FBI agent who bought US secrets and techniques to Moscow dies in jail

Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent who took greater than $US1.4 million ($A2.1 million) in money and diamonds to commerce secrets and techniques with Moscow in one of the infamous spying circumstances in American historical past, has died in jail.

Hanssen, 79, was discovered unresponsive in his cell at a federal jail in Florence, Colorado, and later pronounced useless, jail officers mentioned on Monday.

He’s believed to have died of pure causes, an individual aware of the matter advised The Related Press.

The individual was not authorised to publicly focus on particulars of Hanssen’s demise and spoke to the AP on situation of anonymity.

He had been serving a sentence of life in jail with out chance of parole since 2002, after pleading responsible to fifteen counts of espionage and different expenses.

Hanssen had divulged a wealth of details about American intelligence-gathering, together with intensive element about how US officers had tapped into Russian spy operations, since no less than 1985.

He was believed to have been partly answerable for the deaths of no less than three Soviet officers who had been working for US intelligence and had been executed after being uncovered.

He received greater than $US1.4 million ($A2.1 million) in money, financial institution funds, diamonds and Rolex watches in alternate for offering extremely labeled nationwide safety data to the Soviet Union and later Russia.

He did not undertake an clearly lavish life-style, as a substitute residing in a modest suburban dwelling in Virginia along with his household of six youngsters and driving a Taurus and minivan.

Hanssen would later say he was motivated by cash slightly than ideology, however a letter written to his Soviet handlers in 1985 explains a big payoff may have induced issues as a result of he couldn’t spend it with out setting off warning bells.

Utilizing the alias “Ramon Garcia”, he handed some 6000 paperwork and 26 laptop disks to his handlers, authorities mentioned.

They detailed eavesdropping strategies, helped to verify the id of Russian double brokers, and spilled different secrets and techniques.

Officers additionally believed he tipped off Moscow to a secret tunnel the Individuals constructed beneath the Soviet Embassy in Washington for eavesdropping.

He went undetected for years, however later investigations discovered missed pink flags.

After he grew to become the main focus of a hunt for a Russian mole, Hanssen was caught taping a rubbish bag filled with secrets and techniques to the underside of a footbridge in a park in a “useless drop” for Russian handlers.

The story was made right into a film titled Breach in 2007, starring Chris Cooper as Hanssen and Ryan Phillippe as a younger bureau operative who helps convey him down.

The FBI has been notified of Hanssen’s demise, in line with the Bureau of Prisons.

Australian Related Press