Author
marco
We might want to downplay or not touch this story at all,
even though it's going to be raging news the next couple
days.
I wouldn't mind avoiding this at least til next
week, because I have a hunch it's some kind
of a setup. IE: I think US gov't is preparing to
discredit russia because any week now they
might bring up the kursk and prove that a US
sub sunk it.
I think bush needs as many of us to fear russia
again as possible and suspect this fed may have
even volunteered a fall.
marco
FBI Agent Accused of Russia Spying
By Karen Gullo
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2001; 9:04 a.m. EST
WASHINGTON –– A veteran FBI agent has been arrested on an
espionage charge, accused of spying for Russia, the FBI said Tuesday.
The agent, Robert Philip Hanssen, was arrested at his home in Vienna,
Va., Sunday night, said FBI spokesman Bill Carter. He was to be
arraigned later Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va.
Attorney General John Ashcroft and CIA Director George Tenet
scheduled an early afternoon news conference to discuss the arrest.
Underscoring the gravity of the case, former FBI Director William
Webster will lead a blue-ribbon panel that will assess the impact of the
alleged espionage, according to an FBI source.
The 56-year-old Hanssen was assigned to FBI headquarters in
Washington, and had been an FBI agent for about 27 years. He spent
most of his career in counterintelligence, spying on Russian government
outposts in the United States, said the source, speaking only on condition
of anonymity. At one point in his career, Hanssen was assigned to the
State Department, the source said.
NBC said Hanssen was arrested shortly after FBI agents saw him deposit
a package of classified information at a "dead drop" in a Virginia park.
The network quoted FBI officials as saying that among secrets disclosed
by Hanssen included U.S. methods for conducting electronic surveillance.
He also may have confirmed for the Russians information originally
supplied to them by convicted CIA spy Aldrich Ames.
NBC said Hanssen is accused of causing extreme damage to U.S.
security.
Nancy Cullen, a neighbor, described Hanssen's neighborhood as being in
shock with news of the arrest. "They go to church every Sunday – if that
means anything – loading all six kids into the van." She said the Hanssens
were regulars at the Memorial Day block party and called Hanssen "very
attractive ... not overly gregarious."
Last year a former Army officer was accused of spying for the Soviet
Union and Russia for 25 years. Prosecutors said retired Army Reserve
Col. George Trofimoff, who was a civilian intelligence employee, was
captured on one tape putting his hand to his heart and telling an
undercover agent posing as a Russian agent: "I'm not American in here."
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