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A Spy in Plain Sight

The Inside Story of the FBI and Robert Hanssen—America’s Most Damaging Russian Spy

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About this listen

A legal analyst for NPR, NBC, and CNN, delves into the facts surrounding what has been called the “worst intelligence disaster in US history”: the case of Robert Hanssen—a Russian spy who was embedded in the FBI for two decades.

As a federal prosecutor and the daughter of an FBI agent, Wiehl has an inside perspective. She brings her experience and the ingrained lessons of her upraising to bear on her remarkable exploration of the case, interviewing numerous FBI and CIA agents both past and present as well as the individuals closest to Hanssen. She speaks with his brother-in-law, his oldest and best friend, and even his psychiatrist.

In all her conversations, Wiehl is trying to figure out how he did it—and at what cost. But she also pursues questions urgently relevant to our national security today. Could there be another spy in the system? Could the presence of a spy be an even greater threat now than ever before, with the greater prominence cyber security has taken in recent years? Wiehl explores the mechanisms and politics of our national security apparatus and how they make us vulnerable to precisely this kind of threat.

©2022 Lis Wiehl (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing Americas Con Artists, Hoaxes & Deceptions Espionage True Crime United States Law National Security
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This is quite interesting, but listening to it is very frustrating. I can't believe the wildly fluctuating quality of audible narrations. This is bottom of the barrel. So many missed consonants and she talks far too fast. Really ruined my enjoyment of a good book.

Terrible narration

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I downloaded this the day after news of Hanssen’s death was announced. I was not familiar with this story unlike that of
Ames. I found it very interesting and well read. I have marked it down as the final chapter with its anti Trumpian comments superfluous and detracted from the rest of the work (I am from the UK and no fan of Trump or Biden for that matter). Overall a recommended read.

Fascinating

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Such a shame as I think the book would be good, it was so difficult to follow as she ran on and on almost without breath. Not recommended.

Gabbled narration

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A really interesting, exceptionally researched story. My only issue is the uneven narration including struggles with punctuation and familiarity with the text in the first third, and a change to true crime podcast conversational style in some of the final chapters. I would also take it issue with the blithe conclusion around the damage done ( but it seems the FBI were of the same opinion ) . Would recommend and kept me interested to the end.

Fascinating

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