Podcast Episode

Podcast Episode #109 - Spy Hunter: How I Caught Robert Hanssen with Eric O'Neill
FBI agents arrested one of their own at gunpoint outside of his home in February 2001, culminating an investigation into one of the most damaging traitors in US history.
Robert Hanssen joined the FBI in 1976 and served primarily in counterintelligence assignments for the next two decades. He was smart and capable, but his ego, brash personality and frequent outbursts earned him few friends in the Bureau. By 1979 he had already reached out to the Soviet GRU with information.
In October 1985 he contacted the Soviets again via a pseudonymous letter, and for much of the next 15+ years provided them incredibly valuable and highly sensitive information via a series of prearranged dead drops. In his October 1985 letter he named three Soviet employees who were operating as sources for US intelligence. All three were recalled to the USSR and jailed or executed.
Beginning that same year, the US intelligence community realized it had a highly damaging mole somewhere on the inside. Hanssen took great care to avoid being identified by either side, especially after the 1994 arrest of Aldrich Ames. It wasn’t until a Russian defector provided an audio recording of the mole’s voice, plus a trash bag from a dead drop which held a partial fingerprint, that Hanssen was finally identified.
The FBI decided to place a young investigative specialist named Eric O’Neill in Hanssen’s office to act as his assistant and keep him under close surveillance while they continued the investigation and prepared for his arrest. O’Neill found himself in a unique position as the first ever undercover operative inside FBI headquarters, working with one of the most cunning and capable spies in history.
For episode 109 of the Spycraft 101 podcast, I spoke with Eric O'Neill about his role in the investigations and the carefully planned ruse that finally revealed the evidence needed for Hanssen’s arrest and prosecution.
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[@JohnMcMahon.]

This channel needs way more subs. The content is top notch.

[@111jow]

Great! Like so much.
Greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷

[@ScienceBrain-]

Both of your voices sound so similar! I thought you were talking yourself at first 😂