Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America (51 page)

The last dead drop. Hanssen hid seven documents in dead drop
ELLIS
, under this footbridge in Foxstone Park, on the afternoon of February 18, 2001. Four minutes later, as he emerged from the woods, he was arrested.

For FBI director Louis J. Freeh, the Hanssen case was one of a series of debacles that afflicted the bureau. Less than three months after Hanssen’s arrest, Freeh announced he was leaving the FBI before the end of his ten-year term.

Federal agents were taking no chances when Hanssen was brought into court in May 2001.

Celebrated Washington defense attorney Plato Cacheris, who represented Hanssen, worked out a plea bargain with prosecutors that avoided the death penalty.

Former FBI and CIA director William H. Webster headed the commission appointed after Hanssen’s arrest that strongly criticized the FBI for “pervasive inattention to security.”

The Webster commission report called the Hanssen case “possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.”

Dr. David L. Charney, the psychiatrist who evaluated Hanssen extensively in prison, said a prime motive for his spying was to preserve his image in Bonnie’s eyes as a good provider.