To put it really simply, Robert Hanssen probably did everything for the money. According to History, as far as anyone can tell, he didn't seem to have any sort of ideological stake in any of this — seems fitting then that he just racked up well over a million dollars in cash, assets, and holdings in a Russian bank.

Weirdly enough, though, he didn't really spend much (at least, relatively). While Aldrich Ames was found out because he was spending more than should've been possible, Hanssen says in his letters (included in the FBI affidavit) that he knew he couldn't use it. It would trip the "drug money" alarm, according to him, which had him instead start asking for payment in jewels like diamonds. Even if he couldn't spend the money, assets like diamonds could be some "security to [his] children." Beyond that, though, there's not a whole lot of reference to what exactly he actually planned to do with the wealth afterwards, though.

But while money seemed to be his main motive, he did speak to some less-than-flattering views of the U.S. He saw the country as something like "a powerfully built but r*tarded child," potentially dangerous but easily manipulated, at least on the days when it didn't suddenly turn into a determined and genius "idiot savant." Sure, that's not exactly motive or anything, but it's definitely an interesting point of view, and one that seems like it speaks to some sort of frustration.

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