At this time in US history, it’s worth watching the US spy thriller “Breach” to remind us of the intrigues and reality of the Soviet Union and Russia. Written and directed by Oscar-nominated Billy Ray (“Captain Phillips,” 2013 and “Richard Jewell,” 2019), the film is based on the true story of FBI agent Robert Hanssen and investigator Eric O’Neill.

Hanssen’s (Chris Cooper) career unravels after he has been called back to the US, purportedly to head a new division of the FBI on Information Assurance.  A young clerk, O’Neill (Ryan Phillippe), is led to believe by his handler Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney) that this “undercover” assignment has to do with Hanssen’s sexual deviancy.

Because Hanssen is trained to assess people, O’Neill isn’t given a cover. He’s to go in as himself.

Hanssen grows to like his new clerk, taking a personal interest in him and his wife Juliana, encouraging them both to attend the local Catholic Church. Hanssen tells O’Neill, “Faith, family, country—Those are the things that matter.” O’Neill is a lapsed Catholic, but his East German-born wife isn’t used to religiousity. She almost resent the intrusiveness of her husband’s boss.

Hanssen feels that despite his nearly 25 years of service he is not appreciated for his true worth. That seems to be the crux of his traitorous actions. Hanssen complains that the FBI relies on antiquated technology systems that often fail to coordinate with other intelligence agencies and O’Neill later learns that it is his computer skills that got him this assignment.

Cooper makes us believe that this man could seem decent and deeply religious  while betraying both his country and his wife. Phillippe’s O’Neill is the man caught between truth and lies, afraid and constantly under pressure, particularly as he begins to like his new mentor.  This emotional turmoil is what draws us into a tale whose ending we’re already know.

The real Hanssen (13 April 1944 – 5 June 2023) spied for the Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the US from 1979-2001. This was before the current president of Russia, Vladimir Putin (7 October 1952) began his presidency in 2012. It was during the time that Boris Yeltsin was president (25 December 1991 – 31 December 1999). Yet remember, Putin was a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, resigning as a lieutenant colonel in 1991 to become a politician and join Yeltsin’s administration.

As a result of his espionage along with that of CIA’s Aldrich Ames, some KGB agents who had been working for the US were executed.

In the real world, the mystery of Cooper’s betrayal was never solved, at least as far as the real O’Neill was concerned (see the video below).  The script by Ray, Adam Mazer and William Rothko has Hanssen declare: “I never cared about making headlines; I wanted to make history. ” He did make history as “possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.” According to the US Department of Justice report “the treason of Robert Hanssen, an FBI Supervisory Special Agent” for “twenty-two years gave the Soviet Union and Russia vast quantities of documents and computer diskettes filled with national security information of incalculable value.” That doesn’t explain the money and diamonds that Hanssen reported received.

Hanssen also betrayed his wife, arranging for a friend to secretly watch them engage in sexual activities, sometimes using a video camera. He wrote about his sexual fantasies on adult sites online as well.

The real Hanssen died at the US Penitentiary Florence Administrative Maximum Facility (USP Florence ADMAX) in Fremont County, Colorado in 2023. He was 79.

O’Neill never became an agent. He left the FBI to study law at The George Washington University of Law and passed the bar. He later founded companies for risk management. O’Neill is a cybersecurity expert speaker. He posted a letter to Hanssen remembering the 18 February 2001 arrest of Hanssen in Virginia.

O’Neill has written about Hanssen in the 2019 Penguin Random House books “Gray Day: My Undercover Mission to Expose America’s First Cyber Spy.”

The case is also covered in a documentary “A Spy in the FBI” which streams on Roku.

“Breach” is currently streaming (included) on Amazon Prime video membership.