involvement with the Opus Dei religious movement, and his eventual employment with the FBI. Relying strictly on the facts, The Spy Who Stayed Out in the Cold peers into the psyche of Hanssen and aptly reveals how an FBI agent, supporting a family of eight on less than $40,000 a year, made the decision to turn against all that the FBI stands for and sell government secrets, first to the Soviet Union and, subsequently, to Russia.
Havill's straightforward text pulls the reader from page to page in this spellbinding account of a traitor who fooled those closest to him into believing he was a pious Catholic, a devoted father of six, and a hardworking government employee. Hanssen's secret life as a double agent may be over, but the repercussions and ramifications of his actions will take years to settle. (Eric Zeman)
Eric Zeman lives in West Orange, New Jersey.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Robert Philip Hanssen thought he was smarter than the system. For decades the quirky but respected counterintelligence expert, religious family man, and father of six sold top-secret information to agents of the Soviet Union and Russia. A self-taught computer expert, Hanssen often encrypted his stolen files on wafer-thin disks. The data - some six thousand pages of highly classified documents - revealed precious nuclear secrets, outlined American espionage initiatives, and named names of agents - spies who covertly worked for both sides." "Soviet government leaders and their successors in the Russian Federation used the stolen information to undermine U.S. policies and to eliminate spies in their own ranks. Moscow did not allow their moles the luxury of a defense: at least two men named by Hanssen were executed; a third languished for years in a Siberian hard-labor camp." "For more than twenty years Bob Hanssen was the perfect spy. He personally collected at least $600,000 from his Russian handlers, while another $800,000 was deposited in his name at a Moscow bank. Along with the cash came Rolex watches and cut diamonds. The money financed both his children's education at schools run by the elite and ultra-conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei and an inexplicably strange fling with a former Ohio "stripper of the year."" "But he didn't just do it for the money; he did it for the thrill and for a mysterious third reason rooted in religious mysticism. He lacked the people skills to play office politics, and it seemed the aging FBI analyst faced a disappointing career mired in middle management. Instead he chose to become one of the most dangerous spies in America's history. And no one suspected him until just weeks before his arrest." "Robert Philip Hanssen thought he was smarter than the system. And until February 18, 2001, he was right. That's when federal agents surrounded him while he was attempting to complete an exchange with his handlers at a Virgini
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
FBI agent Robert Hanssen began spying for the Soviet Union in 1985. By the time he was arrested in February 2001, he'd received over $600,000 payment in cash and diamonds and turned over hundreds of pages of top secret documents. In the process, says Havill, Hanssen did as much damage to U.S. national security as "anyone since the Rosenbergs." But why did he do it? And how? Havill, a journalist and true-crime writer (While Innocents Slept), devotes most of his book to these two questions. Hanssen, Havill reports, had been fascinated by the romance of international espionage from an early age. When he was 14, he became obsessed with the memoir of a notorious British double agent; his favorite film was From Russia with Love. But after a decade of FBI service, Hanssen found himself unsatisfied, underappreciated and underpaid. And so, using the code name Ramon, Hanssen turned over his first packet of secret files to the KGB. Havill's chronicle of the Hanssen-KGB relationship reads like a John le Carr? novel, full of codes and secret signals. The notes between Hanssen and his Russian handers, excerpted extensively by Havill, are the most fascinating parts of the book. Frustratingly, Havill is unable to provide any details concerning the contents of the documents Hanssen turned over this is, of course, an unavoidable flaw in any book dealing with espionage and national secrets. Despite this, Havill's book remains an intriguing, unsettling portrait of a man whose poor finances and personal frustration drove him to betray his country.(Oct.) Forecast: Given the notoriety of this case, the book should receive reviews and media attention and generous sales. Copyright 2001 Cahners BusinessInformation.
Library Journal
By all accounts, Robert Hanssen was an odd duck from the word go: a technologically savvy man with a photographic memory, he was quiet and dull, religious, and a good family man drawn to the secret side of society. He was just about to retire from the FBI when he was arrested at a dead drop in a Virginia park in February 2001. For at least 15 years, he had sold the Russians nuclear secrets and counterintelligence information an act that damaged American security and cost lives. As demonstrated by Havill (Deep Truth: The Lives of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein), Hanssen did not spy for ideological or blackmail reasons but for money to support his large family and for the thrill of the dangerous game. Havill lived close to Hanssen and, although they never met, their lives did brush against each other which certainly helped him write the book so quickly. The role of the extremely conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei in the life of Hanssen could have been explored even more, but this is still a good story suitable for the espionage collections of all libraries. (Photos and index not seen.) Daniel K. Blewett, Coll. of DuPage Lib., Glen Ellyn, IL Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A timely biography that attempts to provide plausible explanations for the motives of alleged FBI double agent Robert Hanssen, whose trial is set to begin on October 29, 2001. Hanssen was a long-time FBI agent, now accused of selling top-secret information to agents of the Soviet Union, including nuclear secrets and names of other agents (which may have led to the execution of a couple of the men). The obvious question, then, is: Why? And Havill (While Innocents Slept, 2001, etc.) gives many answers, the least being ideological, even though much is made of Hanssen's ultra-conservatism and his beliefs in the dictates of the Catholic group Opus Dei. Primarily, Hanssen's motives seemed to be financial: the money he received (in excess of $600,000) got his six children's private-school educations. It also allowed him to lavish money on a young female stripper in a strange, two-year, nonsexual relationship where he apparently was trying to "save" her. He also did it for the thrill; as a youngster, he was fascinated by spy confessions and espionage books, and he reportedly told a former neighbor, "I've wanted to be a spy ever since I was a little boy." Lastly, he did it to satisfy his ego. The numerous interviews with Hanssen's friends, neighbors, and childhood acquaintances, which range from sympathy to surprise to I-always-knew-he-was-strange, give a vague picture of Hanssen as someone who craved notoriety and excitement. The most fascinating aspect here-and what perhaps most reveals the man's true nature-are the samplings of correspondence exchanged over the years between Hanssen (who wrote under the alias of "Ramon Garcia") and his Soviet contacts, messages usually sent encryptedon computer disks. Overall, though, Havill's account offers little suspense, even when relating the events on February 18, 2001, which resulted in Hanssen's ultimate arrest. A mixture of evidence and assumptions in a look at the modern-day, tit-for-tat spy game between America and Moscow. (8-page b&w photo insert, not seen)
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