American Scandal - FBI Agent Turned Russian Spy | World of Secrets | 1

Episode Date: April 2, 2024

In 1976, at the height of the Cold War, Robert Hanssen joins the FBI to work in their counterintelligence division. Hanssen is valued for his technical skills, and put in charge of databases containing some of the country’s most valuable secrets. But he’s socially awkward, and constantly passed up for promotions and field work, leaving him resentful of his employers. Soon, he decides to turn to another source of income: selling information to his country’s greatest enemy, the Soviet Union. Over the course of several decades, he’ll become one of the most damaging spies in US history. Need more American Scandal? With Wondery+, enjoy exclusive seasons, binge new seasons first, and listen completely ad-free. Start your free trial in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or visit wondery.app.link/IM5aogASNNb now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, this is Lindsey Graham, host of American Scandal. Our back catalog has moved behind a paywall. Recent episodes remain free, but older ones will require a Wondery Plus subscription. With Wondery Plus, you get access to the full American Scandal archive, ad-free, plus early access to new seasons and more. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. podcasts. It's December of the year 2000 at the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. Neil Gallagher steps out of the elevator and makes his way toward the Bureau's fingerprint lab. Gallagher is the FBI's National Security Division Chief.

He's been with the Bureau for nearly 30 years, and during that time, he's worked some of the agency's biggest cases, including the Oklahoma City bombing and the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. But he's never had a case as frustrating or embarrassing as the one he's working now. It started 15 years ago, when in the mid-1980s,

U.S. intelligence realized that some of America's biggest secrets were being leaked to its greatest rival, the Soviet Union. Over time, the FBI realized the leak was coming from someone working inside the bureau itself. They've spent years trying to identify and apprehend this mole, but without success. Now, after more than a decade of false leads and dead ends, there's finally been a break in the case. A retired KGB agent recently delivered a file containing a tape recording of the mole's voice. From that recording, Gallagher has identified a probable suspect.

But before he can take action, he needs hard physical evidence confirming the mole's identity. Today, he hopes to get it, thanks to something else that the former KGB agent handed over, a single shred of a black garbage bag, which the mole used 10 years ago to deliver documents to his Soviet contacts. Gallagher knows this piece of evidence is far from perfect. It's traveled back and forth between two continents and may have been handled by any number of KGB operatives, which means the FBI technicians could find a hundred different fingerprints on the bag or none at all. could find a hundred different fingerprints on the bag or none at all.

So as Gallagher pushes open the doors to the fingerprint lab, he's feeling tense. His whole investigation rides on the results of the lab's analysis of this bag. A technician spots Gallagher as he enters, waves him over to a stainless steel workbench. Hey, Assistant Director Gallagher, I was told you'd be stopping by, and I was told you've got some results to share with me. I do. I have to say, it's quite a challenge pulling prints from this particular piece of evidence. Usually, when the object is more than a decade old, any latent prints are long gone, but I was able to find something for you. Okay, let's see it. All right, put these gloves on. As Gallagher snaps on latex gloves, the technician removes the tattered shred of the garbage bag from an evidence tray.

Using tweezers, he lays it gently on the workbench. So you got a print? Yeah, I was able to lift two sets from the bag. Two, huh? We're hoping at least one belongs to our suspect. Well, I've actually determined both sets were from the same person. You have any idea who this person is? I do.

They match a set we have on file. Look for yourself. The technician lays out two cards on the table. One card has fingerprints lifted from the bag, and the other is what's called a 10-print card, a fingerprint record created for every new FBI agent when they enter the force. Gallagher can see the prints are indeed a perfect match, and his eyes dart to the top of the card where he finds the name of the agent they belong to, Robert Philip Hansen.

Gallagher puts his hand on his chest and breathes an audible sigh of relief. This is exactly the name he was hoping to see. Robert Hansen is a long-serving FBI counterintelligence agent, known to his colleagues as a quiet family man who spent his career putting together spreadsheets in the back office. But now Gallagher can confirm that Hansen has been living a secret life as America's most destructive double agent. Gallagher excuses himself from the room to make a call. He needs to tell the director of the FBI that they've got their man, but Gallagher knows they can't arrest Hansen yet. For them to have a really airtight case against this traitor, they need to set up

a trap and catch him in the act. In the past decade, Boeing has been involved in a series of scandals and deadly crashes that have dented its once sterling reputation. At the center of it all, the 737 MAX. The latest season of Business Wars explores how Boeing allowed things to turn deadly and what, if anything, can save the company's reputation. Make sure to listen to Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts. From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American Scandal. In the decades following World War II, the United States faced off with the Communist Soviet Union in a conflict known as the Cold War.

