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FBI Agent Charged With Spying For Moscow
WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (News Agencies) - Long-time FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen on Tuesday was formally charged with spying for Moscow since 1985, in what President George W. Bush called an "extremely serious" betrayal of U.S. security.
"Allegations of espionage of an FBI counterintelligence agent are extremely serious and deeply disturbing," Bush told journalists while on a visit to the mid-western state of Missouri.
"And allegations of espionage are a reminder that we live in a dangerous world - a world that sometimes does not share American values," added Bush.
FBI counter-intelligence agent Hanssen was charged earlier Tuesday with spying for Moscow for the past 16 years, handing over "substantial volumes of classified information," according to FBI director Louis Freeh.
A combined FBI, CIA and U.S. Justice Department sting operation led to Hanssen's arrest on Sunday, in the biggest spy scandal to hit the United States in the past four years.
Freeh said at a press conference that over the past 16 years, Hanssen had handed over to Moscow "substantial volumes of classified information" in return for large amounts of money and other forms of payment, such as diamonds.
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, speaking at the same conference, said the veteran officer's actions were "a very serious breach against the security of the United States."
"Individuals who commit treasonable acts against the United States will be held accountable," Ashcroft warned.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking at a separate event, applauded the FBI-led multi-agency investigation of Hanssen, but declined to say any more.
"The allegations are still to be proven in court," he said.
If convicted, Hanssen would become only the third FBI agent ever to be convicted of spying.
"This case is a grave and tragic moment for us," Freeh said at a press conference called to discuss the arrest. Hanssen, he said, was "the trusted insider [who] betrayed this trust without detection."
Freeh pointed to number of big color photographs to describe the "dead-drop" sites in suburban Virginia where Hanssen had left documents and where money had been dropped for him.
As a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, Freeh said, Hanssen had access to some of "the most sensitive and classified information in the U.S. government."
Using the code-name "Ramon", Hanssen then used encrypted communication and other clandestine techniques he learned at the FBI to pass this information on to first Soviet Union, then Russian, intelligence agents.
"Hanssen used his training and experience ... [he] never revealed to them his true identity or even where he worked," Freeh said.
"There must be more we can do at the FBI to protect ourselves from such an occurrence," he added, announcing that former FBI chief Judge William Webster would be conducting an independent detailed review into the FBI's internal security procedures.
At his first court appearance since his arrest on Sunday, Judge Theresa Buchanan charged Hanssen with passing classified information to Moscow on October 1, 1985, and with handing a package to Moscow agents containing classified information relating to national defense on March 20, 1989.
Prosecutors said he faced a possible death sentence on each of the counts after the charges were brought in a courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia just outside Washington.
Dressed in dark trousers and a black turtleneck, Hanssen stood silent as the judge read out the charges against him. He was later escorted out of the courtroom.
After the arraignment hearing, Plato Cacheris, Hanssen's defense lawyer, said the case was "very embryonic."
"They always talk as if they have a strong case, but we will see," he said referring to FBI officials.
Hanssen declined to enter a plea at the hearing, but Cacheris said his client intended to plead not guilty. He will next appear in court on March 5th at a preliminary hearing.
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