All language subtitles for S.N.2026.S01E02.1080p.WEBRip.x264-BAE

Chris costa: It is a
cat and mouse game.

Of course, this cat and
mouse game is played out

Universally across the planet.

Countries spy, and countries
want to catch spies.

With intelligence work, with
counter-intelligence work,

We have a very good idea
of who the spies are.

Chris costa: The insider
threat is constant.

It's a very tough
problem for an agency

Like the fbi or the cia to
find one of its own betraying

Our country.

Two of the most damning,
dangerous spies in us history

Were robert hanssen
and ana montes.

Behind every spy gadget,
every coded message and

Secret mission, lies a story.

Some are tales of
loyalty and sacrifice.

Others are stories of betrayal.

Here at the international
spy museum in washington, dc,

The history of espionage is
preserved for the public to see.

But some of the most damaging
spies in american history

Weren't fictional characters
from books or movies

But trusted insiders, and
they operated in plain sight.

Narrator: 1979.

The soviet union, a communist
pillar in the world,

Was engaged in a silent
struggle with the us

In intelligence, technology
and military affairs.

The stakes couldn't
have been higher.

But the us had a problem.

Secrets were slipping out and
being given to the kremlin.

The fbi knew they were working
with someone on the inside.

But who?

It was a race against
time to figure that out.

Eric o'neill: The fbi,
for over two decades,

Knew that there
was an incredibly

High placed mole somewhere in
the intelligence community.

Now, they didn't know
whether this was in the fbi,

Military intelligence, nsa,
cia, somewhere in the government

Or cabinet, or where.

They only knew that
there was an individual

With access to information
that was putting

It in the hands of russia.

Narrator: And the leaks
had fatal consequences.

Eric o'neill: Two of
our top spies in russia

And the soviet union at that
time were flown back to moscow

And executed.

As soon as those two
spies were disappeared,

We knew we had a problem.

These guys don't
disappear for no reason.

We didn't even have an
inkling that the soviets

Knew they were working for us.

And the manhunt began.

Narrator: The agency
had little to work with,

But one thing was certain.

Russia had their playbook
and knew their next move

Before they even made it.

It was clear the spy
had a lot of power,

But it was a needle
in a haystack.

[non-english speech]

Narrator: Years passed,
and so did the secrets.

But uncovering the
identity of the mole,

Who the fbi now referred
to as gray suit,

Wasn't getting
anywhere until one day,

There was a lucky break.

December of 2000, a former
kgb intelligence officer

Who had lost his job when the
kgb was disbanded at the fall

Of the soviet union
and the reformation

Into the russian federation,
sold a slim file of information

To a joint fbi cia task force.

Narrator: It didn't
seem like much,

But it was the
bombshell they needed.

Eric o'neill: It was a cassette
tape, a bunch of letters,

And a trash bag.

They listened to
the cassette tape.

Narrator: The deep
recorded voice was familiar

And the tape played out
gray suits's biggest mistake

As he spoke to his russian
handlers on a recorded line.

Eric o'neill: He said,
this is ramon garcia.

Narrator: But it
wasn't ramon garcia.

It was one of the fbi's own.

Eric o'neill: Gray suit
was robert hanssen,

And we had no idea for 22
years of his espionage.

And that's when the
fbi went to work in

Due order to establish the
ultimate counterintelligence

Operation.

Narrator: The fbi
had to act fast.

Eric o'neill, a young
agent at the time,

Was sent in undercover to
help catch the double agent.

But who was robert hanssen?

Hansen was a
very gruff person.

He was incredibly sarcastic.

He had this snarky
sense of humor,

If you want to call it that.

He was dour.

He wore dark suits.

He was not the most friendly,
outgoing person in the world.

He was intensely religious.

Eric o'neill: He joined the fbi
because his father was in law

Enforcement, and he wanted
to prove to his father

That he could cut it as well.

Chris costa: Robert hansen
was an fbi counterintelligence

Agent, meaning his job was
to understand how the soviets

First and later the
successors of the kgb, how

They operated on us soil.

A little thing about
hanssen that many don't know--

He loved james bond.

He wanted to join the
fbi and be james bond,

Be undercover, do
field operations,

Go hunt down and chase spies.

Narrator: In 1979,
hanssen started working

For the fbi in new york city.

Agents would later uncover
this is where his betrayal

Of our nation began.

Eric o'neill: He started
spying within two

Years of joining the fbi.

So he spied for 22 of his
25 year career in the fbi.

The first time bob hanssen
got in touch with the russians

Was, of course,
in new york city.

