Exactly what drove veteran FBI agent Robert Hanssen to abandon his sworn duties to the federal government from 1985 to 2001 in order to sell top secret information to the Soviets? The answer becomes more elusive the more you know. Hanssen was a deeply religious man who attended Roman Catholic Mass daily throughout his 16-year spree of traitorous activity.
This actual Jekyll-and-Hyde story comes alive these days in the movie Breach starring Chris Cooper. Throughout his acclaimed career, Cooper has mastered the art of portraying undesirable characters like Hanssen — overbearing, wound too tight — who crack up in the end.
This actual Jekyll-and-Hyde story comes alive these days in the movie Breach starring Chris Cooper. Throughout his acclaimed career, Cooper has mastered the art of portraying undesirable characters like Hanssen — overbearing, wound too tight — who crack up in the end.
So why did Robert Hanssen betray his country? As a civil servant providing for a family, surely he welcomed the supplement to his upper middle class income that the Russians paid him for delivering classified information. Yet he couldn’t use most of his fees to pursue a better lifestyle. That surely would have tele-graphed to the world that he was doing something mysterious outside his job to generate dollars far in excess of his government pay.
If not money, then, what caused this brilliant, trusted federal investigator to spend over half his career nullifying the work of his American peers? Breach tries to answer the question.
“The deepest principle of human nature,” wrote William James, the father of modern psychology, “is the craving to be appreciated.”
Despite Hanssen’s stature within the FBI as a premier international intelligence mastermind, he nonetheless felt his contributions went largely unappreciated. They never quite earned him the corner office with a window because of his refusal to play Bureau politics.
This lack of recognition impacted his personality in two ways. First, he entered every professional relationship at the FBI with a massive chip on his shoulder — hostile, snide, bullying, projecting an attitude that said, “I’m the smartest guy in the room, and all of you should know that. So I’ll say and do whatever I darn well please because I’m the brains around here and everyone else is an idiot.”
Not surprisingly, this approach soon left Hanssen devoid of friendships. With each passing year, he became more isolated and disconnected from his comrades at the Bureau.
Second, and more importantly, his feelings of being unappreciated drove him to direct his talents against the federal government, his ultimate employer. Why? Because it appeared to Hanssen that those running the FBI regarded the 25-year Bureau veteran only as a face in the crowd who did not matter in the grand scheme of things.
Hanssen had to find a niche somewhere, with someone, where his daily efforts would undoubtedly “matter.” Being the chief supplier of American secret intelligence qualified him as someone who “mattered” to the Soviets.
Six years ago, after finally getting caught in the act of delivering confidential information to the enemy, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement at a federal penitentiary in Colorado.
Presumably, every day since then he has filled the hours in his cell saying prayers, confessing his sins, and wondering about the lives of his wife, children, and grandchildren. Once upon a time, they surely thought of Robert Hanssen as the patriarch who already “mattered” a great deal to them.
If not money, then, what caused this brilliant, trusted federal investigator to spend over half his career nullifying the work of his American peers? Breach tries to answer the question.
“The deepest principle of human nature,” wrote William James, the father of modern psychology, “is the craving to be appreciated.”
Despite Hanssen’s stature within the FBI as a premier international intelligence mastermind, he nonetheless felt his contributions went largely unappreciated. They never quite earned him the corner office with a window because of his refusal to play Bureau politics.
This lack of recognition impacted his personality in two ways. First, he entered every professional relationship at the FBI with a massive chip on his shoulder — hostile, snide, bullying, projecting an attitude that said, “I’m the smartest guy in the room, and all of you should know that. So I’ll say and do whatever I darn well please because I’m the brains around here and everyone else is an idiot.”
Not surprisingly, this approach soon left Hanssen devoid of friendships. With each passing year, he became more isolated and disconnected from his comrades at the Bureau.
Second, and more importantly, his feelings of being unappreciated drove him to direct his talents against the federal government, his ultimate employer. Why? Because it appeared to Hanssen that those running the FBI regarded the 25-year Bureau veteran only as a face in the crowd who did not matter in the grand scheme of things.
Hanssen had to find a niche somewhere, with someone, where his daily efforts would undoubtedly “matter.” Being the chief supplier of American secret intelligence qualified him as someone who “mattered” to the Soviets.
Six years ago, after finally getting caught in the act of delivering confidential information to the enemy, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement at a federal penitentiary in Colorado.
Presumably, every day since then he has filled the hours in his cell saying prayers, confessing his sins, and wondering about the lives of his wife, children, and grandchildren. Once upon a time, they surely thought of Robert Hanssen as the patriarch who already “mattered” a great deal to them.
Talmage Boston is a lawyer in Dallas who resides in the Park Cities.
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