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Senate Intelligence Committee to Question FBI Director Louis Freeh on Spy Case

Aired February 28, 2001 - 10:32 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We turn now to the case of a veteran FBI agent accuse of spying. The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to question FBI Director Louis Freeh today. They want to ask him, why did it take so long for the agency to arrest Robert Hanssen. Investigators believe that Hanssen worked for the Kremlin for some 15 years while he was an FBI employee. Court documents show that evidence of a Swiss bank account and numerous weapons were found in the Hanssen home.

CNN's Kathleen Koch is on Capitol Hill. We go to her now for more on the concerns of the top lawmakers there -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, the questioning this afternoon is expected to be very intense. Senators are shocked that, if these allegations are true, that, as you said, Robert Hanssen allegedly sold top secret U.S. information to the Soviets for some 15 years.

Now, he will not be the only person testifying. Senators will also hear from CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft. And the senators on the Intelligence Committee are already suggesting that the FBI begin new measures, such as financial audits of sensitive personnel, such as closer tracking of top secret information on computer and who accesses it. All this to prevent future espionage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: I would hope that the director would take immediate steps, things that would come to his mind, such as the polygraph, such as moving people out of an assignment after so many years. But those are internal functions and we'll know a little more about what he would do. He could do this now, but will he do it? And what he's doing, he may have already done some of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now, at the same time, the FBI has learned that Hanssen may have discovered at the end that he had been found out. The FBI in an affidavit quotes a letter that they found with a packet that was wrapped up with some secret FBI documents, that the FBI surveillance saw Hanssen leave underneath this footbridge in a Virginia park on Feb. 18 just before his arrest. And I'll quote from that letter. It begins: "Dear Friends: I thank you for your assistance these many years. It seems, however, that my greatest utility to you has come to an end and it is time to seclude myself from active service. I've been promoted to a higher, do-nothing senior executive job. It is as if I'm being isolated. I believe I have detected repeated bursting radio signal emanations from my vehicle," the Hanssen letter continues. "Something has aroused the sleeping tiger."

And, Leon, as you mentioned, this affidavit also goes on to list some of the items that were found when the FBI intensely searched Hanssen's home, his automobiles, and also his offices. Included among them, as you said, numerous weapons; some 13 guns and pistols; an AK- 47; ammunition; false identity papers, including several passports; and a very small camera about the size of a lighter, so something very small potentially, the FBI believes, that Hanssen could have used for espionage.

This hearing begins at 2:00 today. Afterwards, the senators are expected to come out and speak. And we'll probably hear at that point more about how satisfied they are with the explanations they're expected to get from the intelligence community.

Kathleen Koch, reporting live on Capitol Hill, back to you.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thank you, Kathleen. We'll talk with you later on.

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