Photo: Federal Bureau of Investigation. The source gives no specific photo credit. / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
I find Robert Hanssen one of the most unsettling figures in this database. Not a celebrity in any conventional sense, he was an FBI agent who sold out his own institution to Soviet and Russian intelligence for over two decades, a betrayal the Justice Department called possibly the worst intelligence disaster in American history. What disturbs me is the ordinariness of the man: a Chicago-born, Northwestern-educated insider who lived a double life in plain sight. To me his story is less about espionage tradecraft than about how institutions misread the people they trust most. He died in prison in 2023, a cautionary tale rather than a legend.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Robert Hanssen
- Name (Japanese)
- ロバート・ハンセン
- Reading
- ろばーと・はんせん
- Born
- April 18, 1944 – June 5, 2023
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aries / Monkey
- Origin
- Chicago, Illinois, United States
- Occupation
- spy / mole / government agent / double agent
2. Background
- High school
- William Howard Taft High School
- University
- Northwestern University
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert%20Hanssen
Frequently asked questions
When was Robert Hanssen born?
April 18, 1944 – June 5, 2023.
Where is Robert Hanssen from?
Robert Hanssen is from Chicago, Illinois, United States.
What does Robert Hanssen do?
Robert Hanssen works as spy, mole, government agent, double agent.
More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.