New movie shows FBI rookie's role in cat...
New movie shows FBI rookie's role in catching spy
Posted by
TobyLinn 500 days ago
Eric O'Neill was a young, FBI surveillance operative when recruited for a new assignment: help catch perhaps the most damaging spy in U.S. history.
O'Neill was assigned to FBI headquarters in January 2001 in an undercover role to assist veteran FBI special agent Robert Hanssen, a suspected mole who had been compromised by the Russians.
An FBI team of hundreds investigating Hanssen hoped the 26-year-old O'Neill, who was not even an agent, would gain Hanssen's trust and help catch him in the act of passing U.S. secrets.
Hanssen's arrest six years ago, his subsequent guilty plea to more than 20 years of spying and his sentence of life in prison are well known, but details of O'Neill's role were scarce until the recent release of the movie "Breach," based on his story.
In the Universal Pictures' film, actor Ryan Phillippe stars as O'Neill, while Academy Award winner Chris Cooper plays Hanssen.
O'Neill was assigned to FBI headquarters in January 2001 in an undercover role to assist veteran FBI special agent Robert Hanssen, a suspected mole who had been compromised by the Russians.
An FBI team of hundreds investigating Hanssen hoped the 26-year-old O'Neill, who was not even an agent, would gain Hanssen's trust and help catch him in the act of passing U.S. secrets.
Hanssen's arrest six years ago, his subsequent guilty plea to more than 20 years of spying and his sentence of life in prison are well known, but details of O'Neill's role were scarce until the recent release of the movie "Breach," based on his story.
In the Universal Pictures' film, actor Ryan Phillippe stars as O'Neill, while Academy Award winner Chris Cooper plays Hanssen.
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