All around the globe, American and Soviet spies moved in the shadows, desperate to steal any piece of intelligence that could give them the upper hand in the battle for ideological influence and military supremacy. And with a specter of nuclear war hanging over both nations, the stakes couldn't have been higher. This was the world Robert Hansen entered when he joined the FBI counterintelligence unit in 1979. Hansen was granted top-secret clearance and given access to some of America's most sensitive national security secrets. And almost immediately, he began selling those secrets to the Soviets. The information Hansen leaked cost millions of dollars in damages

and led directly to the deaths of at least three Soviet agents he outed as spies for the U.S. But beyond that, in terms of lost intelligence and strategic advantages, the cost of Hansen's spying was incalculable. Still for years, nobody suspected that Hansen was the source of the leaks. To his friends and colleagues, Robert Hansen was known as a quietly brilliant man with a unique aptitude for technology. He was also a devout Catholic, a lifelong conservative, and a staunch anti-communist.

But privately, Hansen was tortured by dark and complex demons. His troubled relationship with his father and his resentment toward his colleagues drove him to obsessively collect and share secrets, betraying those closest to him, both within the intelligence community and also within his own family. But the FBI had no clue about Hansen's dark inner life, because despite being given enormous access to top-secret information, he was never subjected to a psychological exam or polygraph test. And while U.S. intelligence spent nearly two decades trying to uncover his identity,

their efforts were hampered by a series of false leads, as well as the failure of the CIA and FBI to work together in the hunt. All throughout that time, Robert Hansen was hiding in plain sight. This is Episode 1, World of Secrets. It's 1960 in a middle-class neighborhood on Chicago's northwest side. Sixteen-year-old Robert Hansen is in his bedroom, laying face down on the pillow, bemoaning the state of his life. For as long as Robert can remember, he's been both physically and socially awkward. In addition to being unusually tall and skinny,

he has a slight overbite, and drool tends to form in the corner of his mouth. He's not really into sports, and his schoolwork has never quite matched his potential. He seems to be invisible to girls and has only one real friend. Today was supposed to change that. He was supposed to get his driver's license, completing one of the most essential rites of passage for a young American male. But to Robert's great surprise, he failed the test. And now he's lying on his bed sulking until he hears his mother call his name.

It's time to join his parents for dinner. Failing any kind of test is the last thing Robert wants to talk about with his parents, especially his father Howard. Howard Hansen is a Chicago police officer who works in the intelligence division. Robert admires his father deeply and often brags to friends about his secretive work, using wiretaps and break-ins to monitor local communists and other leftist groups. But that admiration is not reciprocated. Howard is a stern and demanding man and is prone to belittling Robert when he doesn't live up to expectations. Robert can still remember the time years ago when his father rolled him up in a thin

navy mattress and watched as Robert cried and struggled to free himself. So as Robert heads downstairs, he just hopes to get through dinner quickly and quietly, avoiding any discussion of the day's events and his father's wrath. Robert takes a seat at the table, where his mother has set out plates of steaming roast beef and potatoes, but he doesn't have much of an appetite. As dinner begins, Robert keeps his head down, picking at his food and avoiding eye contact. But unfortunately, his father seems eager to talk. So, Bobby, how was school today? It was fine, just like every day. Don't be flippant with me, young man. You spent eight hours a day in that building. Surely something must have happened. I'm sorry, sir. In biology class, we learned about

metabolism. Well, I hope you're taking good notes. An A in that class will put you on the good path toward medical school. Robert isn't sure he really wants to be a doctor, but his father is obsessed with the idea. Not wanting to let him down, Robert goes along with it. Yes, Dad, I'm taking plenty of notes. So that was it? No big test today? Robert's stomach turns. He can feel the last bite of potato begin to work its way back up his throat. He feels trapped, terrified to reveal the truth, and even more afraid to lie to his father.

Actually, I'm not feeling too well. Can I be excused? No, you may not. Answer my question. Yes, sir. Well, I had my driver's test today. Oh, that's right. We'd love to hear all about it. What's that, son? Speak up. I failed the test, Dad. But I swear I did everything right. I signaled every turn, I checked my mirrors. I didn't speed once.

