Customer Reviews

The Bureau and the Mole: The Unmasking of Robert Philip Hanssen, the Most Dangerous Double Agent in FBI History

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

Consider this to be a sort of consumer's guide to the three Hanssen books on the market, from one who's read them all . . .
1. THE BUREAU AND THE MOLE has a good photo section but no index or bibliography, both essential in my opinion. Half of it is a bio of Louis Freeh, who should hang his head in shame rather than be credited for uncovering Hanssen. The sex revelations are here, but unless you like pornography I advise you to skip the part about Hanssen's postings on the internet. Still, the information about Bonnie Hanssen's brother--an FBI agent--who suspected him and was ignored is almost worth the price of the book. Four stars.
2. THE SPY NEXT DOOR has an index but no photos and no bibliography. The writing is a little wooden and there are little mistakes like getting the the church where the Hanssen's were married wrong. They have some sex stuff too, but thankfully no internet ramblings. A workmanlike job that reads like a Time magazine cover story. Three stars.
3. THE SPY WHO STAYED OUT IN THE COLD has photos, a bibliography and an index. It's also about 30 pages longer than the other two. Alas, no sex though the chapter on the stripper runs for some 12 pages and is titillating. It's the most complete with it's biggest scoop being that Hanssen told friends he wanted to be a double agent long before he joined the FBI and thus should have never been hired. Four-and-a-half stars.

Though readable, David A. Vise's "The Bureau and the Mole" is poorly written, poorly researched, gratuitous and just not well thought out. It's a shame since a spy as good as Robert Hanssen deserves a better chronicler. The first indictation that the book was rushed include a major factual error in the very first chapter (Vise refers to the "Daley Machine" in Chicago circa the late 1930s, even though the senior Daley was not elected Mayor until 1955). The book then becomes a dual biography of Hannsen and FBI Director Loius Freeh, but because the narrative is a brief 229 pages, neither party gets more than a superficial telling of his life story. The book also contains lengthy verbatim passeges of Hannsen's letters to the Soviets and his fantasy e-mails, which shorten the already inadequate narrative even more. The e-mails are particularly offensive in that they detail Hannsen's perverted sexual fantasies about his wife to the point where the book starts to read like a degrading peep show.

In documenting Freeh's story, Vise relates every major FBI success and mistake during his tenure so that each get a scant few sentences of mention. Another example of underreporting comes from the account of how Hannsen's brother-in-law reported his suspicions that Hannsen was spying in 1990 and the FBI dropped the ball. Vise reports the fact, but apparently never attempted to find out WHY nothing was done. Another poor decision was interviewing psychologists who never treated or even met Hanssen to get "psychological insight" into the man. This ploy strikes me as less than worthless. I should also mention that apperently no interviews were done with Hannsen's immediate family members for insight into how his spying impacted their lives.

Overall, this book is a shoddy rush job that never should have been released in its present condition...

I expected a book about Robert Hanssen - how he spied and what made him tick. That came across in about half of the book. Unfortunately, Mr Vise didn't have enough material to write a book of reasonable length, so he improvised with a lot of uninteresting material on the life of FBI director Louis Freeh, and way too much rehash of the Aldrich Ames and Timothy McVeigh stories. Although a lot of interesting details emerged on Hanssen, I still don't understand the man. Several aspects of his life appear to contradict each other, and the psychiatrist explanations left me unfulfilled. This book in no way approaches the "Betrayal" book on Ames by Weiner, Johnston and Lewis.

David Vise does an amazing job of keeping the reader turning the pages on this one! The Author puts you right into the mind of the most damaging spy in US history, and into his bedroom as well! The book reads like a classic fiction spy novel with twists and turns that keep the reader intrigued. I found the parallel story of Louis Freeh, the then FBI director, as well as deep insights into the KGB, and concurrent FBI initiatives over the 20 year story truley fasinating. The book contains actual letters, photos, and an excellent synopsis of what top secret security items were lost by the United States. I don't think people really understand the magnitude of what Hanssen gave away! Of all the spy novels I've read lately, fiction and non fiction, this is the Best Yet!

The Bureau and the Mole not only tells the most amazing and unbelievable story of the most successful double agent in history but also creatively interweaves the subtle and unique differences and similarities between Hanssen and Louis Freeh, the head of the FBI and Hannsen's boss. Even if you're not an espionage or counterintelligence buff, what you learn about Hannsen and his escapades as well as how the FBI is managed will absolutely blow your mind. The contents page alone will motivate you to read this book.

