The Spy Next Door

February 15, 2002
The focus of this intriguing story is Robert Hanssen, an unassuming man here labeled "the most damaging FBI agent in U.S. history." Pretending to be a religious family man who hated communism, Hanssen used his top-secret clearance to gain information on the activities of FBI agents and double agents in Moscow secrets he leaked to the Soviets over the years for a total of $470,000. His betrayal is linked to the execution of at least three U.S. spies. Only a plea bargain saved him from a death sentence. Drawing on information gathered from more than 150 interviews with Hanssen's friends, neighbors, colleagues, lawyers, professors, classmates, roommates, psychiatrists, and priests, Time reporters Shannon and Blackman provide an in-depth analysis of a hypocritical man consumed with possessing power over others. Vise's The Bureau and the Mole provides greater context for Hanssen's eventual downfall. Recommended for criminal justice collections and large public libraries. Tim Delaney, Canisius Coll., Buffalo

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2002
The story of FBI special agent Bob Hanssen was told in David Vise's " The Bureau and the Mole" [BKL D 15 01], and now the story of this spy extraordinaire is retold, this time by two " Time" magazine reporters. In February 2001, Hanssen was arrested as a double agent for Russian intelligence after what turned out to be the biggest sellout of U.S. national security secrets in the long history of the FBI. The version of the story presented here is based on extensive interviews, many with people who have not spoken about Hanssen before, and the emphasis is on how the FBI tracked a mole, found out who he was, and laid a trap for him. Interesting, too, is the authors' account of FBI culture under J. Edgar Hoover and the differences and similarities in post-Hoover days. Calling Hanssen the "quintessential suburban dad," the authors relate how this seemingly innocuous and, frankly, rather boring man transformed himself into "one of the most damaging spies ever to work against the United States." Having access to intelligence and counterintelligence and making the decision to sell what he knew time and time again was, apparently, a way for this chronic "outsider" to exert power. The two books taken together cover every detail and nuance of the case. Buy wherever the first one proved popular.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)