Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - America's Most Notorious Spy - The Robert Hanssen story

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

Robert Hanssen was an FBI agent who became one of the most notorious spies in U.S. history, secretly selling classified information to the Soviet Union and Russia for over 20 years. His betrayal compromised national security, exposed double agents, and led to the deaths of American operatives. He was arrested in 2001 after an internal investigation uncovered his espionage, and he later pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty.

This is your fix. I am your host, Stasi Schroeder. Welcome to Tell Me Lies, the official podcast. What's the most unhinged thing of season three? Stephen, because he's so evil. I do think he is misunderstood. You see everyone base consequences. It's intoxicating.

The writers just know how to trick you. There's always a twist in this show. Tell Me Lies, the official podcast, January 6th, and stream the new season of Tell Me Lies, January 13, on Hulu, and Hulu on Disney Plus. So this FBI agent wants to be a spy so bad that he ends up spying on his own government, and getting people killed. Now the guy's name is Bob, and Bob really wants to be like 007. I mean, he used to read those James Bond books as a kid, and now that's the life he wants. But unfortunately for Bob, he's nothing like James Bond.

He isn't smooth or athletic. In fact, he's just a nerdy accountant. So he's like, fuck this, I'm gonna spy on someone. So he starts spying on his own wife. This woman, Bonnie. And so Bob will take like risque photos of Bonnie with her consent, but then without her consent, he'll show those photos to his friends. Not only that, he low-key sets up a CCTV camera in his bedroom that's hidden behind a photograph,

and Bonnie doesn't know about this camera. And so Bob will film them smashing and then later show that to his friends. And his poor wife has no idea he's doing any of this. Dude is just trash. But anyway, in 1976, his dream finally comes true. He gets an opportunity to be an actual spy. Because one day, when he's 32 years old, he applies to the FBI, and he actually gets hired.

And they only have him working on financial crimes and accounting stuff, but whatever, his foot is in the door. Three years later, he gets relocated to New York City, where he works in the Soviet counterintelligence unit. And here, he's like, this is it. This is my big shot. gonna be like 007. But unfortunately they kind of stick him doing administrative work handling classified data and stuff like that. And this kind of pisses Bob off. I mean he got

into this business to do espionage. How dare they undervalue him. So he's like fuck this, I'm gonna be a spy no matter what. So one day Bob goes over to a local Russian trading company in Manhattan and he just walks into their offices and he talks to them and he's like, I want to be a spy. So let's make a deal. I'll give you some FBI secrets and in return, you pay me money. Now, keep in mind, this is all happening during the Cold War. So tensions between the Soviet Union and America are really high. And this local Russian trading company isn't actually a local Russian trading company. It's actually a front for the GRU. The GRU is like the Soviet equivalent of the CIA. And so

these Russians are sitting there listening to Bob's crazy idea and they're like, Konyashna? And so, boom, they have this arrangement. And finally, Bob is officially a spy. Just, you know, for the opposing team. And soon he's communicating with the Soviets over encrypted radio transmissions, and they dead drop him cash.

And he's telling them about some Soviet places that the FBI has bugged. He's telling them the names of suspected Soviet informants for the FBI. And some of these informants he's naming end up getting arrested in the Soviet Union or executed over this? But Bob don't really care.

He got what he's always wanted, plus he's getting paid. So he keeps feeding them more information and more information for about a year. But then in 1980, he gets caught. But not by the FBI. They still have no clue he's doing any of this. Bob gets caught by someone else. Because one day, Bonnie, his wife, is at home, and she walks into the basement, and Bob is there. And he's like, oh, don't come in.

I'm wrapping presents. But actually, he's looking over some communicative. with the Soviets, and she actually catches him in the act with these letters that he had written to them. Now, at this point, Bonnie could turn him into the FBI, but she's not going to do that. She loves Bob. And she's also super religious. So instead of all that, she takes him to her church, to her priest to confess. And so Bob goes and he confesses all this espionage he's been doing to this priest, and the priest hears all this and he's like, holy shit. And now the priest wants to turn Bob into the FBI, but instead he makes him a deal. He tells him that he won't turn him in if he agrees to donate all the money he made from the Soviets to charity, which at this point he's made around $30,000. Also, he has to promise to never spy again. And Bob, he doesn't want to get turned in, so he agrees to this deal, and he goes back to his normal, boring life.

He quits spying for the Soviets, and he pays the money he made little by little to a charity. And over the next few years, within the FBI, he keeps getting transferred and he keeps getting promoted. And this ends up giving him access to even more sensitive information. And then in 1985, he gets access to info about former KGB agents who are now living in the U.S. And he knows how valuable this info is. And he's like, I am selling this shit. I want to be a spy again.

So he goes and he writes an anonymous letter to a senior operator in the KGB offering his services. In this letter, he basically says, I'll give you the names of KGB agents who are secretly working for the FBI if you give me $100,000. And crazy enough, the KGB agents do. And so boom, suddenly Bob is back in the spy business and he just made $100 grand. So for the next six years, Bob hands these KGB agents, U.S. secrets, sensitive U.S. information, blowing people's covers, snitching on people, and the KGB pays him tons of money in return via dead drops. But then, if you know your history, something really crazy happens. In 1991, the Soviet Union suddenly collapses. So now you've got all these former KGB agents who are approaching U.S. intelligence agencies

and feeding them information and exposing their U.S. informants. And so Bob, he starts to get worried. What if they snitch on him? And so he's like, all right, this is too risky. Time to quit. And he slows his spying down to a crawl for years. Then around 1999, he's like, all right, let's get things going again. And he starts feeding Russia sensitive FBI intelligence information.

And they're paying him. They're paying him really well. So at this time, Bob has been doing this scam for nearly 20 years. And he's made a ton of money from it. And it seems like bro is just never going to get caught. Until. So the FBI, they're not stupid. This isn't their first rodeo.

They know there's a mole in their organization. they just don't know who. So they find former KGB agents, and they start offering them money to give them information on any FBI moles past or present who may have sold them secrets. And then finally, one former KGB agent agrees

to hand over a file about FBI moles that the Soviets had worked with. From these files, the FBI is able to extract that the mole is their own long-term agent, Bob. However, the FBI doesn't swoop right in and arrest him. No, no, no. Instead, they don't say anything to him. They just promote him. Like, they pay him more, but they move him to FBI headquarters where they give him a bullshit desk job so that they can watch over him closely. Because they want to catch him in the middle

of making a dead drop to the Russians. They even assign him a new assistant to help him at this new job. That assistant, of course, is really assigned to spy on Bob, because they're just trying to collect evidence on him at this point. But anyway, eventually, Bob goes to a local park to make another dead drop to feed information to the Russians, and finally, bam, the FBI swoops in and they arrest him. This is actual footage of the FBI arresting him. Also, here's his mugshot. And so, at the end of it all, Bob had been spying for the Soviets in Russia for over 20 years and had made around $1.4 million from it. And so Bob, he takes a plea deal and instead of death, he gets life in prison. Here's actually a picture of him in prison.

Thank you.