Eric o'neill: He volunteered
his services by sending a letter

To a known intelligence
officer in the consulate

There in new york,
offering his services.

Narrator: In 1981, hanssen was
transferred to fbi headquarters

And bought a house
in vienna, virginia,

A suburb of washington, dc.

Vienna would become
essential to his spying,

Specifically foxstone park.

Bob hanssen is
an interesting case

Because he had never
met face to face

With his intelligence officer.

It was always impersonal
communications.

But he established
his trajectory of drops

Of information, signals
that would be set,

And then drops of money.

He would set a signal to tell
them, ok, I've loaded the drop.

One of his main drop sites
was under a footbridge

In foxstone park, which is
a short walk from his house.

Either that night
or the next day,

It would go to an amphitheater
that was not too far away,

A different park.

And they would take
$10,000, $20,000,

50-whatever they were
paying for those secrets,

And put them under a corner of
a platform in that amphitheater.

And then they would put
another piece of tape

Somewhere else on
hanssen's route to work.

Hanson would know it's payday.

And that night, he
would get a flashlight

And, as he called it
in one of his letters,

Go slogging around through
the mud to go find his money.

Narrator: Hansen was just
months away from retirement when

The recording came to light.

At the end of his career,
he was sent to the state

Department in a liaison job.

They were just letting him
ride out his retirement.

He would retire
in April of 2001.

Narrator: But now
they needed him back.

They had to create
something that would not only

Bring hanssen back from
the state department

And seem credible but also
get him to stay in the fbi

Because if he leaves
the fbi, then he doesn't

Have access to information.

He'll never make that last drop.

And we had to catch
him red-handed.

And the fbi came up with
this brilliant plan.

They were going to
give him his dream job.

They built an entire new
section in the fbi to trap

Him called the information
assurance section.

Chris costa: Eric o'neill was
responsible for ingratiating

Himself to his boss, building
a personal relationship,

Getting him to talk.

But ultimately, he was reporting
everything hanssen was doing.

That's the ultimate
counterintelligence operation.

Everyone in headquarters
thought that this was a brand

New section that
was being headed up,

And we had to do the real work.

That was the thing.

We were doing the
work of building

Cybersecurity for the fbi.

I had to finally find
the smoking gun that

Would help us win this case.

And at the same time,
I couldn't tell anybody

I was working undercover.

And I realized that the bond he
needed was he wanted a mentee.

He wanted to be a mentor.

He wanted to show
someone his brilliance.

He wanted someone
to listen to him.

And he'd been ignored in
the fbi for so many years.

And I fulfilled that role.

I became that person.

And I started to watch
him and ask him things.

And I realized
hanssen had a flaw.

He had a routine.

He had this thing
called a palmpilot.

He loved this
thing far too much,

And I knew we had to
get it away from him.

I had an assistant director
that he absolutely hated,

And I had that section
chief he didn't like,

The only other person that I
knew in fbi headquarters who

Knew anything about the
case, come and unannounced

And slap $20 on his desk
and tells him, you and me,

The shooting range
right now, and I bet you

That the two of us, that $20, 5
targets out of 5, can beat you.

Narrator: Hanson took
the bait and headed

To the shooting range.

Eric o'neill: He
holsters his firearm

And he grabs his ear
protection, eye protection.

He follows them out,
and for the first time,

He forgets that palmpilot.

I go into his bag.

I rifle the bag, open all four
completely similar pockets.

I pull out the palmpilot, a
data card, and a floppy disk.

And we not only
knew where he would

Be when he made that
final drop but also

When he would be there because
the palmpilot is a calendar.

On February 18 in 2001, he's
on that bridge in foxstone

Park in vienna, virginia.

He pulls out a package.

He loads it under the bridge,
his final drop to the russians

After 22 years of
being their top spy.

And he retraces his steps to
where his old silver ford taurus

Is parked.

He pulls his keys out, and
he goes to get in his car,

And two vans screech to
a halt. Panel doors open.

Fbi agents jump out.

They point their weapons at him.

He raises his
hands, and he says,

The guns are not necessary.

And then he says,
what took you so long?

And that is how you catch a spy.

The criminal conduct
alleged represents the most

Traitorous actions
imaginable against a country

Governed by the rule of law.

Chris costa: Bob hanssen was
sentenced to life imprisonment,

And he was sentenced
to life imprisonment

To supermax, where he would get
an hour a day outside his cell.

He was in isolation.

He took only so much that
he couldn't get caught.

He was very wise and frugal
and careful in his espionage.

