Famous Supermax Prisoner Found Dead in Cell.

Former FBI Agent and Notorious Spy Robert Hanssen Found Dead in Prison Cell

Robert Hanssen, one of the most infamous spies and traitors in American history, was found dead in his prison cell on Monday morning. The 79-year-old former FBI agent was serving 15 consecutive life sentences for providing national security information to the Soviet Union and Russia over the course of decades.

Hanssen had been incarcerated in a “supermax” federal prison in Colorado, reserved for prisoners of special concern to national security. According to Kristie Breshears, the Bureau of Prisons Director of Communications, Hanssen was unresponsive to life-saving measures and was subsequently pronounced dead by outside emergency medical personnel.

BREAKING INTEL:

CBS News has confirmed that Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent and one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history, has died. He was found unresponsive this morning, per the Bureau of Prisons. Hanssen was 79 and had spent the last 22+ years in federal custody. pic.twitter.com/ZBHKvdojAA

— The Spy Museum (@IntlSpyMuseum) June 5, 2023

Hanssen received over $1.4 million in compensation from Soviet and Russian officials in exchange for classified documents of grave importance to U.S. national security. The information he provided to Russian intelligence cost some KGB personnel operating as double agents for the U.S. government their lives.

FBI Director Louis Freeh described Hanssen’s actions as one of the worst national security breaches in American history. “The FBI entrusted him with some of its most sensitive matters and the US government relied upon him for his service and integrity,” Freeh said of Hanssen in 2001.

Hanssen’s guilty plea allowed him to avoid the death penalty. Some materials he exchanged outlined American strategy in the event of a nuclear war. The spy was ultimately apprehended after a Russian intelligence officer provided materials with Hanssen’s fingerprints and a recording of his voice to the FBI.

The cause of Hanssen’s death is unclear at this time. His passing marks the end of a long and notorious chapter in American espionage history.

Sources: The New York Times, CBS News, The Western Journal, The Guardian, The Western Journal