Robert Hansen, a former FBI agent who became one of the most famous spies in American history, was found dead in a federal prison on Monday morning, according to the New York Post.
He would have died of natural causes. The 79-year-old was serving a life sentence for spying on the United States and providing information to the Soviet Union, and later Russia.
Robert Hansen was arrested in February 2001 while passing classified information to his Russian intelligence contacts in a park near his home in Northern Virginia. He pleaded guilty to 13 counts of espionage, one count of attempted espionage and one count of conspiracy to commit espionage.
The FBI has entrusted him with some of the United States government’s most sensitive secrets. Instead of maintaining that trust, the FBI said at the time, it abused and betrayed it.
Robert Hansen began his covert activities by providing information to the KGB in 1985. American agents found his name in Russian government documents. The Americans quickly investigated Hansen before arresting him shortly before his retirement. He reportedly received $1.4 million from Russia for giving intelligence to the Soviets.
According to US authorities, Robert Hansen sent about 6,000 documents and 26 computer disks.
“Total coffee aficionado. Travel buff. Music ninja. Bacon nerd. Beeraholic.”
More Stories
An American soldier was arrested in Russia on charges of committing a “criminal crime”
Fake audio recording | The Schoolmaster's Adventure, an illustration of the dangers of artificial intelligence
Media reports said that Trump likened the Biden administration to the “Gestapo.”