[CTRL] US double agent 'unmasked by Russian'

[William Shannon]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=004400538236619&rtmo=as23wseL&atmo=rrrrrrrq&
pg=/et/01/2/22/wspy22.html


US double agent 'unmasked by Russian'
By Toby Harnden in Washington

A RUSSIAN diplomat based in New York who quietly defected to America a few
months ago may have provided clues that led to the downfall of the FBI
traitor Robert Hanssen.Sergey Tretyakov, first secretary at Russia's United
Nations mission, and his wife, Elena, contacted American officials in
October. US diplomats said he was a high-ranking member of Russia's SVR
security service, a successor to the KGB. Shortly afterwards Hanssen, 56, was
placed under surveillance as the FBI built its case against a man who had
worked within its ranks for 27 years and, they now believe, has spied for the
Soviet Union and then Russia for the past 15.The FBI and the US State
Department, where Hanssen was stationed until a month ago, were trying
yesterday to assess the damage he caused. How Hanssen remained undetected for
so long is the first question Louis Freeh, the FBI director, will have to
answer when he next meets President Bush.The case is a huge embarrassment to
Mr Freeh, who was loathed by Bill Clinton but is also regarded with intense
suspicion by Republicans on Capitol Hill, not least because he and Hanssen
both attended St Catherine's Church in Great Falls, Virginia. Hanssen's
principal protection was his decision never to meet Russian officials or tell
them his name.But, given the nature of the information he passed on and the
length of time he was a spy, it is highly unlikely that the KGB and SVR did
not learn who he was. Although FBI officers said Hanssen was motivated by
money, the 106-page indictment and the text of communications with his
Russian handlers paint a picture of a man fascinated by the tradecraft of
being a double agent and convinced he was more clever than his
superiors.Perhaps the best opportunity to unmask Hanssen was when he embarked
on the path of treachery. In October 1985 a KGB officer living in Virginia
received a letter containing an envelope marked: "Do not open. Take this
envelope unopened to Victor I Cherkashin." Although the KGB man worked at the
Soviet embassy in Washington, his mail was not being monitored.Cherkashin, a
senior KGB officer, had been singled out by Hanssen because he was regarded
as an accomplished spy. Among Hanssen's first acts as a Soviet agent was to
tell Cherkashin that Valery Martinov and Sergei Motorin, both KGB officers in
Washington, and Boris Yuzhin, an intelligence officer in San Francisco, were
working for the FBI.This confirmed what the Russians had been told by Aldrich
Ames, a CIA traitor who was caught in 1994. The subsequent executions of
Martinov and Motorin could form the basis of a death sentence for Hanssen if
he is found guilty. Hanssen, who was 32 when he joined the FBI, was critical
of fellow agents - telling the Russians how they would go "all wet" when
faced with taking a decision - and contemptuous of his country.He was a
member of Opus Dei, the traditionalist Roman Catholic group, and one fellow
FBI agent spoke of his "extreme Right-wing views". He told the SVR: "The US
can be errantly likened to a powerfully built but retarded child." It was
"potentially dangerous, but young, immature and easily manipulated".He added:
"But don't be fooled by that appearance. It is also one which can turn into
genius quickly, like an idiot savant, once convinced of a goal." In 27
letters obtained by the FBI, Hanssen, known as The Mortician to fellow FBI
men because of his dour manner, often chatted "spy to spy".When he was told
that money was being put aside for him in a bank account, he said he knew
this was not really the case but there were no hard feelings. "We do the
same." He said he had decided to become a spy when he was 14 after reading
Kim Philby's book, and offered to teach Russian spies in the future. "Want me
to lecture in your 101 courses in my old age? I would be a novel attraction."
His big fear, he said, was "someone like me", and he became increasingly
paranoid. He wrote last March: "I have come about as close as I ever want to
come to sacrificing myself to help you." In November he wrote: "I ask you to
help me to survive." A Russian source, very possibly Tretyakov, eventually
brought his traitorous activities to an end, but Hanssen's own desperation
could well have compromised him in any event.He repeatedly punched his own
name and the words "Russia", "KGB" and "dead drop" into an FBI computer
database to find out if he had been identified. In December, when the FBI was
tailing him, he was seen driving four times past a park sign in Vienna,
Virginia, that was known to US intelligence services as an "SVR signal site"
and to Hanssen and his handlers as the "Ellis" drop.The same night he walked
into a shopping centre at a time when a known Russian agent was close by. His
guard had begun to slip but he still believed he could outwit US agents. He
told his handlers: "Recent changes in US law now attach the death penalty to
my help to you.""On the other hand, I know far better than most what
minefields are laid."