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American Morning

Accused FBI Spy Robert Hanssen Arraigned Today

Aired May 31, 2001 - 09:01   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to start with a day in court for a veteran FBI agent who is accused of spying. Robert Hanssen is scheduled to be arraigned at this hour. Hanssen is accused of selling U.S. secrets to Moscow for 15 years. His attorney says he'll plead innocent.

For more on the case, we turn to our Jeanne Meserve who is in our Washington bureau.

Jeanne, good morning.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Robert Hanssen's arraignment due to get under way at this hour at U.S. district court in Alexandria, Virginia. We have pictures of a van, which arrived at the courthouse about an hour ago. It is believe that this heavily secured vehicle carried Hanssen from the facility in Virginia where he has been held since his arrest February 18. You will recall he was picked up after allegedly making a drop of classified materials at a park near his home for his Russian handlers.

Also arriving at the court this morning, Plato Cacheris. He is Hanssen's lawyer. Negotiations between him and the government broke down when the government refused to take the death penalty off the table. Cacheris and his client expected to enter a plea of not guilty in today's proceedings.

Because of the nature of the evidence in espionage cases, these court proceedings are unlike any other.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Whether it is the prosecution of Robert Hanssen, Harold James Nicholson, Aldrich Ames or any other alleged spy, there is always a concern that a case intended to protect national security will jeopardize it instead. An espionage case often begins with this: security clearance for the prosecutors, defense lawyers, law clerks, stenographers -- anyone who will handle classified information. Then, the question becomes: What classified information will they see and the public learn?

Thomas Wilson represented Joseph Fernandez, a former CIA station chief in Costa Rica, charged in connection with the illegal sale of arms to Nicaraguan rebels. Wilson says his client couldn't defend himself without divulging classified information.

THOMAS WILSON, ATTORNEY FOR JOSEPH FERNANDEZ: It was going to implicate the inner workings, sources and methods of how a CIA station operates. So he was really put in a position where he had no option but to tell his story.

MESERVE: The case was dropped when Attorney General Richard Thornburgh concluded allowing Fernandez to make his case would threaten national security. The Classified Information Procedures Act, CIPA, tries to balance a defendant's right to a fair trial with the government's right to keep information secret.

Tom Connolly prosecuted the case against Harold James Nicholson, the highest-ranking CIA officer ever accused of espionage. CIPA allowed the government to withhold some classified documents and modify others so the trial could proceed.

TOM CONNOLLY, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Although there was some information that the intelligence community obviously did not want the public-at-large to know, we were willing to let some of that information be known in the interest of doing justice in that case.

MESERVE: In this Alexandria, Virginia, courthouse, where Robert Hanssen will be tried, there is a special secure room. Only here can lawyers review or discuss classified information.

CONNOLLY: It is somewhat out of James Bond. They have lead walls and they have glass in there that it can't be penetrated by microwave or laser and they've got, you know, fancy locks on the doors.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Encrypted telephones, computers with removable hard drives, some of the other restrictions in these cases that place a hardship on everyone involved. But experts say these precautions are necessary to make sure that a trial doesn't make a security breach even worse.

And Kelli Arena in that courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia. She'll be bringing us the latest on the arraignment as soon as it's over.

Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: All right. Jeanne, thank you so much, from Washington.

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