LOS ANGELES: The former FBI agent who sold secrets to the Soviet Union for more than 20 years has accused the bureau of “criminal negligence” in making it so easy for him to spy. His comments have emerged with the publication of a report which exposes the FBI’s security systems as chaotic and amateurish.
The FBI ignored warnings about the reliability of Robert Hanssen, violated a presidential order that required financial disclosure by employees and allowed file clerks access to classified information, according to the report compiled by a justice department panel.
“As shocking as the depth of Hanssen’s betrayal is, the ease with which he was able to steal material he has described as “tremendously useful,” concluded the report.
Hanssen, 57, a counter-intelligence agent, was arrested last year. He had been selling secrets for 22 years, continuing to supply information after the fall of the Soviet Union. In exchange for being spared the death penalty, the former agent agreed to cooperate with the investigation. His motive was financial rather than political. He received about $600,000 from the former Soviet Union and Russia. “I wanted to get a little money and get out of it,” he told the inquiry, led by the former FBI and CIA head William Webster.
Suspicions voiced by colleagues of the spy were ignored, the 117-page report revealed and Hanssen found it easy to access sensitive information. “Hanssen took advantage of this security failure to access approximately 500 case files that had not been appropriately restricted,” said the report.
“Any clerk in the bureau could come up with stuff on that system,” said Hanssen. “It’s criminal what’s laid out.” He said he had given the Russians up to 1,000 photocopies in November 2000 and had downloaded sensitive information on to computer discs.
“It’s pathetic,” said Hanssen. “What I did was criminal but it (the FBI’s security system) is criminal negligence.” He added that if he had been more determined, he would not have been caught: “If I had been a more malevolent spy than I was, they would have had a very difficult time finding me.” He said security was so lax that he could take away documents without any risk of being searched.
According to the report, the FBI also failed to comply with an order issued by President Clinton in 1995 which required agents to disclose details of their finances. Even the fact that Hanssen gave explanations to colleagues as to how he could afford extensive building work on his home was not followed up. “The only thing that possibly could have uncovered my espionage activities was a complete investigation of my financial positions and deposits to bank accounts,” said Hanssen.
The report also criticises the FBI’s handling of documents in the wake of September 11. A month after the attacks, the FBI had lifted restrictions on most of its investigative files and made available sensitive information from wiretaps and searches to other agencies investigating the attacks. But the move was carried out without the agreement of FBI security experts. To try to change this policy, concluded the report, would be like ”putting toothpaste back into a tube”.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.