Here are a few reasons why I rated this book a 5.

1. I'm not a fast reader, but the story is so intriguing that it kept me turning the pages. The author's writing style is clear and easy to read. I appreciate books that are short, sweet and to the point. I finished the book over the weekend.

2. I have followed this fascinating story of Robert Hanssen very closely since the beginning and now having read the Bureau I see that the author has obviously done his homework. The author uncovered many new and fascinating facts about Hannsen's complex life and sordid personality. While I find most of Hannsen's acts terribly disturbing, I at least have a clear picture into why he did what he did and what motivated him to do it. Believe it or not money was not his driving force. Considering the relationship between Hanssen and his father you wonder how many other Hanssen's are out there. David Vise, the author tells of one particularly amazing discovery. Hanssen's brother-in-law a FBI agent as well, attempts to turn Hannsen in more then 10 years ago but does the FBI pay any attention?

3. I like the way Vise clearly lays out in the appendix the incredible secrets that were not only available to Hanssen but ones that he sold to the Russians. I also enjoyed reading all of Hanssen's emails as well as the Internet postings (albeit sexually explicit) Hanssen put out on the www for the world to see. All of this information is valuable to the reader to better understand what kind of individual or animal would and could do the things he did. It's simply amazing how any one person has the ability to 'compartmentalize' so many aspects of their lives, (actually not so different from a recent President) and for so many years to keep everyone at bay. What was Bonnie possibly thinking about?

Certainly in the months and years to come new information will be uncovered, written about and scrutinized. But as far as I'm concerned to this date The Bureau and the Mole tells the real Hanssen story. I look forward to the movie!

I think that the espionage case of Robert Hanssen is one of the most fascinating to have ever taken place. I eagerly awaited the publication of "The Bureau and the Mole." Yet despite the fact that the book does add some details about how twisted Hanssen was, I am very disappointed with it for five reasons:

1. It is very short for such an interesting case. It weighs in at 223 pages (setting aside several lengthy appendixes --the inclusion of one I will discuss below). Yet of these 223 pages more than 60 deal with the life and times of Louis Freeh, the former Director of the FBI. I fail to see why the author put what amounts to a miniature biography of someone who had very little to do with Hanssen's life until Hanssen was identified as being a traitor. If you subtract the Freeh material, you're left with a book about Hanssen that is less than 170 pages long. That is way too short for such a long-term and complex case.

2. So far (I am still reading it), I found one factual error in the book which points to a rush job. On page 73, the author states "The Bureau also arrested Edward R. Howard, on charges of selling a litancy of secrets to the Soviet Union." I read an excellent book about "Edward Lee Howard" called "The Spy Who Got Away." If memory serves, Howard never was arrested by the FBI. He was under its surveillance but managed to escape and flee to Moscow.

3. The book is peppered with statements that indicate a knowledge by the author of what Hanssen felt about this or that. Now, I know that the author consulted psychiatrists and psychologists to try to puzzle out Hanssen's complex personality, and he probably used their insights to make these statements. But he doesn't say that. Instead, one is left with the impression that Hanssen talked to the author (which he apparently did not) or that David Vise is some kind of mind-reader (see comment 4)

4. The author boasts of his extensive research. Yet instead of specifying it with footnotes and a bibliography, he just summarizes his souce material in a few pages. Personally, I am a big believer in documentation even if you have to say a source for a particular fact is from an "anonymous FBI agent."

5. The author morally was dead wrong to include as an appendix to the book reproductions of the sexual fantasies that Robert Hanssen posted about his wife on the Internet. I fail to see how this adds to the story of Robert Hanssen and believe it can only hurt the innocent members of his family, specifically his wife. The fact that Hanssen was posting such stories on the Internet is certainly germane to his own story, but we readers do not need to read the full, sordid material to get an impression of what a twisted, hypocritical character Hanssen was. The author could have summarized the postings by including a few excerpts in the text. In my opinion, Bonnie Hanssen (Hanssen's wife and a person who strikes me as being in denial because of her decision to stick with her husband) has every right to hate the author for putting this sexually explicit material --which I refuse to read-- in the book.

To sum up, I think we still are waiting for the definitive book on Hanssen and that may take some time to materialize. Unless you are a true espionage buff, I would stay away from this book.

