Hanssen's Puzzling Profile

Ex-FBI Agent's Case Is Expected To Be Plea Bargained This Summer

(CBS)  The public psychoanalysis of accused FBI spy Robert Hanssen has taken yet another turn. According to a BBC report, Hanssen was suffering from guilt over a lifelong obsession with pornography, when he allegedly started selling secrets to Russia, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

The BBC report cited as its source Dr. Alen Salerian, a psychiatrist who has seen Hanssen since his arrest. Salerian would only confirm to CBS News that Hanssen was "psychologically troubled."

"I can say that there is a 'Factor X' and that's a psychological problem that he had and that that affected his behavior," said Dr. Salerian.

The Transcript

Click here to read the transcript of the interview with Dr. Alen Salerian.

When asked if he was asking people to believe that this man suffered something in his background that made him do what the government alleges he did, if he was giving him an excuse, Dr. Salerian replied, "I'm really not giving him an excuse. I'm just saying my medical opinion is that there are medical, psychiatric issues."

Hanssen's chief defense attorney Plato Cacheris fired Salerian for disclosing his medical findings to the media. Salerian says he did so, however, with Hanssen's permission, although family members disagree, and suggested the former agent was so desperate for help he repeatedly confessed his activities to a priest and deliberately gave the FBI reason to suspect him.

The Charges

See an excerpt of the government's charges against Robert Hanssen.

Read the complete affidavit listing alleged acts of espionage by the veteran FBI agent.

"He wa hurting and he was sharing his pain with others, and that was one of the missed opportunities that his clergy and the FBI both missed," explained Dr. Salerian.

The assertion that Hanssen was tormented by pornography is only the latest piece in a puzzling profile of the man. He also befriended a striptease dancer at a Washington club, belonged to a conservative Catholic organization and what leftover money from the Russians he didn't hide somewhere, he may have contributed to Mother Teresa.

If he were going to trial, all this would sound like the makings of a good psychiatric-based defense. But from all accounts the Robert Hanssen case is headed for a plea bargain, probably sometime this summer.