March 2001	Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation

REPORT INDEX 2001 REPRINTS 2000 REPRINTS 1999 REPRINTS 1998 REPRINTS 1997 REPRINTS 1996 REPRINTS E-MAIL HOME PAGE				Excerpts From The F.B.I. Affidavit In The Spy Case Against Robert Philip Hanssen Reprinted from the New York Times of February 22, 2001. Excerpts From The F.B.I. Affidavit In The Spying Case Against Robert Philip Hanssen. Following are edited excerpts from an F.B.I. affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, arrest warrant and search warrants filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, in the spying case against Robert Philip Hanssen: Oct. 4, 1985 A K.G.B. political officer in Washington, Viktor M. Degtyar, received an envelope by mail, at his residence in Alexandria, Va. Inside was an envelope marked: “Do not open. Take this envelope unopened to Victor I. Cherkashin.” Mr. Cherkashin was the foreign counterintelligence chief at the Soviet Embassy in Washington. Inside the inner envelope was an unsigned typed letter from the person the K.G.B. came to call B. Dear Mr. Cherkashin: Soon, I will send a box of documents to Mr. Degtyar. They are from certain of the most sensitive and highly compartmented projects of the U.S. intelligence community. All are originals to aid in verifying their authenticity. Please recognize for our long-term interests that there are a limited number of persons with this array of clearances. As a collection they point to me. I trust that an officer of your experience will handle them appropriately. I believe they are sufficient to justify a $100,000 payment to me. I must warn of certain risks to my security of which you may not be aware. Your service has recently suffered some setbacks. I warn that Mr. Boris Yuzhin, Mr. Sergei Motorin and Mr. Valery Martinov have been recruited by our “special services.” B proceeded to describe in detail a particular highly sensitive and classified information collection technique. In addition, “to further support my bona fides,” he provided specific closely held items of information regarding recent Soviet defectors. Details regarding payment and future contact will be sent to you personally…My identity and actual position in the community must be left unstated to ensure my security. I am open to commo suggestions but want no specialized tradecraft. I will add 6 (you subtract 6) from stated months, days and times in both directions of our future communications. Oct. 24, 1985 Mr. Degtyar received by mail at his residence a typed message from B in an envelope bearing a handwritten address and postmarked New York, N.Y. Drop Location Please leave your package for me under the corner (nearest the street) of the wooden footbridge located just west of the entrance to Nottoway Park. (ADC Northern Virginia Street Map, #14, D3) Package Preparation Use a green or brown plastic trash bag and trash to cover a waterproofed package. Signal Location Signal site will be the pictorial “pedestrian-crossing” signpost just west of the main Nottoway Park entrance on Old Courthouse Road. (The sign is the one nearest the bridge just mentioned.) Signals My signal to you: One vertical mark of white adhesive tape meaning I am ready to receive your package. Your signal to me: One horizontal mark of white adhesive tape meaning drop filled. My signal to you: One vertical mark of white adhesive tape meaning I have received your package. The K.G.B. designated this dead drop site by the code name “Park.” It is located in Fairfax County, Va. On Saturday, Nov. 2, 1985, the K.G.B. loaded the Park site with $50,000 in cash and a message proposing procedures for future contacts. Nov. 8, 1985 Mr. Degtyar and Mr. Cherkashin received a typed letter from B that read in part: Thank you for the 50,000. I also appreciate your courage and perseverance in the face of generically reported bureaucratic obstacles. I would not have contacted you if it were not reported that you were held in esteem within your organization, an organization I have studied for years. I viewed the postal delivery as a necessary risk and do not wish to trust again that channel with valuable material. I did this only because I had to so you would take my offer seriously, that there be no misunderstanding as to my long-term value, and to obtain appropriate security for our relationship from the start. Referring to Mr. Yuzhin, Mr. Motorin and Mr. Martinov, whom he had identified in his first letter as United States intelligence recruitments, B wrote: I cannot provide documentary substanti-ating evidence without arousing suspicion at this time. In conclusion, B warned of a “new technique” used by the National Security Agency, which he described. June 30, 1986 Mr. Degtyar received a typed letter from B at his residence that read in part: I apologize for the delay since our break in communications. I wanted to determine if there was any cause for concern over security. I have only seen one item which has given me pause. When the F.B.I. was first given access to Victor Petrovich Gundarev, they asked…if Gundarev knew Viktor Cherkashin. I thought this unusual. I had seen no report indicating that Viktor Cherkashin was handling an important agent, and heretofore he was looked at with the usual lethargy awarded Line Chiefs. The question came to mind, are they somehow able to monitor funds, i.e., to know that Viktor Cherkashin received a large amount of money for an agent? I am unaware of any such ability, but I might not know that type of source reporting. B then described a United States Intelligence Community technical surveillance technique. He concluded: If you wish to continue our discussions, please have someone run an advertisement in the Washington Times during the week of 1/12/87 or 1/19/87, for