According to the fbi,
somewhere around $1.4 million,

Which is nothing.

That is peanuts for the
billions of dollars of damage

That he did.

Hanssen did it for money.

So that was his motivator.

But hansen didn't do it
just because of money.

He had a lower moral
character, if you will.

Eric o'neill: He
decimated our ability

To conduct counterintelligence.

He essentially gave
russia our playbook

For counterintelligence, our
playbook for how we catch spies.

Some agents said that everything
I was doing in my entire career,

Hanssen was undoing
behind the scenes,

Just unraveling everything
we knit together.

He never received the
rewards that he needed.

He never received
the recognition

That he needed in his mind.

But he ultimately did
receive a promotion.

But all of that promotion
was contrived to set him up

Ultimately for the
sting that caused

His undoing in his arrest.

There's a balance
that has to be struck

Because we have to
trust the people

That we work side by side with.

We can't walk around an fbi
building, a cia building,

And be paranoid that the
person we're working with

Could be also working
for the russians,

The chinese, the cubans.

Narrator: Robert hanssen was
not the only american to betray

His country by spying.

After the fall of
the soviet union,

The us had deeply
hostile relations

With other communist countries,
one of them being cuba.

Cuba's primary goal was to
undermine the us in any way,

And getting an insider to
help was their golden ticket.

Cuba is phenomenal at collecting
intelligence from humans, people

That believe in or align
with their ideology

Or with what they're trying
to do or hate our country.

What cuba did with
that intelligence,

Besides use it to
their own advantage,

They also sold it to the highest
bidder, like the chinese,

Like the russians in particular.

Chris costa: We
knew that the cubans

Had penetrated our government
in a multiple of places.

Narrator: The us
government knew they

Had a spy feeding intelligence
to the communist country.

They just didn't
know where or how.

That's when special agent peter
lapp was assigned to the case.

We had been looking at--
we called him an unsub case,

Unknown subject-- a person,
frankly, who we thought

Was a man and didn't know--

Was either working
at the cia, the fbi,

Or somewhere within the
department of defense.

At any one point in
time, that's a suspect

Pool of 2.5 million people,
not including contractors.

So our suspect pool
was really immense.

Chris costa: It was patient.

It took some time.

Individuals which were suspect.

So it was old-fashioned
detective work.

Peter lapp: We knew that
this unsub had traveled

Covertly to cuba on
temporary assignment

In a certain period of time.

We ran just an open query
through the travel records,

And a couple of names popped
up, but one name in particular

Popped up.

Narrator: That name
was ana montes,

A senior analyst for the us
defense intelligence agency.

Peter lapp: She
hated our country.

She despised what we
were doing and how

We were treating neighbors
like puerto rico, like cuba,

Like latin america.

Narrator: Anna was born into
a proud puerto rican family.

Her father was a
doctor in the us army.

A very intelligent person,
academically educated

At the university of virginia
and at johns hopkins university

School of advanced international
studies here in washington, dc,

And, because of her
puerto rican heritage,

Very much interested
in latin america.

She was incensed by us
policy in latin america.

Her mother was in favor of
puerto rican independence.

She inherited a lot of the
philosophy of puerto rico

From her mother.

And ana's attitude was,
how dare the united

States dictate how another
country should run itself.

Who are we to say this
is how nicaragua and el

Salvador and cuba
and, yes, puerto

Rico should govern themselves?

It's at johns hopkins where
she meets marta velazquez,

A fellow student who
had a relationship

With the cuban intelligence
service at the time.

And the pathway of her
life changed dramatically.

Narrator: By the time ana had
applied to work for the defense

Intelligence agency,
she had already been

Fully recruited by the cubans.

Peter lapp: She was pitched
in a soft way by marta.

They had a private dinner
up in new york city.

It was a very soft pitch.

Like, hey, we think you
have a visceral empathy

For what we're trying to do.

Would you be interested
in translating

English newspaper articles
about the war in latin america

Into spanish?

She agrees to this
moonlighting project

But then on the train
home has an epiphany.

And she said, you know, if I'm
really going to help the cubans,

This translating gig
is not going to do it.

I need to go work for the
us intelligence community

If I'm really going
to help the cubans.

And it's that moment that
she decides to change

The course of her life.

Goes to dia solely
for the purpose

Of spying for the cubans.

The defense
intelligence agency

Is an organization that's
responsible for providing

Intelligence to
combat and commands.

She could influence
us policymakers

Based on how she briefed the
analytical judgments she had.

That is very, very dangerous.

