Funeral of Robert Hanssen: When is the funeral of Robert Hanssen? – Robert Philip Hanssen, born April 18, 1944, was an American FBI agent who became famous for his espionage activities for Soviet and Russian intelligence against the United States. The Justice Department called his actions “possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.”
Robert Hanssen’s involvement in espionage began in 1979, just three years after he joined the FBI. He contacted the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) to offer his services, thus launching his first round of espionage which lasted until 1981. He resumed his espionage activities in 1985 and continued them until 1991, temporarily ceasing communications during the collapse of the Soviet Union for fear of detection. Hanssen resumed contact the following year and maintained it until his eventual arrest. He managed to remain anonymous to the Russians throughout his espionage career.
Robert Hanssen sold thousands of secret documents to the KGB revealing sensitive information about U.S. strategies for nuclear war, advances in military weapons technology, and details of the U.S. counterintelligence program. It should be noted that during the same period, Aldrich Ames, a CIA officer, was also involved in espionage activities, and that Ames and Hanssen jointly compromised the identities of KGB agents who were secretly working for the United States, which resulted in the execution of some of the KGB agents. these individuals for their betrayal.
Additionally, Robert Hanssen discovered a multimillion-dollar listening tunnel that the FBI had built beneath the Soviet embassy. Even after Ames’ arrest in 1994, some intelligence violations remained unresolved. To obtain information on an anonymous mole, the FBI paid $7 million to a KGB agent who was later identified as Hanssen through analysis of his fingerprints and voice.
On February 18, 2001, Hanssen was arrested in Foxstone Park, near his home in Vienna, Virginia, after leaving a package containing classified documents at a certain location. He was accused of selling U.S. intelligence documents to the Soviet Union and then to Russia, earning more than $1.4 million in cash and diamonds over a 22-year period. To avoid the death penalty, Hanssen pleaded guilty to fourteen counts of espionage and one count of conspiracy to commit espionage. He was sentenced to fifteen life sentences without the possibility of parole and was subsequently imprisoned at the ADX Florence until his death in 2023.
Before his espionage career, Hanssen graduated from William Howard Taft High School in 1962. He attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1966. He studied dentistry at Northwestern University, but eventually turned his attention to business. In 1971, he earned an MBA in accounting and information systems and worked briefly for an accounting firm. Hanssen then joined the Chicago Police Department as an internal affairs investigator, specializing in forensic accounting before joining the FBI in January 1976.
While attending dental school at Northwestern University, Hanssen met Bernadette “Bonnie” Wauck, whom he married in 1968. Hanssen converted from Lutheranism to his wife’s Catholicism because she was a devoted Catholic.
During his espionage activities, Hanssen maintained strict anonymity and refused to meet personally with the KGB or GRU. Operating under the pseudonym “Ramon” or “Ramon Garcia,” he engaged in information exchange and payments via traditional dead-end methods, dropping off packages in discreet public locations. Hanssen designed his own selection of dead sites rather than using those suggested by his supervisor Victor Cherkashin. He also implemented a coded date replacement system by adding six to the month, day, and time of a given fall to hide their actual values.
Although Hanssen took precautions, he was sometimes reckless. In a letter to the KGB, he recommended emulating the leadership style of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, a remark that could have aroused suspicion and led to further investigation.
Hanssen even suggested to his superiors that they try recruiting his closest friend, a U.S. Army colonel, demonstrating the risks he was willing to take.
Hanssen died on June 5, 2023, when he was found lifeless in his prison cell. Despite attempts at resuscitation, he could not be revived and was pronounced dead. He was 79 years old at the time of his death. The cause of death appears to be natural.
Funeral of Robert Hanssen: When is the funeral of Robert Hanssen?
At the time of publication of this report, no details of Robert Hanssen’s funeral were available.