That extraordinary Son-of-a-Bitch, Robert Hanssen, will spend the rest of his days in the greybar hotel, courtesy of the taxpayers he betrayed.
I can’t find a more fitting fate for this treasonous piece of feculent waste.
I think the thing that appalls me the most is that he didn’t do it from need, nor for ideology, nor even for revenge. He seems to have done it because it was fun.
I can.
His actions directly led to the deaths of three people; i.e., he gave up names. This is inexcusable.
He single handedly undermined the intelligence operations from 1980 on. He undid what the CIA and NSA had been building for the last 20 years.
He did irreparable damage to national security.
Maybe I’m a bit more sensative than most, being that most of my relatives have worked in the defense of this country, but I can certainly think of a more fitting fate. Unfortunately, I am also resigned to the fact that he is worth more to the government alive so they can try to figure out all the damage he caused and begin to fix what they can.
As long as his cell ain’t cushy!
Gods-be-#&$% server just ate my post.
Hanssen’s behavior is absolutely inexcusable, sure enough.
He’s a former law-enforcement officer, going in among other criminals jailed by law enforcement officers. As a traitor. Think his life is going to be fun? I don’t. Even if he’s placed in PC (as opposed to Gen Pop), his life will suck, as PC is essentially solitary confinement, which is the kind of time that makes people go insane.
Life in prison will seem like a hundred lifetimes, and every one of them will suck. Death is clean and relatively quick, but I want this SOB to really ‘get’ that he’s a total fuck-up.
I’m of the opinion that lengthy imprisonment is nothing less than contiuous low-grade torture.
Rot, Bobby-boy.
Regardless of his involvement or non-involvement in September 11th, I wonder how much worse he felt about his crimes once our own country had been attacked.
J
If he isn’t in solitary for the rest of his life, I’m sure there are some fellow residents that’ll give him a little bit of justice.
Oh yeah, watch that soap, Bobby.
And don’t forget that he’s not even bothering to honor his plea bargain deal.
Yeah, I don’t think he quite understands that this isn’t a game, yet. He’ll learn soon enough, I’m thinking.
Remember-this is also the jerk that taped his wife showering, having sex with him etc and plastered the images across the internet.
Hey, are you defending the CIA and NSA? The NSA for the past forty years has been maximizing their ability to conduct economic espionage and eavesdrop on human rights organizations, the CIA has been overthrowing democratically elected governments and getting 100,000 people killed in Central and South America. If all Hansen did was undermine the CIA and NSA, I’d say give him a medal.
Of course he also leaked information that led to the deaths of several people, and thus he should be in prison.
UnuMondo
Ha-ha-ha! Gosh, Mundo, that was funny. Here we are, all pissed off and on the edge with hot molten anger and you are able to douse us all with a bucket of ice-cold humor. How very refreshing.
Spritle, I can’t quite figure out of that was sarcasm or not, so I’ll just say that I’m not quite sure I agree.
I can understand why they gave him life in prison, that they have to find out how much damage he did and “a dead man tells no tales” but it somehow doesn’t seem enough. Although, the fact that none of his family members showed up at his trial certainly says something. They are going to have to suffer for what he did the rest of their lives, and that knowledge has to be horrific.
I wasn’t being sarcastic, I was quite serious. Ever since it became totally obvious that the CIA was responsible for instigating several coups which resulted in oppressive governments, why would you be angry that someone undermined it? Ever since Duncan Campbell published his report on ECHELON under the auspices of the European Union, why would you be upset if someone undermined the NSA?
For the record, I’m American, although I now reside in Europe. No one I know over here seems to understand why Americans would want drastic punishment for Hansen, in fact one young lady I mentioned the news to this evening expressed the regret that Russia’s inefficient government probably wasn’t able to use most of the information Hansen provided.
UnuMondo
Simple, UnuMundo. Despite a number of heinous acts, the CIA is still a functioning part of our national security aparatus, and this ass has made it much harder to determine the intentions and capabilities of people and nations that may wish to harm the US or it’s interests.
As for the CIA being evil… It’s certainly not alone there. Fraech secret agencies have done some pretty hellish things… The Soviets made the CIA look like choir boys. The East German Stasi is synonimous with secret horror… The list goes on and on.
If you’re going to stick your nose into a hornet’s nest (and you have!), better be honest and ballanced, or you’ll get your head handed to you, One World.
Good. As long as you’re at it, why not renounce your citizenship, too? I’m sure you can find some country more to your liking.
If you honestly can’t comprehend that what Hanssen did was wrong, then maybe the US isn’t the right place for you anyway.
Heloise: They’ll never (did you catch that: NEVER!) find out how much damage he did because he’s reneging on his deal.
I believe they should have hung this guy. AND not given his wife his pension.
Hanged. Agreed.
Unu, Heloise, I was being a bit sarcastic, but I was honestly hoping Unu was joking. As I stated in my first post, I come from a family that has spend many years and many careers defending and protecting this country in many capacities. I have many friends who have done the same. To see some putz who has no regard or respect for this country and what is necessary to keep it and its population (that’s both of you) safe especially when he works in a field that shows him everyday what is necessary and actively works against its security for personal gain really really pisses me off. (I made a similar pit thread regarding White Sands spies a while back.)
By actively undermining the national security, I believe that he directly forfeits all the rights and protections that this country provides his sorry ass. That means full protection under the law, whatever.
There is a reason the founding fathers of this country included treason in the constitution and mentioned a punishment - and no other crimes. They were writing a document to establish a government to create a country. They understood that any act of treason serves to undermine and destroy that government actively or passively. They understood this so well that they put it in writing in the constitution and even spelled out a punishment. Let me say this again, because it’s real important.
Any act of treason serves to undermine and weaken the governments ability in its function to provide security.
The death penalty for him is fine with me. So is sending him to an “allied” country and letting him serve his sentence there is fine with me. Maybe Pakistan or something.
Rysdad, maybe suggesting that Unu give up his citizenship is a bit much. Perhaps (s)he’s overseas for nonpolitical reasons.
Just trying to make him/her happy seeing as this country seems to be lacking in his/her eyes. His/her statement was political enough to justify my suggestion, I think.
I can see the point about the CIA and NSA doing some pretty dirty things. Is it justifiable because the other side does it? Is morality just a big joke to sell to the masses when our real Modus Operandi is “Whatever it takes” - no matter how awful?
I think the guy deserves what he gets, he knew what he was risking and people did die as a result. No pity for him. But the CIA and NSA get no love from me. I imagine I’ll be accused of being naive because I want my government and it’s agencies to live up to the moral code it claims to be bound by. Do to the way the world works, the argument may go, we MUST have agencies that behave like this. I don’t buy it, still.
I fear our government does subscribe to the “Whatever it takes” philosophy, and not only overthrows governments as it sees fit, but probably does all sorts of illegal genetic and biological testing and ewperiments using the same justification. While there is some sense in making sure we have the biggest baddest weapons first, don’t patronize us by lieing about it. Alas, the herds typically get told exactly what they want to hear, I fear. The truth is too dangerous - or so the line of thinking goes. Who watches the watchers?
DaLovin’ Dj