A Spy's Strange Sexual Life
Lesley Stahl has learned that Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent who betrayed his country, also betrayed his church and his wife. Stahl reports that Hanssen invited his best friend to watch him have sex with his wife on a secretly installed television system his wife never knew about.
Pieced together from government sources and Hanssen's psychiatric profile, the report names Jack Horschauer, a retired army officer, as the friend he asked to watch the television hooked to a hidden video camera aimed at his marriage bed. Hanssen also sent nude pictures of his wife, Bonnie, to Horschauer, unbeknownst to her, the sources revealed.
Hanssen's sexual behavior, including posting sexually explicit stories about him and Bonnie on the Internet and numerous visits to strip clubs, where he tried to convert strippers to Catholicism, was part of a psychological disorder, says a psychiatrist who examined him. Spying, for the devoutly religious Hanssen, was a way to escape those sexual problems, according to the doctor.
Dr. Alan Salerian was hired by Hanssen's defense team to examine him and then fired for divulging information Salerian claims Hanssen wanted the world to know. "[Hanssen's] espionage was an escape from his sexual demons. When he found himself in exciting, dangerous positions, such as espionage and spying, he found that his demons slowed down," Salerian tells Stahl. "He is driven by demons…by thoughts, unwanted thoughts."
To former Justice Department investigator John Martin, it was simpler. "He lived a life of treachery and betrayal and he betrayed everyone," says Martin, a veteran of 76 spy investigations. "I don't know if the FBI is surfing the pornographic net looking for spies. They may be doing it after this case," he tells Stahl.
Dr. Salerian, who spent 30 hours interviewing Hanssen, says he isn't amoral; he's ill, suffering from a "severe psychological disorder."
"He is driven by demons, he is driven by thoughts, unwanted thoughts," says Salerian, who also says that Hanssen shared his whole secret life with his priest.
"He tells the priest not only his psychological demons, on top of this he tells this priest that he’s also spying. And look at the kind of advice he got — lousy advice. He was told to pray more and to turn the money to Mother Teresa. To me that’s outrageous," says Salerian.
Hanssen has told the government that he gave his spy money in the early 80s – about $12,000 up to that time – to Mother Theresa, and then went on to spy some more.
While the church's position is that a priest cannot reveal what he learns in confidence, Salerian thinks the church should have encouraged Hanssen to seek psychiatric help and turn himself in.
Dr. Salerian believes Hanssen used his spying as a way to fend off his demons. "His espionage was an escape from his sexual demons. That when he found himself in exciting, dangerous positions, such as espionage and spyng, he found that his demons slowed down. They calmed down."
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