I really have no idea what happened. Well, I do. The instructor who gave you the test is a retired officer, an old friend of mine. I called in a favor and told him to fail you. Robert drops his fork and looks up at his father, stunned. What do you mean? Why? You need to be focused on your studies, not cruising around and chasing girls. I think it's for the best. Well, I mean, if I promise to get all A's, can you call

him back? Tell him you made a mistake? No, what's done is done. Besides, you're not the most coordinated guy around, Bobby. This neighborhood would be a lot safer without you behind the wheel. Now, my decision is final. Now, finish your meal. Robert can feel his skin burning and his face turn red. He's so mad he can barely chew. Robert wants nothing more in the world than to make his father proud, but that feels impossible. Now his father is going so far as to actually sabotage him. Feeling confused, humiliated, and angry all at once, Robert chokes down the last of his dinner, trying to hide his emotions, wondering if he'll ever be good enough to win his dad's approval. Despite the many humiliations Robert Hansen suffers at the hands of his father,

he never pushes back. Instead, he bottles up his feelings and retreats to his bedroom, where he loses himself in the world of his ham radio. Robert's fascinated with a world of spycraft and covert communication and imagines himself gathering secrets and transmitting them to his fellow radio enthusiasts. After high school, Hansen earns a scholarship to Knox College, where he studies chemistry. But his grades aren't great, and after graduating, he barely squeaks into Northwestern University's dental school.

He has no passion for dentistry, but takes it up to please his father. In the summers between classes, Hansen works at the state mental hospital, and there he meets a pretty sociology student named Bonnie. He's smitten by her good looks. People often comment that she resembles the actress Natalie Wood. So he begins writing Bonnie love letters, still awkward around girls, and remarkably, she falls for him. Hansen can't believe a woman this beautiful would take

a liking to him. But after a year of dating, in 1968, they get married. With a new wife and on his way to becoming a dentist, Hansen's life seems to be on the right track. But as he enters adulthood, his behavior takes a surprising turn. Soon after getting married, Hansen asks Bonnie if he can take nude photos of her in the bedroom. Bonnie and her family are devout Catholics, so Hansen is pleasantly surprised when she agrees to it. But one Saturday in 1970, Hansen takes the idea a step beyond what she's consented to. 70, Hansen takes the idea a step beyond what she's consented to. That morning, while Bonnie is inside making breakfast, Hansen sneaks out to the car with a stack of the nude Polaroid photos he took of her the night before. Sitting behind the wheel of the car, he thumbs through the photos until he

finds one he really likes, and he slides it into a large manila envelope. It's not enough for Hansen to be married to a beautiful woman. He needs to show off her beauty to his friends. So Hansen is going to mail a handful of these pictures to his childhood buddy Jack, who's stationed with the army in Vietnam. As Hansen adds another racy photo to the envelope, he grins to himself. He's sure Bonnie would be mortified if she knew another man was looking at her naked. That's part of the thrill.

But as Hansen continues sorting through the pile, there's a knock on the car window. In an instant, Hansen is shocked out of his trance and stuffs the photos under his leg to hide them. Looking up, he sees Bonnie standing next to the car, looking puzzled. Hansen sheepishly rolls down the window. His wife tells him that breakfast is ready and asks what he's doing out here in the car. Thinking fast, Hansen explains that he's mailing a package to Jack overseas and he's just trying to remember the right address. But then Bonnie notices some of the Polaroids peeking out from under his leg and asks what they are.

Hansen stammers for a beat and then says he took some photos of their old neighborhood to help Jack with his homesickness. That seems to satisfy Bonnie and she heads back inside. Hansen breathes a sigh of relief. With photos still stuffed under his leg, he quickly rolls up the window of the car and backs out of the driveway, forgetting all about breakfast. He just needs to get away from Bonnie as fast as he can right now. And as he heads toward the post office, Hansen can feel the adrenaline surge through his body.

His sense of relief turns to excitement at escaping such a close call. Then Hansen begins to smile once again as he imagines Jack opening the surprise package somewhere in the jungles of Vietnam. It'll be their little secret, something Bonnie never has to find out about. Over the first several years of their marriage, Hanson and Bonnie settle into a nice suburban life. Bonnie gives birth to a daughter, and Hanson buys a house for their growing family. But professionally, Hanson feels restless. He drops out of dental school and decides to earn an MBA in accounting instead. He lands a job at a top firm.

