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Video from Arrest of Robert Hanssen
Aired October 01, 2002 - 13:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: What you're about to see is not a spy movie; it just looks like one. It's the arrest of Robert Hanssen, the mole from within the top ranks of the FBI. Hanssen spied for the Russians and is now serving a life sentence.
CNN's Kelli Arena is in Washington to tells us more about this tape that we received -- Kelly.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, the FBI has made available for the very first time video of the arrest of Robert Hanssen, who, as you know, is serving life in prison for operating as a spy for Russia.
Hanssen, an FBI veteran, provided top-secret information to the former Soviet Union, and then Russia over a span of 15 years. Espionage experts said he did more damage to the United States than any other spy, even Aldrich Ames.
Now on the tape, you see him exiting a Vienna, Virginia park. Now this is just after he dropped off classified information at a designated area near the park. The FBI, obviously, was waiting in the wings.
Now, he's walking long, quite calmly. We're going to see very shortly the FBI agents sort of jump out from nowhere and grab him. He had used this park several times as a drop-off point, had communicated with his handlers back and forth as to where he would leave it. It was very sort of low tech, would leave a little piece of tape on a tree or mailbox, and he would -- to alert them that his drop had been made and then he would pick up something.
Here they are. You can tell -- look at him, he's not even shocked really. You can tell by his demeanor, that he was not shocked to see the agents. Now we were told at the time that he actually asked what took him them so long to find him.
After that arrest, Hanssen admitted that he had an inkling that his colleagues were on to him, but he did opt to make just one more drop.
Now Hanssen has cooperated with officials. That was part of his plea agreement to avoid the death penalty. But some officials believe that he has not yet told them all he knows.
Now as for the damage that he caused, the assessment there continues, and that, Kyra, could take years to figure out exactly how much damage this man caused to the United States intelligence and security system. PHILLIPS: Something else you have been following, Kelli, and that is Attorney General John Ashcroft. What did he have to say today?
ARENA: Well, he was actually speaking in New York before U.S. attorneys, and he basically defended the Justice Department's tactics that have been used since September 11th. He offered a really strong defense of breaking down the barriers between the intelligence community and law enforcement, he defended immigration hearings that had been closed, and he defended the holding of enemy combatants.
Here's a bit of what he had to say earlier:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Neutralize potential terrorist threats by getting violators off the street by any means possible, as quickly as possible, detain individuals who pose a national security risk for any violations of criminal or immigration laws, delay only if there is a valid national security reason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARENA: Ashcroft's speech comes on the day of a very high-profile hearing concerning the head of a Muslim charity Rabi Haddad (ph). A judge ruled that the Justice Department had to hold his hearing in public, or let him go. Now Justice has agreed to open parts of todays's hearing in Detroit. This will be the first such hearing that is open to the public, but that legal battle is far from over. The government appealed the decision. The government basically is arguing that information on detainees could be used to aid terrorists.
Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, from Washington, Kelli Arena. Thanks, Kelli.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 1, 2002 - 13:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: What you're about to see is not a spy movie; it just looks like one. It's the arrest of Robert Hanssen, the mole from within the top ranks of the FBI. Hanssen spied for the Russians and is now serving a life sentence.
CNN's Kelli Arena is in Washington to tells us more about this tape that we received -- Kelly.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, the FBI has made available for the very first time video of the arrest of Robert Hanssen, who, as you know, is serving life in prison for operating as a spy for Russia.
Hanssen, an FBI veteran, provided top-secret information to the former Soviet Union, and then Russia over a span of 15 years. Espionage experts said he did more damage to the United States than any other spy, even Aldrich Ames.
Now on the tape, you see him exiting a Vienna, Virginia park. Now this is just after he dropped off classified information at a designated area near the park. The FBI, obviously, was waiting in the wings.
Now, he's walking long, quite calmly. We're going to see very shortly the FBI agents sort of jump out from nowhere and grab him. He had used this park several times as a drop-off point, had communicated with his handlers back and forth as to where he would leave it. It was very sort of low tech, would leave a little piece of tape on a tree or mailbox, and he would -- to alert them that his drop had been made and then he would pick up something.
Here they are. You can tell -- look at him, he's not even shocked really. You can tell by his demeanor, that he was not shocked to see the agents. Now we were told at the time that he actually asked what took him them so long to find him.
After that arrest, Hanssen admitted that he had an inkling that his colleagues were on to him, but he did opt to make just one more drop.
Now Hanssen has cooperated with officials. That was part of his plea agreement to avoid the death penalty. But some officials believe that he has not yet told them all he knows.
Now as for the damage that he caused, the assessment there continues, and that, Kyra, could take years to figure out exactly how much damage this man caused to the United States intelligence and security system. PHILLIPS: Something else you have been following, Kelli, and that is Attorney General John Ashcroft. What did he have to say today?
ARENA: Well, he was actually speaking in New York before U.S. attorneys, and he basically defended the Justice Department's tactics that have been used since September 11th. He offered a really strong defense of breaking down the barriers between the intelligence community and law enforcement, he defended immigration hearings that had been closed, and he defended the holding of enemy combatants.
Here's a bit of what he had to say earlier:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Neutralize potential terrorist threats by getting violators off the street by any means possible, as quickly as possible, detain individuals who pose a national security risk for any violations of criminal or immigration laws, delay only if there is a valid national security reason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARENA: Ashcroft's speech comes on the day of a very high-profile hearing concerning the head of a Muslim charity Rabi Haddad (ph). A judge ruled that the Justice Department had to hold his hearing in public, or let him go. Now Justice has agreed to open parts of todays's hearing in Detroit. This will be the first such hearing that is open to the public, but that legal battle is far from over. The government appealed the decision. The government basically is arguing that information on detainees could be used to aid terrorists.
Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, from Washington, Kelli Arena. Thanks, Kelli.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