She rose in that organization
because she was such

An effective cuban
analyst or an analyst

On cuban military capabilities.

She was the go-to
person on cuba.

Sometimes folks referred to
her as the queen of cuba.

She went to work every day with
the goal of memorizing the three

Most important things
that she thought

The cubans needed to know.

Chris costa: She
didn't have to take

The documents home with her.

She had it in her head.

She would go
home, and then she

Had two different systems
throughout the course

Of her espionage.

One of her systems was she
would type it into her computer.

She would lock it and encrypt
it and then the next day

Would go back and
learn three more things

And come back home and
unlock it and kind of

Add to that little diary that
she would lock and then finally

Encrypt it and would meet
with her cuban handlers

In washington, dc.

She met in person
with her cuban handler

At lunch in broad daylight
at a chinese restaurant most

Of the time, and they would
have a long, private, but public

Lunch out in plain view.

Chris costa: She also had
technical communications from

Her condo in washington, dc.

She received shortwave bursts
of instructions and information.

So she was very
adept at tradecraft.

If you had a shortwave radio
and you knew the day, time,

And frequency, you too
could tune in to radio cuba

And listen.

And we were.

They were one way
communications.

So just messages from
the cubans to her.

Chris costa: So they
would essentially

Take that intelligence,
wrap it up,

And give it to some of their
partners, the cuban partners.

Of course, the cuban partners
are adversaries for the united

States of america.

Narrator: The fbi believed
montes was their spy,

But they had to know for sure.

Chris costa: There was
enough evidence for the fbi

To actually do a
black bag operation,

Meaning they had an order to
be able to go into montez's

Apartment, her abode,
and really search

And not get caught doing it for
any trade craft paraphernalia.

Peter lapp: We found a
very clean apartment.

A lot of books, modest.

But most importantly, what we
found was the shortwave radio

Which we knew she should own.

But the fact that she owned
it was pretty important.

Then we found an
old computer sitting

In a backpack under her bed.

Had that computer been at the
bottom of the potomac river,

You know, you're
sitting here today

Talking about another story.

95% of the arrest warrant,
the meat of the probable cause

Was on that computer.

It was the conversation that she
had been having with the cubans,

Both through the high
frequency messages and also,

Ok, dear diary, here's
what I learned today.

And this is all top
secret, you know,

National defense information.

It proved the conspiracy
between her and the cubans.

And frankly, you know, she
thought it had been deleted.

We found 11 pages of essentially
the conversation, much of which

Was classified.

Narrator: They had enough
evidence to arrest montes.

Peter lapp: We arrested
her at her office

On Friday, September 21.

Ana montes cooperated
with the us government,

And that prevented her from
receiving a life sentence.

Peter lapp: We, the
government and her,

Agreed to that she would
spend 25 years in jail

With a full debriefing.

And in the end, she spent
about just over 22 years.

She spent 7,777 nights in prison
just because of that computer.

Narrator: And montes cost
for betraying her country?

Nothing.

She would have been disgusted
and offended if the cubans

Offered her money.

She was doing this for
something that she believed in.

And now she is
living in puerto rico.

She is free, and in some
quarters, she's a heroine.

I think the judge summed this
up so well when he convicted

Her in the plea agreement.

He said, you know, you can have
disagreements with your country,

But you should do no harm.

All of these cases shake up
the community, hurt intelligence

Officers, and is shocking.

Peter lapp: Montes,
her arrest is

A counterintelligence success.

But if we're going to
look at that mugshot

And say, ok, this
is a success, we

Have to be honest with ourselves
and look at the 17 years

That she did it as a
counterintelligence failure.

Eric o'neill: Hanssen got away
with the top tier, highest

Levels of espionage for 22
years because he was smart

And because he was
careful but also

Because the fbi wasn't looking.

I think the
espionage will never

Stop because human beings are
our greatest assets and also

Our weakest links.

There will always be people
who decide, for whatever reason,

Whether they're angry or
whether they need money,

Or whether they're
being blackmailed,

Or whether they've
been recruited,

That they can find
a way to make ends

Meet if they just sell secrets.

I do believe somewhere in
the united states intelligence

Enterprise, there
are spies working

For a foreign government.

There is no doubt in my mind.

Just a matter of numbers,
averages, and history.

Robert hanssen and ana montes
came from different backgrounds

And worked for different
agencies and spied

For different governments.

But they were both
trusted insiders.

Their stories serve
as a difficult truth

About intelligence work.

The greatest threat isn't
always across an ocean.

Sometimes it's someone
sitting inside the room.

Thanks for watching.