sale, “Dodge Diplomat, 1971, needs engine work, $1,000.” Give a phone number and time of day in the advertisement where I can call. I will call and leave a phone number where a recorded message can be left for me in one hour. I will say: “Hello, my name is Ramon. I am calling about the car you offered for sale in the Times.” You will respond: “I’m sorry, but the man with the car is not here. Can I get your number.” The number will be in area code 212. I will not specify that area code on the line. B signed the letter “Ramon.” This advertisement appeared in the Washington Times from July 14 to 18, 1986: Dodge ’71, Diplomat, needs engine work, $1000. Phone…(Call next Mon., Wed., Fri. 1 p.m.) The number belonged to a public telephone located in the vicinity of the Old Keene Mill Shopping Center in Fairfax County, Va. On Monday, July 21, 1986, B called that number and gave a Manhattan number. The call was taken by Aleksandr Kirillovich Fefelov, a K.G.B. officer assigned to the Soviet Embassy. Aug. 18, 1986 B telephoned and spoke with Mr. Fefelov. The latter portion of the conversation was recorded as follows: B Tomorrow morning? MR. FEFELOV Uh, yeah, and the car is still available for you and as we have agreed last time, I prepared all the papers and I left them on the same table. You didn’t find them because I put them in another corner of the table. B I see. MR. FEFELOV You shouldn’t worry, everything is O.K. The papers are with me now. B Good. MR. FEFELOV I believe under these circumstances, it’s not necessary to make any changes concerning the place and the time. Our company is reliable, and we are ready to give you a substantial discount which will be enclosed in the papers. Now, about the date of our meeting. I suggest that our meeting will be, will take place without delay on Feb. 13, one three, 1 p.m. O.K.? February 13th. B [whispering] Six…six…[pause] That should be fine. MR. FEFELOV O.K. We will confirm you, that the papers are waiting for you with the same horizontal tape in the same place as we did it at the first time. B Very good. MR. FEFELOV You see. After you receive the papers, you will send the letter confirming it and signing it, as usual. O.K? B Excellent. MR. FEFELOV I hope you remember the address. Is…if everything is O.K.? B I believe it should be fine and thank you very much. MR. FEFELOV Heh-heh. Not at all. Not at all. Nice job. For both of us. Uh, have a nice evening, sir. B Do svidaniya. MR. FEFELOV Bye-bye. The K.G.B. then loaded the Park dead drop site with $10,000 in cash, as well as proposals for two additional dead drop sites to be used by B and the K.G.B.; a new accommodation address code named Nancy; and emergency communications plans for B to personally contact K.G.B. personnel in Vienna, Austria. The Nancy address was the residence of K.G.B. political officer Boris M. Malakhov in Alexandria, who was to become Mr. Degtyar’s replacement as the Soviet Embassy press secretary. B was instructed to misspell Mr. Malakhov’s name as “Malkow.” B subsequently cleared the dead drop. Sept. 11, 1987 Mr. Malakhov received an envelope at his residence addressed to B.N. Malkow at the Nancy address, and a handwritten return address of “R. Garcia, 125 Main St., Alexandria, Va.,” postmarked Sept. 8, 1987. Inside was the following typed letter. Dear Friends: No, I have decided. It must be on my original terms or not at all. I will not meet abroad or here. I will not maintain lists of sites or modified equipment. I will help you when I can, and in time we will develop methods of efficient communication. Unless a [sic] see an abort signal on our post from you by 3/16, I will mail my contact a valuable package timed to arrive on 3/18. I will await your signal and package to be in place before 1 p.m. on 3/22 or alternately the following three weeks, same day and time. If my terms are unacceptable then place no signals and withdraw my contact. Excellent work by him has ensured this channel is secure for now. My regards to him and to the professional way you have handled this matter. Sincerely, Ramon According to the established “6” coefficient, the dates referred to in this letter were actually Sept. 10, 12 and 16. Sept. 26, 1987 The K.G.B. recovered from the Park dead drop site a package from B. The package contained a handwritten letter reading as follows: My Friends: Thank you for the $10,000. I am not a young man, and the commitments on my time prevent using distant drops such as you suggest. I know in this I am moving you out of your set modes of doing business, but my experience tells me the [sic] we can be actually more secure in easier modes. Nov. 19, 1987 The K.G.B. received a handwritten letter from B. The envelope bore a return address of “G. Robertson” in “Houston” and was postmarked on Nov. 17, 1987. The letter read as follows: Unable to locate AN based on your description at night. Recognize that I am dressed in business suit and cannot slog around in inch-deep mud. I suggest we use once again original site. I will place my urgent material there at next AN times. Replace it with your package. I will select some few sites good for me and pass them to you. Please give new constant conditions of recontact as address to write. Will not put substantive material through it. Only instructions as usual format. Ramon July 15, 1988 The K.G.B. received a letter from B at an accommodation address in the Eastern District of Virginia. The envelope bore a return address “Chicago” and was postmarked “WDC 200” on July 13, 1988. The typed letter read as follows: I found the site empty. Possibly I had the time wrong. I work from memory. My recollection was for you to fill before 1 a.m. I believe Viktor Degtyar was in the church driveway off Rt. 123, but I did not know how he would react to an approach… My