In the beginning I found this book interesting but in the later chapters Mr Vise began to drift away from the crux of the book.
In one chapter, he devotes 16 pages to then FBI Director Louis Freeh and his clash with former President Clinton. He touches on the bombings of the Khobar Towers, Oklahoma City, the Atlantic Olympic Park in 1996, and the investigation of Wen Ho Lee, the mathematician at Los Alamos National Lab. What has this have to do with Robert P. Hanssen? I suggest that if you really want to read this book go to your local [store] and spend a few hours there to peruse it rather than purchase it. I was very dissapointed in the author to add pages of useless information in an effort to boost the price of this book.

Read THE BUREAU AND THE MOLE by David A. Vise,
an engrossing true spy thriller about the unmasking of Robert Philip Hanssen--the most dangerous double agent in FBI history.

I was amazed to learn how Hannsen escaped detection for so
long . . . also, I liked how the author unfolded his tale, along with that of FBI Director Louis J. Freeh (the man who set the trap that would expose the traitor within its mist).

Spy thrillers are not typically my favorite type of reading, but I'm glad I made an exception for this one . . . the fact thatit was true made it so much more harrowing.

There were many memorable passages; among them:
Sex, among both numeraries and supernumeraries, is a taboo
subject, and discussion of homosexuality in any form is
considered dangerous because it can poison the soul. Opus
Dei itself is tightlipped about the lives and roles on numeraries. One of the Hanssens' daughters, Sue, is a numerary who, as required by Opus Dei, sleeps on a wooden board every night and without a pillow once a week. (Women are treated more
harshly than men in Opus Dei in order to quell their passions,
officials say.) When Sue's sister, Jane, got married a number
of years ago, Sue turned down her invitation to be a bridesmaid.
Opus Dei would not allow Sue to take a man's arm and walk
down the aisle in a wedding.

At the same time, Bob's head was spinning. He thought he knew
how to handle Bonnie. According to a friend of Bob's, "He has
a little theory that every day you have to tell a woman a certain amount of positive things, and if you do, things will always be good. He called it his 'counter theory." He said in a woman's brain there is a counter and they count up the good things you say to them and the positive strokes you give them." As far as his work was concerned, Bob didn't want Bonnie to know anything. He had to do a better job of concealing things. And to make matters worse, now a priest was involved.

Freeh knew that the FBI was at its best in a crisis, and he
talked tough from the start. "We will search you and find you,"
he said. "There is no place on earth where you will be safe
from the most powerful forces of justice." The director made it
clear that he and other senior FBI personnel, along with
thousands of agents and forensics experts working on the
case, were on a mission. Instead of regular shifts, they
began putting in as many hours as possible each day until
they needed a few hours of rest. It was during times likes these
that Freeh, director of an agency with a multibillion-dollar
budget and thousands of employees, earned the nickname
"the presidentially appointed case agent." Rather than planning
for the long-term or staying abreast of developing cases and
issues, Freeh became completely and totally involved in the
details of the Oklahoma City bombing and a handful of other
high-profile cases on his watch.

The Bureau and the Mole tells about the most successful and as well the most dangerous spy in FBI history. The way the story is put together and how it intertwines Robert Hanssen and his boss, Louis Freeh, the director of the FBI is incredible. Even if you are not into the whole double agent and espionage thing, it doesn't matter because it talks aobut a little of everything. It discusses all of the CIA's top secret information, the Pizza Connection which is the bringing down of some of the top New York and Italian Mafia, the Atlanta Olympic Park bombing, and the Oklahoma City bombing. It doesn't just briefly explain it, it goes into great detail about how either Freeh or Hanssen was involved in it and how it all broken down. What I enjoyed the most was how the story starts off as just Hanssen and Freeh going their separate ways and throughout the story interweaves itself to where Freeh is cracking down on Hanssen.
I do not usually go out of my way to read a book in any specific ammount of time, but this one I couldn't put down. Whenever you thought that it was going to slow down or get worse, it just kept speeding up into a totally new story about another criminal that the FBI was out to capture. I look forward to the movie!

I was excited to read this book but was very disappointed. The book attempted to juxtapose Robert Hannsen's life with that of Louis Freeh's but, in the end, didn't do justice to either one. The background provided to Hanssen's upbringing was informative, but after the onset of Hanssen's spying, the book simply seemed to bounce chronologically in no coherent fashion between Hanssen's spying and Freeh's career at the FBI. Paragraphs seemed to be independently written and then patched together in the best manner possible from the author's point of view, but the book laked flow. Moreover, numerous digressions into events like the Oklahoma City bombing and Ruby Ridge served no purpose other than to increase the number of pages in the book. Having read and really enjoyed Stuart Herrington's "Traitors Among Us," another book about Cold War espionage, I thought this book fell rather flat.