Veteran FBI agent charged with espionage

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A 27-year veteran FBI agent has been arrested and charged with providing classified information to Russian intelligence agents, the FBI told CNN on Tuesday.

Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested on Sunday night, FBI Director Louis Freeh said, and was to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Tuesday morning. FBI spokesman Bill Carter said Hanssen was arrested in his home in Vienna, Virginia.

The FBI is holding a press conference at 12:45 P.M. EST. Freeh, Attorney General John Ashcroft and CIA Director George Tenet are expected to attend. Former FBI Director William Webster, who is heading a blue-ribbon panel examining the matter, is expected to be there.

Hanssen, in his mid-50s and a father of six, is accused of working for Russian intelligence for over 15 years. He worked counter-terrorism operations intended to catch spies, for the last 25 years, most of that time in New York and Washington.

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His latest assignment, for the past four years, was with the U.S. State Department. If the allegations against him are true, Hanssen's job there, helping to ferret out Russian spies, was a critical one.

The FBI said it had been watching Hanssen for four months after obtaining documents from the Russian KGB indicating he was spying.

He was picked up after putting classified information into a dead drop -- where it allegedly was to be picked up by his Russian contacts -- in Virginia.

Justice Department officials told CNN that Hanssen may have confirmed information given to the Russians by CIA agent Aldrich Ames. Ten U.S. agents were executed in Russia as a result of the information Ames passed on.

A Russian Embassy spokesman in Washington had no comment on the reports of Hanssen's arrest.

CNN Correspondents Eileen O'Connor, David Ensor and Kelli Arena contributed to this report.

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Federal Bureau of Investigation
Central Intelligence Agency
US Department of State
U.S. Department of Justice
Embassy of the Russian Federation
Russian FSB (former KGB, in Russian)

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