The Spy Next Door: The Extraordinary Secret Life of Robert Philip Hanssen, the Most Damaging FBI Agent in U.S. History, Elaine Shannon and Ann Blackman

The dis-oriented author has always been interested in national security issues. I remember distinctly when FBI agent Robert Hanssen was exposed as a spy. So when I saw Shannon and Blackman's The Spy Next Door on the library's new book shelf, I knew I had to check it out.

To me, Hanssen  doesn't seem to fit the mold of 'spy'. Hannsen is married and the father of six children. He is a devout conservative Catholic. And as a spy for the Soviet Union (and later the Russian Republic) he did more damage and cost more live than perhaps any other spy in U.S. history.

Robert Hanssen was a technical guy, perhaps a geek in an FBI agent's world. In the end, his position in FBI counter intelligence was the ideal posting for a spy. 

Hanssen was a man full of contradictions. On the exterior he seemed a devoted family man. He was a devout Catholic choosing to worship in a church that still celebrated the Latin Mass. He became involved with the Catholic organization Opus Dei. He attended mass daily for years yet he entered into a platonic relationship with a stripper. He used the monetary rewards of his spying to shower her with gifts. He shared explicit videos of his wife with a friend and wrote about his sexual fantasies on an Internet site.

As a spy, Hanssen worked out an arrangement so that his KGB handlers probably didn't even know his identity. Hanssen never seemed to demand much of the KGB.  His information had to be nearly priceless yet he asked for very little money.

The information he provided resulted in the deaths of several spies working for the United States. Thanks to a plea bargain, Hanssen is serving a life sentence in a federal facility and his wife receives his $38,000 a year FBI pension.

The Spy Next Door gets 4 of 5 dis-oriented smileys

Purchase The Spy Next Door  from Amazon.com.