But then, once again, he decides to change course, this time dramatically. he decides to change course, this time dramatically. In 1972, at the age of 28, Hansen leaves the white-collar world behind to join the Chicago Police Department. On the surface, it might seem like Hansen is following in his father's footsteps, but Howard Hansen had always discouraged his son from going into law enforcement. So to Hansen's friends, and to his wife Bonnie, it seems like he's making the move to spite his domineering father. Whatever his motives for becoming a cop, Hansen quickly falls in love with the work. He volunteers for the department's secretive C-5 unit, which investigates crooked cops and the notoriously corrupt Chicago PD. He's given training in how

to surveil his fellow officers and install listening devices to record them taking bribes from criminals. The C-5s are loathed by their fellow officers, but Hansen thrives in the role. He's used to being an outsider, and he gets a thrill from operating behind the scenes, trying to outsmart and expose his colleagues. But within a few years, Hansen gets restless again. So in 1976, he joins the FBI, where his intelligence and technical skills soon earn him a position in the Bureau's Soviet counterintelligence team in New York City. Hansen is thrilled to join the FBI's fight against the Soviets. He has a deep, almost religious hatred of communism and a romantic view of the FBI's clandestine services. Ever since childhood, Hansen has believed in the Hollywood portrayal of

FBI agents as sophisticated, smooth-talking good guys. And as he prepares to move his growing family to New York, Hansen imagines himself transforming into a James Bond-like figure, working out in the field, tailing KGB agents in the shadows and manipulating them to become informants. But soon after Hansen arrives in New York, he's confronted with a very different reality. On one afternoon in 1979, just a few months into his new job, Hansen is in the break room of the FBI's New York headquarters. He's taking lunch, reading a newspaper, and eating a ham sandwich his wife Bonnie packed for him. A half-dozen of Hansen's fellow agents are seated at a table across the room, enjoying each other's company,

talking sports, and trading stories about their time in the field. But they never invite Hansen to join them. And as Hansen sits there alone, eating his sandwich, it occurs to him that the FBI isn't so different from high school. Once again, he's the awkward loner on the outside looking in. Hansen looks out from his newspaper as a senior FBI agent enters the room with exciting news. The agent announces that he has identified a new KGB operative posing as a courier at the UN. The senior agent is going to follow this courier as he makes his afternoon deliveries, looking for a chance to approach him and broach the idea of becoming an informant for the FBI. And the senior agent is looking for someone to join him as backup.

Hansen is thrilled by this idea. He shoots his hand in the air and volunteers, but the senior agent ignores him, picking someone else. And as the two agents leave the break room to begin their operation, Hansen tosses out the rest of his sandwich and slinks back to his desk. Hansen knows what his colleagues think about him. He knows they've given him nicknames like Dr. Death and The Mortician, in reference to his solemn demeanor and his penchant for all black clothing.

But Hansen believes he's one of the sharpest agents in the office, capable of doing great things. And he's starting to wonder if the FBI will ever recognize the brilliance within him, or if like his father, they'll just keep ignoring and belittling him, until he's forced to do something drastic to prove himself. I'm Jake Warren, and in our first season of Finding, I set out on a very

personal quest to find the woman who saved my mom's life. You can listen to Finding Natasha right now exclusively on Wondery Plus. In season two, I found myself caught up in a new journey to help someone I've never even met. But a couple of years ago, I came across a social media post by a person named Loti. It read in part, three years ago today that I attempted to jump off this bridge, but this wasn't my time to go. A gentleman named Andy saved my life. I still haven't found him. This is a story that I came across purely by chance, but it instantly moved me and it's taken me to a place where I've had to consider some deeper issues around mental health. This is season two of Finding, and this

time, if all goes to plan, we'll be finding Andy. You can listen to Finding Andy and Finding Natasha exclusively and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. He was hip-hop's biggest mogul, the man who redefined fame, fortune, and the music industry. The first male rapper to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sean Diddy Cone. Diddy built an empire and lived a life most people only dream about. Everybody know ain't no party like a Diddy party, so. Yeah, that's what's up. But just as quickly as his empire rose, it came crashing down. Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three-count indictment charging Sean Combs with racketeering conspiracy,

sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution. I was f***ed up. I hit rock bottom, but I made no excuses. I'm disgusted. I'm so sorry. Until you're wearing an orange jumpsuit, it's not real. Now it's real. From his meteoric rise to his shocking fall from grace, from law and crime, this is The Rise and Fall of Diddy.

