Alleged Spy Fulfilling Boyhood Dream

Feb. 21, 2001 -- American counterintelligence has only suspected the identity of the spy known as "Ramon" for four months. The man accused of passing secrets to the Russians seems to have known he would play the role for more than 40 years.

In a letter quoted in the 100-page affidavit filed with the indictment charging him with two counts of espionage for Moscow, FBI agent Robert Hanssen says: "I decided on this course of action when I was 14 years old. I'd read [British double agent Kim] Philby's book."

FBI officials say Hanssen was arrested Sunday night after he deposited a package containing classified information in a park near his neighborhood. Overnight, he went from being a low-key family man to only the third FBI agent ever accused of spying.

For more than 15 years, Hanssen allegedly spied for the Soviet Union and Russia, passing on classified information for more than $1.4 million in cash and jewels.

If the letters are to be believed, money was not the object, as Hanssen realized that any large infusion of funds into his bank accounts would be noticed by his superiors.

"As far as the funds are concerned," Hanssen wrote to the Soviets shortly after beginning to work for them, "I have little need or utility for more than the $100,000. It merely provides a difficulty since I cannot spend it, store it or invest it easily without triping [sic] "drug money" warning bells. Perhaps some diamonds as security to my children and some good will so that when the time comes, you will accept by [sic] senior services as a guest lecturer. Eventually, I would appreciate an escape plan. (Nothing lasts forever.)"

The affidavit makes it appear that "Ramon" well understood the need to cover his tracks. He lays out detailed schemes to communicate indirectly with his Soviet and Russian counterparts, to whom he never revealed his true identity. According to FBI Director Louis Freeh, Moscow only learned who "Ramon" was when the charges against Hanssen were announced Tuesday.

Still unexplained is the eight-year gap in the 1990s when officials say Hanssen was not involved in spy activities. One senior law enforcement official told ABCNEWS the FBI is still looking for an explanation of the gap, though investigators speculate Hanssen may have decided to take a break from spying.

Hanssen's alleged role as a double agent shocked his colleagues at the FBI, sources told ABCNEWS. Both the deputy director of the FBI and the director of intelligence were said to be personal friends of Hanssen. Before joining the FBI 27 years ago next month, Hanssen dabbled in other professions. He studied Russian and dentistry in college before becoming an accountant.

At the time of his arrest Sunday, Hanssen was working in the State Department in Washington, D.C., appearing to help protect U.S. agents from spies. Over his 27-year career, FBI officials said, Hanssen had access to the heart of confidential information in New York and Washington, recruiting and hiring U.S. spies, catching spies and setting up phone taps and surveillance.

"I knew Bob starting in 1981, and if I made a list of 1,000 people who might get involved in doing this, it would never be Bob," former FBI agent David Major, who was Hanssen's supervisor, said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "He's a very smart man, he's a very moral man, a very religious man."

To residents in his quiet neighborhood in Vienna, Va., Hanssen was just "Bob," devout Christian and father of six who could be seen at church every Sunday.

"I called four women this morning after I saw it on television really early and the same reaction: 'No way. Not Bob. This isn't Bob.' That was the reaction … It's a horrible thing," said Nancy Cullen, who said she has known the Hanssens for 10 years. "He just seemed like a regular person … every Sunday — shuffling all those kids into the van, all eight of them into the van, off to Mass. I know that because I walked by there every Sunday."

Devout Christian Family

Described as a father of six children and a devout Christian who belonged to a very conservative Catholic organization called Opus Dei — "work of God" — who attended the same church as Freeh.

Cullen wasn't the only neighbor who noticed the Hanssens' apparent devout nature, and not just because of their regular attendance at St. Catherine of Sienna Church, where his wife, Bonnie, also volunteered as a part-time teacher. There are "Jesus Saves" bumper stickers on their cars and the Hanssens' dog's name is Sunday.

"I don't know what gave me, sort of the collective impression that they're very devout in their faith, but they seem to be," Jennifer Jones said. "Certainly, you know, I'm hoping that they can draw on that during this terrible time as people."

But the pastor of St. Catherine of Sienna said today the Hanssens were dropped for a time in 1999 from the parish for failing to make contributions. They have since been reinstated.

Hanssen's neighbors said he didn't really stand out in his neighborhood. Hanssen is said to have gone to barbecues and neighborhood get-togethers.

Police Yellow Tape Attracts Crowd

Hanssen's brown panel and brick split-level house with a one-car garage didn't normally stand out from others in the neighborhood. Half the houses there have a basketball hoop in the driveway, a soccer net in the yard, or a hopscotch game scrawled on the sidewalk.

But today, the Hanssen home was surrounded yellow police tape as FBI agents searched it. One neighbor, Francine Bennett, who lived across the street from the family said they often drove to Florida for vacation and to visit Bonnie Hanssen's parents.

Neighbors had nothing bad to say about the Hanssens, describing the family as sociable and Hanssen as open about his job in the FBI. The eldest of Hanssen's three boys and three girls recently graduated from law school. The youngest is a teenage girl who often worked as a baby sitter.

"I talked to Bob in the mornings when I walk, every morning. If he's getting in the car, 'Hi, how you doing?' He's always stopped to say hello. I don't know — it just was a shock to all of us," Cullen said.

"I think you'll see that anywhere and everywhere we can talk about how great they are so that we can see that he's not maligned unfairly — anything we can do to show the good side," she added. "You know, when something like this happens, everybody immediately decides that must be the case. And I don't think you'll find a neighbor here that thinks that is the case."

ABCNEWS' Pierre Thomas, John McWethy and Jackie Judd contributed to this report.