Intelligence

DATE=07/06/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= HANSSEN PLEA (L)

NUMBER=2-277977

BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Former veteran F-B-I agent Robert Hanssen has pleaded guilty to spying for Russia and the former Soviet Union, in a plea bargain agreement with federal prosecutors that will spare him the death penalty, but send him to jail for life. V-O-A's Nick Simeone reports Hanssen will be required to tell U-S officials everything about what he passed on to his Soviet and Russian handlers, in what has become the most serious case of espionage within the F-B-I.

TEXT: Hanssen entered a federal court in Virginia (Friday) wearing a green prison uniform. He placed his hand on a Bible and promised to tell U-S counterintelligence officers his entire story, including everything he passed on to Moscow. Acting U-S attorney Ken Melson.

/// MELSON ACT ///

We expect him to be candid with us and truthful with us and completely open about his espionage activities.

/// END ACT ///

Prosecutors charge Hanssen was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to pass on classified documents about some of the nation's most secret operations during his 25 years as a federal agent -- including the identity of Russians cooperating with U-S intelligence. For weeks after his February arrest, he maintained his innocence. But with a plea bargain arrangement in place to spare his life, defense attorney Plato Cacheris told reporters his client's spying began much earlier than prosecutors originally thought.

/// CACHERIS ACT ///

His activities commenced in 1979 to 1981 and that period the government knew nothing about and they will learn about that. And the fact that his non-involvement from 1992 to 1999, they'll want to know about that. And

how he did what he did is important for the government to learn.

/// END ACT ///

Hanssen was finally caught earlier this year by fellow F-B-I agents at a park in Virginia, where prosecutors say he was making another delivery of documents to his Russian handlers. U-S intelligence officers will spend the next six months debriefing him. Then, the 57-year old former F-B-I agent will be sent to jail for the rest of his life. (SIGNED)

NEB/NJS/FC