How Much Did He Compromise?

In exchange for life in prison instead of possible execution, former FBI agent Robert Hanssen promises to tell the government all about his years as a spy for the Soviets and Russians.

Hanssen's keeping faith with that contract, sealed Friday with a plea bargain in which he pleaded guilty to 15 criminal counts. The deal also is crucial for his wife and family: They stand to get some of his pension and keep the family home and cars.

If the government concludes that Hanssen is not honoring the commitment, it can reopen the case, prosecute him anew and once again hold the death penalty over him.

Hanssen provided Moscow with information about U.S. satellites, early warning systems, means of defense or retaliation against large-scale nuclear attack, communications intelligence and major elements of defense strategy, the government said.

"A lot of the things he gave up are going to cost a fortune for the government to redo," said Paul Moore, a former FBI counterintelligence analyst who has known Hanssen for 20 years.

Moore was among more than a dozen former and present FBI agents in federal court in this Washington suburb to watch Hanssen plead guilty in one of America's gravest espionage cases.

Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson said waiving the death penalty was the only way the government could obtain Hanssen's cooperation and assess the damage he'd done.

Hanssen already has spoken to officials in two five-hour sessions.

"This turns a corner. You get past the finger-pointing and into doing something constructive," Moore said.

Prosecutors said Hanssen, accused of selling secrets for about $1.4 million in cash and diamonds, was motivated by greed. The 25-year FBI veteran gave Soviet and later Russian agents thousands of pages of classified documents detailing some of the nation's most closely held secrets. He disclosed the identities of Russian agents secretly working for the United States who later were xecuted.

"His plea of guilty today brings to a close one of the most disturbing and appalling stories of a turncoat imaginable," said Kenneth Melson, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The government has until Jan. 11, the time of Hanssen's sentencing, to debrief him.

Hanssen's lawyer, Plato Cacheris, said his client "very much wanted to make amends" for his deeds. "He's very troubled by what he's done."

Hanssen agreed to forfeit his spying proceeds, but Cacheris said because much of the money was being kept in an account by his Russian handlers it will likely never be found.

Under terms of the plea agreement, Hanssen's family gets to keep its home in Vienna, Va., and three vehicles. As long as his wife, Bernadette "Bonnie" Hanssen, cooperates with authorities, she will receive a spousal annuity equivalent to 55 percent of his government pension, or approximately $38,000 to $39,000 annually, officials said.

"He was not a person who spied constantly for 20 years," Cacheris said.

He said Hanssen had a premonition that he was going to be arrested - as he was - when he went to a Virginia park to leave a bag of documents for his Russian contact on Feb. 18.

Plea papers unsealed Friday contain letters Hanssen exchanged over the years with his Russian contacts in which he discusses drop-off plans and classified FBI information. In the last one, he says he believes his spying may have been detected: "Something has aroused the sleeping tiger."

Cacheris said he hoped Hanssen would be sent to a federal prison in Allenwood, Pa., because it would be convenient for his family to visit him. He would not be eligible for early release.

The agreement provides that Hanssen cannot write or help write any book, article, film or documentary, including giving interviews to writers or media organizations, without receiving permission from the FBI. Any profits would go to the government.

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