Hacked The Protege — "Possibly the Worst Intelligence Disaster in U.S. History"
18 snips
Feb 2, 2026 
Eric O'Neill, a former FBI undercover operative who helped unmask Robert Hanssen, shares the tale of infiltrating a mole inside the Bureau. He recounts the fake counterintelligence unit, playing protege to win trust, stealing an encrypted PalmPilot, and the arrest that followed. The conversation probes tradecraft, psychological manipulation, and how insider betrayal shaped modern cyber counterintelligence.
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Undercover In Room 9930
- Eric O'Neill sat three feet from Robert Hansen in a fake FBI department built to catch him.
- O'Neill posed as a protege for months to gain Hansen's trust and gather evidence.
Defenses Lagged When It Mattered
- The FBI lacked modern cybersecurity in 1999–2001 and needed an operative who could both hunt spies and use computers.
- That gap made Hansen's insider access far more damaging.
The PalmPilot That Cracked The Case
- Hansen flaunted his PalmPilot and claimed its encryption was uncrackable by the FBI.
- That boast motivated O'Neill to steal the device and extract its calendar data.
