He was at the heart of one of the most disastrous espionage cases for the United States. Double agent Robert Hanssen died Monday at age 79 in the prison where he had been incarcerated since 2002, the U.S. Corrections Service said. In charge of counterintelligence within the federal police, he sold himself to the Soviets during the Cold War and delivered to Moscow some of the best-kept American secrets of the 1980s and 1990s in exchange for $1.4 million and diamonds.

Robert Hanssen was "the most harmful spy in FBI history," according to the federal police website. He was found unconscious Monday morning in his cell at the maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado, where he was serving a life sentence. Efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, according to a statement from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

6,000 pages of documents delivered to Russians

After starting out in the Chicago Police Department, Robert Hanssen was recruited by the FBI in 1976. A few years later, he joined the counterintelligence section of the New York office, responsible for tracking Russian spies on American soil and recruiting Soviet diplomats to the United Nations. Taking advantage of this key position, he quickly offered his help to the intelligence services of the USSR, operating discreetly under the alias "Ramon Garcia" without his treating officers knowing his true identity.

Alternating posts in New York and Washington, he delivered to the Soviets and then the Russians some 6,000 pages of documents, including military plans, counterintelligence software and the names of several double agents operating for the United States.

Implicated by a Russian

Although the FBI quickly became aware of the existence of a mole in its services, it remained unsuspected for a long time. Married, father of six children, he lived unnoticed, while maintaining close ties with the Catholic elite of the capital. He was finally implicated in 2000 by a Russian who defected. Under surveillance, he was arrested in 2001 as he prepared to deposit secret documents for Russian agents in a park in Virginia.

Robert Hanssen avoided the death penalty by agreeing to cooperate with investigators. Admitting to having acted out of greed, he underwent 200 hours of interrogation. In 2002, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of early release.

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