Wonder how long they have been missing? Add the State Department missing computer laptops in 1999-2000? Before 9-11.....And remember this?
Feb 21, 2001 - 12:03 PM
FBI Director Says Alleged Spy Damage "exceptionally Grave"
By Larry Margasak
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI is trying to calculate the national security
damage allegedly wrought by one of its own agents, Robert Philip Hanssen,
accused of spying for Russia for more than 15 years. FBI Director Louis
Freeh says the intelligence losses appear to be "exceptionally grave."
An FBI affidavit describing Hanssen's alleged spying said he passed along to
Soviet and later Russian agents 6,000 pages of documents - a virtual
catalogue of top secret and secret programs.
Attorney General John Ashcroft asked former CIA and FBI Director William
Webster to convene a panel of experts to review internal security procedures
within the FBI and recommgnd changes.
"The attorney general views the case very seriously," said Mindy Tucker,
Ashcroft's spokeswoman. "The fact that there are still countries that are
interested in stealing our intelligence secrets shows that we need to take
steps to review our security measures so that this doesn't happen again.
"It's even more disturbing because this is someone who knew how things
worked," said Tucker. Hanssen was a counterintelligence expert.
Intelligence experts estimate that Hanssen's disclosures were highly
damaging.
"It appears that there's tremendous damage to technical collection
capabilities." Paul Redmond, former head of counterintelligence for the CIA,
said on CNN. "The other category is the losses of human sources ... if it's
true he was a spy ... (he) compromised numerous sources."
The case marked the third time that an FBI agent has been accused of
espionage, and it brought a quick reaction from President Bush and members
of Congress on Tuesday.
"Allegations of espionage are a reminder that we live in a dangerous world,
a world that sometimes does not share American vclues," Bush said in a
statement he read to reporters on Air Force One. Declaring that espionage
remains a threat to the nation even with the Cold War gone, the president
added: "To anyone who would betray its trust, I warn you, we'll find you and
we'll bring you to justice."
"This could be a very, very, very serious case of espionage," said Sen.
Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"Here's an agent who is a veteran of the FBI, who's been doing
counterintenligence for a long time. He knows a lot. He could have given
them a lot."
Freeh told a news conference: "The full extent of the damage done is yet
unknown, because no accurate damage assessment could be done during the
course of the covert investigation without jeopardizing it. We believe,
however, that it was exceptionally grave. The criminal conduct alleged
represents the most traitorous actions imaginable against a country governed
by the rule of law."
Freeh said security measures need to be tightened, and he ordered an
internal review to be headed by William Webster, a former FBI and CIA
director.
"We don't say, at this stage ... that we have a system that can prevent this
type of conduct," Freeh said.
Hanssen, a 25-year FBI agent, was arrested Sunday night at a park in
suburban Virginia after dropping a package of documents for his Russian
contacts, authorities said. FBI agents confiscated $50,000 hidden for him at
a nearby drop site.
An FBI affidavit alleged thct Hanssen betrayed his country for about $1.4
million in cash and diamonds.
A court hearing was set for March 5 for the father of six, who was charged
with espionage and conspiracy to commit espionage. Hanssen, who could face
the death penalty, appeared briefly in U.S. District Court in Alexandria,
Va., on Tuesday to have the charges read and was ordered held without bond.
He was not asked how he pleaded to the charges but outside the courthouse
his lawyer, Plato Cacheris, told reporters: 'bAt this point, not guilty."
In one letter cited in the FBI's affidavit, the writer, allegedly Hanssen,
said he was encouraged by the memoirs of the notorious British-Soviet double
agent Kim Philby.
"I decided on this course when I was 14 years old," the letter stated. "I
had read Philby's book."
The FBI affidavit said Hanssen and CIA spy Aldrich Ames identified to the
Russians three of their double agents, leading to the execution of two of
them. The document also said Hanssen "compromised dozens of United States
government classified documents," including those involving:
-The National Measurement and Signature Intelligence Program, which involves
activities and technologies including acoustic intelligence, radar
intelligence, nuclear radiation detection, infrared intelligence, radio
frequencies and effluent-and-debris sampling. This program is not only
classified "top secret" but subject to further restricted handling under a
category designated "Sensitive Compartmented Information."
-A highly classified and tightly restricted analysis of the foreign threat
to a classified U.S. government program. The program is classified "top
secret/SCI."
-The FBI Double Agent Program, "top secret."
-The Intelligence Community's Comprehensive Compendium of Future
Intelligence Requirements, "top secret."
-A study on recruitment operations of the KGB, the Soviet/Russian
intelligence agency, against the CIA, "secret."
-An assessment of the KGB's effort to gather information on certain U.S.
nuclear programs, "top secret."
-A CIA analysis of the KGB's First Chief Directorate, "secret."
The affidavit said Hanssen also compromised a technical program "of enormous
value" and "specific communications intelligence capabilities, as well as
several specific targets." And he disclosed FBI counterintelligence
techniques, sources, methods and operations, the bureau said.
He also tipped off the KGB to the FBI's secret investigation of Felix Bloch,
a foreign service agent suspected of spying for Moscow in 1989, the FBI
said. The KGB was then able to warn Bloch, the agency said. Justice
Department prosecutors were never able to find key evidence that Bloch
passed secret documents.
AP-ES-02-21-01 1203EST
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