Robert Hanssen parents: Meet Howard Hanssen & Vivian Hanssen

Robert Hanssen is the son of Howard Hanssen and Vivian Hanssen. He was of Norwegian descent. His father, Howard, a Chicago police officer, was allegedly emotionally abusive to Hanssen during his childhood.

Hanssen graduated from William Howard Taft High School in 1962 and attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in 1966.

In 1979, three years after joining the FBI, Hanssen approached the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate to offer his services, beginning his first espionage activities in 1985.

Hanssen restarted his espionage activities in 1985 and continued until 1991, when he ended communications during the collapse of the Soviet Union, fearing he would be exposed. Hansden restarted communications the next year until his arrest.