No cause of death was released, but authorities said no inmates or jail staff were injured and there was no danger to the public at any time.
Who is Robert Hansen?
On its website, the FBI calls him “the most damaging spy” in its history, as he gave the Russians national security information “in exchange for $1.4 million in cash, bank funds and diamonds.” His espionage activities began in 1985, nine years after he joined the FBI.
Hanssen operated under the nickname “Ramón García” with the Russians and provided sensitive information, which compromised “numerous human sources, counterintelligence techniques, investigations, and dozens of classified government documents,” among others, to the KGB and the agency that succeeded him. , the SVR, indicates the FBI.
Thanks to his experience and training, Hanssen went under the radar for years, although his activities raised suspicions during his time with Moscow.
In the 1990s, after CIA agent Aldrich Ames was arrested for working for the Russians, the agency and the FBI realized that there must be another Russian spy in their ranks who was sharing classified information. until they found Hanssen.
Hanssen was arrested in 2002 after being caught exchanging classified material in a suburban Virginia park, according to the FBI.
Months later, he pleaded guilty to fifteen counts of espionage for selling highly classified material to the Soviet Union and Russia during the waning years of the Cold War. He had been in a Colorado prison since 2002.
FBI investigators worked for years to try to identify the spy among their ranks. In the weeks before his arrest in February 2001, some 300 staff members were involved in the investigation and were monitoring Hanssen, according to the bureau.
Hanssen also alerted the Russians to the existence of a secret tunnel built by the FBI under the Russian Embassy in Washington for wiretapping and was accused of compromising dozens of Russians who had collaborated with the United States, some of whom were executed. .