Listen to The Rise and Fall of Diddy exclusively with Wondery Plus. For as long as he could remember, Robert Hansen had been fascinated by the world of espionage. When he landed a job with the FBI in 1976 and was quickly promoted to the Bureau's Soviet counterintelligence team, he thought it would be a dream come true. But three years into the job, he's feeling underwhelmed. It turns out that the FBI doesn't trust Hansen to match wits with Soviets face-to-face. To them, he lacks the charm and social skills necessary for fieldwork. But they do recognize his unique gifts for working with an increasingly important new tool in the FBI's arsenal, computers.

So they've assigned him the unglamorous but critical task of assembling a new database for the Bureau's counterintelligence efforts against the Soviets. Hansen spends his days sorting through field reports from his colleagues, as well as secret files on hundreds of Soviet agents from the two primary intelligence services in the Soviet Union, the KGB and the Soviet military intelligence organization, the GRU. Hansen's bosses want the database to be comprehensive, so Hansen is given access to many of the FBI's most sensitive secrets, including the identities of active Soviet double agents

who are secretly working for the United States. So while Hansen's job comes with little glory, he does enjoy having access to such privileged, high-value information. And he takes pride in fighting the good fight against communists. But he also still feels overlooked and undervalued, both in terms of how much he's paid and how much he's recognized for his abilities. Bonnie is now pregnant with her fourth child, and Hansen is struggling to make ends meet in New York City on a low-tier government salary. So just a few months into his job in counterintelligence, Hansen makes the most consequential decision of his life.

He decides he's going to steal the secrets he's been entrusted with and sell them to his country's greatest enemy, the USSR. And one day in 1979, he puts his plan into motion. Late that afternoon, Hansen is in his office at FBI headquarters in New York. He's scrolling through the database he's been putting together and making a mental list of the files he thinks would be most enticing to the Soviets. These files contain the kind of secrets that could change the course of the Cold War, and Hansen is one of the few people on Earth with access to them.

He's thrilled by the power this gives him. He almost can't believe he has this type of access with so little security or oversight. But while Hansen's eyes are on the computer, his ears are tuned to the action down the hall. A small group of Hansen's colleagues are wrapping up for the day, putting on their jackets and hats and debating which bar to stop at for an after-work drink. Hansen knows his colleagues won't be inviting him to join them. They never do. On most nights, he's hurt by the snub, but tonight it's actually a relief. Hansen wants to make sure the office is completely empty before he starts printing documents.

So when Hansen hears the front door to the office close and the voices of his colleagues fade, he gets out of his chair and pokes his head down the hall. It looks like the coast is clear. Hansen rushes back to his computer and hits print on the first file. Down the hall, a dot matrix printer wakes up with a whir and then buzzes into action. Hansen quickly scrolls through a half dozen other files, one by one, and sends them to the printer as well, all the while praying that none of his colleagues pop back into the office. It would be impossible to explain why he's here, all alone, printing out some of the FBI's most closely held secrets.

But now that the documents are sent to the print queue, there's no turning back. Hansen quickly puts on his overcoat and hat, grabs his black leather briefcase, and heads down to the printer room to start collecting the pages. As soon as each new page comes off the printer, Hansen tears it off along the perforated edge and places it into his brief case. He taps his foot impatiently as he waits for the pages to flow out of the machine, but it feels like an eternity. Finally, the printer stops and Hansen can hear nothing but his own heartbeat

pounding in his ears. He quietly rips off the final pages and stuffs them into his briefcase. But then, a loud, sudden noise in the hallway makes Hansen almost dizzy with panic until he realizes it's the sound of a vacuum cleaner and sighs with relief. It's just the late-night cleaning crew. Hansen takes a deep breath, buttons his coat, and heads out into the hallway. He hides his eyes from the cleaners and makes a beeline for the front door. Hansen takes a deep breath, buttons his coat, and heads out into the hallway. He hides his eyes from the cleaners and makes a beeline for the front door. Then he heads out into the chilly Manhattan night, holding tight to a briefcase full of secrets.

