Robert Hanssen, notorious FBI double agent, known for secretly feeding Russia America's deepest secrets between the 80s and 90s, has died in a top-security prison.
In 1985, he offered himself to Soviet military intelligence, trading American government secrets and identities of US moles in Soviet and Russian governments.
He did this in exchange for diamonds and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Being part of the FBI, he was tasked with chasing down foreign spies, covering his tracks investigation Moscow's agents in the US.
He was caught at a dead drop for exchanging messages with Russian handlers just outside Washington in 2001.
One year later, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He was found unresponsive at the age of 79 yesterday morning, and later pronounced dead.
The FBI has described him as “the most damaging spy in bureau history”.
He joined the FBI in 1976, first serving as a policeman in Chicago.
Nine years late, he took a position in the New York City office that tracked and attempted to prevent the recruitment of Soviet officials.
Not long after he began serving the other side under the name "Ramon Garcia," with his handlers not even knowing his true identity.
At the time of his arrest, he was described as the most damaging mole to pass US secrets to a foreign government.
He handed over thousands of classified documents to the Soviets, and Russia. These included nuclear war plans, software for tracking spying investigations, and identities of US sources in Moscow.
For several years the FBI and CIA knew there was an informant but Hanssen was not at the top of the suspect list.
He was eventually secretly tracked and recorded in his office for months before he was caught.
He pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage in exchange for a prosecution agreement to not seek the death penalty in 2002.
“I apologise for my behaviour. I am shamed by it. I have opened the door for calumny against my totally innocent wife and children. I’ve hurt so many deeply.”
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