security concerns may seem excessive. I believe experience has shown them to be necessary. I am much safer if you know little about me. Neither of us are children about these things. Over time, I can cut your losses rather than become one. Ramon P.S. Your “thank you” was deeply appreciated. May 7, 1990 B and the K.G.B. carried out an exchange operation at a dead drop site in Virginia. The package from B to the K.G.B. contained his 19th diskette and approximately 232 pages of material. The package from the K.G.B. to B contained $35,000 cash and a K.G.B. diskette. It read, in part: Dear Friend: We attach some information requests which we ask your kind assistance for. We are very cautious about using your info and materials so that none of our actions in no way causes [sic] no harm to your security. With this on our mind we are asking that sensitive materials and information (especially hot and demanding some actions) be accompanied by some sort of your comments or some guidance on how we may or may not use it with regard to your security. We wish you good luck and enclose $35,000. Your Friends April 15, 1991 In response to a call-out signal from B, he and the K.G.B. carried out an exchange operation at a dead drop site code named Doris in Canterbury Park in Springfield, Va. The package from B to the K.G.B. contained his 22nd diskette, in which he confirmed receipt of cash. B also provided classified F.B.I. material about a specific recruitment operation about which the K.G.B. had asked. The package from the K.G.B. to B contained $10,000 and a K.G.B. diskette which read, in part: Dear Friend: You’ve managed to slow down the speed of your running life to send us a message. And we appreciate it… Enclosed in our today’s package please find $10,000. Thank you for your friendship and help. We attach some information requests. We hope you’ll be able to assist us on them. Your friends. July 15, 1991 After a call-out signal from B, he and the K.G.B. carried out an exchange operation at the Ellis dead drop site at Foxstone Park near Vienna, Va. The package from B to the K.G.B. contained his 23rd diskette and approximately 284 pages of material. The diskette read, in part: “I returned, grabbed the first thing I could lay my hands on,” and “I was in a hurry so that you would not worry, because June has passed, they held me there longer.” He also noted that he had at least five years until retirement, and remarked, “Maybe I will hang in there for that long.” The package from the K.G.B. to B contained $12,000 cash and a K.G.B. diskette reading, in part: Dear friend: Acknowledging the disk and materials…received through “Doris” we also acknowledge again your superb sense of humor and your sharp-as-a-razor mind. We highly appreciate both. Sincerely, Your friends. Enclosed in the package please find $12,000. Oct. 6, 1999 B received the following letter from the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service: Dear friend: welcome! It’s good to know you are here. Acknowledging your letter to V.K. we express our sincere joy on the occasion of resumption of contact with you. We firmly guarantee you for a necessary financial help. Note, please, that since our last contact a sum set aside for you has risen and presents now about 800,000 dollars. This time you will find in a package 50,000 dollars. Now it is up to you to give a secure explanation of it. March 14, 2000 B wrote a letter to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, reading, in part: I have come about as close as I ever want to come to sacrificing myself to help you, and I get silence. I hate silence… Conclusion: One might propose that I am either insanely brave or quite insane. I’d answer neither. I’d say, insanely loyal. My security concerns have proven reality-based. I’d say, pin your hopes on “insanely loyal” and go for it. Only I can lose. I decided on this course when I was 14 years old. I’d read Philby’s book. Now that is insane, eh! My only hesitations were my security concerns under uncertainty. I hate uncertainty. So far I have judged the edge correctly. Give me credit for that. Set the signal at my site any Tuesday evening. I will read your answer. Please, at least say goodbye. It’s been a long time my dear friends, a long and lonely time. Ramon Garcia July 31, 2000 B received the following letter from the K.G.B./Russian Foreign Intelligence Service: Dear Ramon: We thank you for information, which is of a great interest for us and highly evaluated in our service. We hope that during future exchanges we shall receive your materials, which will deal with a [sic] work of I.C., the F.B.I. and C.I.A. in the first place, against our representatives and officers. We do mean its human, electronic and technical penetrations in our residencies here and in other countries. We are very interested in getting of the objective information on the work of a special group which searches “mole” in C.I.A. and F.B.I. We need this information especially to take necessary additional steps to ensure your personal security… Nov. 17, 2000 B wrote a letter to the K.G.B./Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, reading, in part: Dear Friends: Bear with me…Recent changes in U.S. law now attach the death penalty to my help to you as you know, so I do take some risk. On the other hand, I know far better than most what minefields are laid and the risks… No one answered my signal at Foxhall. Perhaps you occasionally give up on me. Giving up on me is a mistake. I have proven inveterately loyal and willing to take grave risks which even could cause my death, only remaining quiet in times of extreme uncertainty. So far my ship has successfully navigated the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I ask you to help me survive… Ramon