Now that Robert Hansen has a treasure trove of secret documents in his possession, he has to decide what to do with them. For the time being, he stashes the pages in his home while he considers his options. He needs to find a way to make contact with the Soviets without being caught by the FBI or revealing too much information about himself to his new potential business partners. Hansen knows he's playing a dangerous game. If he's caught spying, he could face life in prison or even execution. And it's not just his own colleagues he has to worry about. It's the Russians, too. If they discover his identity, one of their double agents could expose Hansen to the FBI. But fortunately for Hansen, his work building a database including

the names of Soviet double agents puts him in the perfect position to avoid that outcome. He calculates that the person most likely to out him is Dmitry Polyakov, a GRU agent who has secretly been working with the U.S. for nearly 20 years. Polyakov is considered one of the best sources in the history of U.S. intelligence, providing Americans with information on Soviet nuclear strategy, missile technology, and biological weapons. But now, Polyakov is standing in Hansen's way.

So Hansen decides that his first move will be a decisive one. He's going to reveal Polyakov's identity as a double agent to the GRU itself. Hansen knows this will likely lead to Polyakov being recalled back to Moscow and executed, but that's exactly what he's hoping for. He's going to take out his most dangerous rival just as the game begins. Hansen's next step is to make initial contact with the GRU and let them know he's got information they may be interested in. and let them know he's got information they may be interested in. So on a chilly afternoon in 1979, Hansen climbs out of a cab in midtown Manhattan.

He's dressed in a black suit with a black fedora pulled low, hiding his eyes. Hansen pats his breast pocket, checking one last time for the item he's about to deliver, a sealed, plain white envelope containing a letter addressed to a GRU official which proposes a sale of classified information. Hansen paves the cab driver and glances side to side to make sure he hasn't been followed. Then he pushes through gold revolving doors and into the marble lobby of a large, modern office building. office building. He steps into an elevator and pushes the button for an upper floor. As he watches the floor numbers climb, the elevator takes him up to the American headquarters of Amtorg, the Soviet import-export business that also serves as a front for the GRU.

Hansen exits the elevator and pauses for a moment to look around. He's now in enemy territory. He takes a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm and telling himself to just stick to the plan. With his fedora still pulled low, Hansen approaches the front desk, occupied by an attractive 30-something woman. Good afternoon, what can I do for you? I have a message for one of your employees. I'd be happy to help with that. Who's the message for? Instead of answering, Hansen reaches into his breast pocket and retrieves the white envelope. But his hands are shaking and he drops it. He quickly picks the envelope up and hands it to the receptionist. It's critically important that this

is delivered right away. Well, of course, I'll have it sent right to his office. It's regarding a new business opportunity I believe he'll be very interested in. I'm sure he'll be eager to review it. And who shall I say the message is from? Hansen can't reveal his real name to the Soviets, but he also knows it would be suspicious not to give a name at all. So he blurts out the first name that comes to him. Smith. My name's James Smith. I'm a

businessman in town from Chicago. Very good, Mr. Smith. Is there anything else I can help you with? Well, I just want to be clear. What is the protocol here with messages? Is this envelope going to be put through the mailroom or given to a courier or anything? It contains some sensitive information, so I would hate for anyone else to read it. Oh, I see. Well, in that case, I will take it personally to his office when I have a moment. Yes, please do. Okay. Have a good day. Anson turns and heads back to the elevators, resisting his urge to break into a run. Once inside the elevator, he pushes the button for the lobby half a dozen times, and as soon as he's out

of the building and back on the street, he takes a deep breath to collect his thoughts. The deed is done. There's no going back now. Robert Hansen has offered his services as a double agent for the Soviet Union, and now all he can do is await their response. On January 5th, 2024, an Alaska Airlines door plug tore away mid-flight, leaving a gaping hole in the side of a plane that carried 171 passengers. This heart-stopping incident was just the latest in a string of crises surrounding the aviation manufacturing giant, Boeing. In the past decade, Boeing has been involved in a series of damning scandals and deadly crashes that have chipped away at its once sterling reputation. At the center of it all, the 737 MAX, the latest season of business wars, explores how Boeing, once the gold standard of aviation engineering, descended into a nightmare of

safety concerns and public mistrust. The decisions, denials and devastating consequences bringing the Titan to its knees, and what, if anything, can save the company's reputation. Now, follow Business Wars on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge Business Wars, the unraveling of Boeing, early and ad-free, right now on Wondery Plus. In 1979, Robert Hansen receives a reply from the Soviet's military intelligence outfit, the GRU. They've read his offer and his instructions for communicating via encoded radio messages, and they are very interested in buying the secrets the mysterious new stranger has to offer. Over the next few months, Hansen provides the GRU with three batches of classified information.

