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EXPOSING KGB AGENTS
Hanssen was suspected of leaking critical US intelligence. In one deadly instance in 1985, the FBI believed Hanssen exposed three KGB agents working for the Americans. They were deported and arrested. Two were executed.. . .
The undercover had to be techie as the operation involved cybersecurity. They’d also need an ‘unknown’ so Hanssen didn’t suspect he was under surveillance. Eric O’Neill, at the time a computer-savvy 27-year-old, fit the bill.
CODE NAME: WEREWOLF
FBI code names are given, not chosen, and O'Neill's alias was 'Werewolf' after an episode at the FBI Academy bar where O'Neill had climbed up on a table, threw back his head and howled at a full moon. Hanssen was 'Gray Day'.
“My role in Operation Gray Suit was to work undercover with Robert Hanssen in a newly established division in the FBI called the Information Assurance Section,” O’Neill recalled. “He thought we were doing the job of cybersecurity, but my covert role was to gather information about Hanssen and determine whether he was the spy.”
O’Neill started his career as a government investigations specialist - a surveillance ‘ghost’ - so he knew about clandestine techniques and disguises. Normally he’d use a fake identity but, in this case, O’Neill would need to rely on his Werewolf shape-shifting skills to go undercover disguised as himself. He’d also need to keep the stress inside. His wife would potentially be exposed to Hanssen and the KGB, but he couldn’t tell her.
O’Neill was walking a high wire every day on the ninth floor of the FBI’s D.C. headquarters. It was the line between suspicion and paranoia. He had his own FBI handler, but it was just O’Neill and Hanssen together all day, every day, sharing two rooms: the main pit where Eric sat with the computers, and Hanssen’s office.
“We could barely fit in there with Hanssen's ego,” O’Neill said.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
Hanssen was a James Bond aficionado. He even had the Walther PPK gun and was determined to live the 007 lifestyle. Operationally, however, he struggled in the field. Fortunately he was a brilliant analyst, but also a classic narcissist who thought he was working below his station in life.
Vanity and dissatisfaction - two ingredients that often lead to betrayal and spying. The third ingredient was money. Hanssen married up and aimed to appear affluent. He’d been selling secrets to the Russians to fund the illusion for more than 20 years.
While it was mind-numbing to hear Hanssen’s bravado, O’Neill needed to keep him talking, hoping he’d incriminate himself. Eventually, they bonded. That’s when O’Neill began taking risks, slipping in and out of Hanssen’s office, going through his computer disks or checking anything Hanssen left it behind.
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES
O’Neill suspected Hanssen’s PalmPilot - a device he talked about more than his wife - was likely the ‘smoking gun’ that would reveal all. So, the FBI came up with a ruse to get Hanssen out of the office without his beloved Palm IIIx.
An FBI assistant director - one Hanssen didn't like - threw down the gauntlet by challenging Hanssen to a shooting competition with a $20 bet. With Hanssen safely down at the range, O’Neill grabbed the PalmPilot, a floppy disk, and a data card from Hanssen’s bag and ran down three flights of steps where the FBI tech team were ready to make a copy. They’d break the encryption later.
“They're starting to do the work and it's slowly moving,” O’Neill said. “As this is happening, I get another page: I don't know what happened. Out of pocket. Probably coming to you.”
Hanssen was returning early. The FBI tech team thrust the PalmPilot in O’Neill’s hand with a warning: "Run." Back in the office, O’Neill made a beeline for Hanssen’s bag and realized there were four pockets. “And I've opened all four and I have three devices and I have no clue which pocket it went into.”
With his heart slamming into his chest, O’Neill did the only thing he could - he guessed. Hanssen already had the blood of two KGB agents on his hands. Would he spare O’Neill? What if Hanssen shared his suspicions with the KGB and potentially arranged an ‘accident’. Instead, Hanssen barged into the room, barked a few orders, and left. Days later, Hanssen made his final ‘dead drop’, passing intelligence to the Russians. The FBI caught him in the act.
END GAME
In March 2002, Hanssen admitted guilt on 15 counts of espionage and agreed to help the FBI to avoid the death penalty. He died while still in prison in June 2023. Hanssen didn’t explain why he carried on spying for Moscow when he no longer needed the money but Eric O’Neill thinks he knows the answer.
“It was the thing that made him feel that he was the best at something in the world. No one was better,” O’Neill said. “And he knew that it was going to make him immortal. And it did.”
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Ex-FBI counterintelligence officer Eric O’Neill is a SPYEX consultant, lawyer, and an expert on cybersecurity, investigation, and security. For further information please contact SPYEX.
