Robert Hanssen's Real Name: Robert Philip Hanssen

Quick answer: He was known as Robert Hanssen. The FBI's own history of the case calls him Robert Philip Hanssen, and Encyclopaedia Britannica independently lists the same full name. Britannica gives his birth date as April 18, 1944, in Chicago. Both the FBI and the Associated Press record that he died in prison on June 5, 2023, at age 79.

Real name and early life

The FBI says Robert Philip Hanssen was sworn in as a special agent on January 12, 1976. Britannica lists Robert Philip Hanssen as his full name and says he was born on April 18, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of a police officer. A Library of Congress name record, citing a newspaper obituary, also gives Robert Philip Hanssen, born in Chicago on April 18, 1944.

Britannica says he earned a bachelor's degree from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he majored in chemistry and studied Russian, and later an MBA from Northwestern University. It says he joined the Chicago police in 1972, working in a unit that investigated corrupt officers, before joining the FBI in 1976.

Career highlights

Britannica says he worked in Gary, Indiana, then in counterintelligence in New York and Washington. The FBI says he held key counterintelligence posts that gave him authorised access to classified information.

Arrest, plea, and sentence

The sources differ on when his spying began. The FBI's case history says his espionage began in 1985, while Britannica and CBS News date his first approach to Soviet intelligence to 1979. The FBI says he was arrested on February 18, 2001, and charged with espionage on behalf of Russia and the former Soviet Union. Britannica says he pleaded guilty that July and, under a plea agreement, avoided the death penalty by agreeing to extensive debriefing.

The FBI says he pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage on July 6, 2001, and was sentenced on May 10, 2002, to life in prison without parole. The AP independently says he was serving a life sentence without parole after pleading guilty to 15 counts of espionage and other charges.

Death

The AP says he was found unresponsive in his cell at a federal prison in Florence, Colorado, on June 5, 2023, and was later pronounced dead at 79; a person familiar with the matter told the AP he was believed to have died of natural causes. CBS News independently reported the same day and prison. The FBI gives the same date and age.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Robert Hanssen, Robert P. Hanssen, or Robert Philip Hanssen are looking for the same former FBI agent. The FBI says he used the alias "Ramon Garcia" with his handlers.