He includes documentation showing that the Soviet spy Dmitry Polyakov is a double agent, along with a list of other suspected Soviet double agents and details of some of the FBI's covert operations against the Soviets. In exchange for all of this extremely valuable information, Hansen has paid a total of around $20,000, about half his yearly salary at the FBI. Hansen never pushes the GRU for higher payouts. He seems less interested in the money than the act itself, proving to himself and his new friends in Moscow that he's more cunning than the FBI has given him credit for.

Hansen also isn't sure what to do with his sudden influx of cash. Depositing the money in a bank would be an immediate red flag, so instead he resorts to hiding it in the basement of his family home. And on a Saturday in 1980, that strategy leads to an awkward confrontation. That afternoon, Hansen's wife Bonnie is doing chores around their home in Scarsdale, a suburb outside New York City. She heads down to the basement to check on laundry in the dryer. But when she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she's surprised to find her husband standing on a stepladder, his back to her, reaching into the basement ceiling. Bonnie can see that he's removed one of the ceiling panels, and she watches, baffled, as he slides a cardboard filing

box into the rafters. Bob, what on earth are you doing? Hansen, clearly startled, clambers down from the stepladder. I didn't hear you come down. It's nothing to worry about. I'm just putting away some work documents. I didn't know they let you bring stuff like that home. Shouldn't it be locked up in the office or something? It's sort of a gray area. Sometimes there's too much work to finish at the office. Well, why don't you just lock it in our safe upstairs in the den? It feels like you're hiding something from me. Oh, now you're just being paranoid. Please, just worry about the laundry. Bonnie senses her husband is being evasive. Her mind races back through the past

months. Bob's late nights at the office, his odd trips to the park. She grows anxious. Bob, are you having an affair? Of course not, honey. We took a vow. You know I'd never do that. I want to believe you, but I need to see whatever's in that box. It's really better if you don't. I don't like there being any secrets between us, Bob. Now please show me. With great reluctance, Hansen climbs back up the stepladder and retrieves the box from the ceiling. He sets it down on a workbench. All right, take a look, but there's a reasonable explanation for all of it.

Feeling her nerves rising, Bonnie removes the lid from the box and begins shuffling through the papers inside. She's relieved that there are no signs of an affair. It is just a bunch of work documents, most of which she can't decipher. But then, underneath the papers, Bonnie finds several stacks of cash, $100 bills, wrapped together with rubber bands. Bob, there must be $10,000 in here. Where did you get this money? Like I said, there's a reasonable explanation.

I promise not to get crazy about it. Tell me. We were getting behind on bills. You know the FBI doesn't pay much and New York is so expensive. So I found a way to make some extra money. Did you rob a bank or something? No, nothing like that. I sold some documents to the Russians. Bonnie feels dizzy at this revelation. She has to take a seat on the stairs. This is crazy. I mean, if the FBI finds out, you could get life in prison or be executed like the Rosenbergs. None of that's going to happen.

I sold them fake documents. I'm just sending them down a blind alley. Well, even if they are fakes, you're playing with fire. I mean, think about our children. They can go without braces for a while. What they can't live without is their father. Promise me you'll never do this again. Bob is about to argue,

but something about the look on his wife's face stops him. After a long silence, he lets out a heavy sigh. Okay, okay, never again, I promise. Good. We're going to talk to our priest about this. To Bonnie's relief, Bob agrees to see the priest and do whatever he recommends. But as Bonnie collects clothes from the dryer, her mind continues to spin. She believes what her husband said about only selling bogus information. She knows Bob is a staunch anti-communist, so she can't imagine him doing anything to actually help the Soviets.

But still, she can't help but wonder, if Bob's been hiding this from her, what else could he be hiding? Shortly after the incident in the basement, the Hansons do indeed talk with their priest. Robert Hanson didn't grow up religious, but Bonnie's family have long been members of the small, ultra-conservative Catholic group Opus Dei, and Hanson joined after he was married. Now, Opus Dei is a cornerstone of the Hanson family's life, and Hansen joined after he was married. Now, Opus Day is a cornerstone of the Hansen family's life, and the institution is extraordinarily strict and time-consuming. Hansen goes to Mass in the morning before work nearly every day and volunteers often at their church. And when Hansen confesses what he's been up to, the priest instructs him to stop spying and make penance

by donating the remaining money to charity. Hansen promises to send the money to Mother Teresa. Not long after that, he cuts off all communication with the GRU. The following year, in 1981, Ronald Reagan becomes president, and his more hawkish stance towards the Soviet Union ushers in a new, more aggressive era in the Cold War. The U.S. dramatically boosts spending on both the military and the intelligence community, and Hansen gets transferred to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., where a positive new chapter of his life begins.

Even though he is once again relegated to a desk job, Hansen's work in D.C. feels compelling. Working in the Intelligence Division's Soviet Analytical Unit, he's given access to an enormous amount of secret information. And with the lower cost of living in Washington, Hansen is able to buy a large house in the D.C. suburbs for his growing family. By 1985, the Hansens have five children, and Bonnie is pregnant with a sixth. But after just four years in D.C., Hanson has grown restless again. He still wants more recognition for his talents, but promotions in the analytical unit are hard to come by. So in 1985, he applies to a field supervisor position in New York. It's a job that comes with more opportunities for advancement, but not a cost of living increase to his $46,000 salary.

So when Hansen gets the new position, he knows that money is going to be tight. And one afternoon, as he and his family are packing up their belongings and preparing to move, he begins to feel an old, familiar pull. Hansen and Bonnie are in the living room, filling up boxes with books, family photos, and an endless number of toys when Hansen's very pregnant wife reaches up to the mantle above the fireplace to take down a family portrait. But as she starts to lift off the wall, she winces in pain

and reaches for her lower back. Hansen tells her to sit down and guides her over to the couch. Then he heads to the kitchen to get his wife a glass of water. But just as he turns on the faucet, a shriek pierces the air. It's the sound of his kids screaming in the bedroom, fighting over who knows what. The whole family is feeling the stress of this impending move. And Hansen is feeling it more than anyone. As the patriarch, it's his responsibility to

provide for his family, but he's not sure how he's going to make it in New York. He's found them a three-bedroom home in a suburb outside the city, but just the thought of seven people, and soon an eighth, crammed into that little house fills him with anxiety. Hansen's disillusion with the FBI has returned, stronger than ever. He hates that he's being forced to uproot his family, and he believes he deserves to be making twice what the FBI is paying him. But the Bureau refuses to appreciate the hard work and expertise he brings to the table. It's not right that the smartest, most capable guy in the office is getting paid barely more than a school teacher. So as Hansen stares through the kitchen window out into the backyard, his mind wanders to

the last time he actually felt good about his finances. That was five years ago, when he was collecting cash from the GRU. And besides the money, he actually enjoyed that period more than any other in his career. It was fun to move in the shadows and smuggle secrets, like being in a movie. And the Soviets always seemed to appreciate him more than the FBI ever did. Hansen thinks about all the new, top-secret information he's been given access to since then. If the Soviets liked what he had to offer before, these new classified documents will make

them absolutely giddy. So as he returns to the living room with a glass of water for Bonnie, Hansen sees her struggling to her feet to clean up something the kids spilled on the carpet. He shakes his head, thinking Bonnie deserves better than this, and he's going to make sure she gets it. Hansen decides it's time to reach back out to the Soviets. But this time he's going to make contact not with the GRU, but with the Soviet Union's largest and most sophisticated intelligence gathering organization, the KGB. If he's going to return to spying and selling secrets, he needs to make it worth his while. And that means stepping up to the big leagues. while. And that means stepping up to the big leagues. From Wondery, this is Episode 1 of FBI Agent Turned Russian Spy for American Scandal. In our next episode, Hansen escalates his spying

for the Soviet Union, and the FBI takes action when they realize they have a mole in their midst. If you're enjoying American Scandal, you can unlock exclusive seasons on Wondery Plus. Binge new seasons first and listen completely ad-free when you join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a survey at wondery.com slash survey. If you'd like to learn more about Robert Hansen, we recommend the books Spy by David Wise and The Spy Next Door by Anne Blackman and Elaine Shannon. This episode contains reenactments and dramatized details.

And while in most cases we can't know exactly what was said, all our dramatizations are based on historical research. American Scandal is hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham, for Airship. Audio editing by Christian Paraga. Sound design by Gabriel Gould. Music by Lindsey Graham. This episode is written by Corey Metcalf. Edited by Emma Cortland. Produced by John Reed. Our senior producer is Andy Herman. Executive producers are Stephanie Jens, Jenny Lauer Beckman,

and Marsha Louis for Wondery.