These letters, which were linked to Hanssen through surveillance and fingerprints, constitute the strongest evidence in the government’s case against Hanssen. Some of the letters are expository, others are merely logistical. They reveal the day-to-day details of his espionage work and touch on personal aspects of his life, including his fear of the death penalty, his concern for his children and his inspiration for becoming a spy.

OCTOBER 4, 1985

A hand-addressed envelope, postmarked Prince Georges County, Md., arrives at the Virginia home of Viktor M. Degtyar, a KGB officer who worked at the Soviet Embassy in Washington. In the enclosed unsigned note, an anonymous FBI source bluntly volunteers his services as a spy. To show he is serious, the author drops a preliminary morsel: he discloses the names of three Soviet KGB officers stationed in the United States who are being recruited as spies by the FBI. When those agents returned to the Soviet Union several years later, one was sentenced to 15 years in prison and the two others were executed. The following letter marks the start of a 15-year correspondence:

OCTOBER 24, 1985 Degytar receives a letter outlining a drop-off plan to enable the source to pick up payment. KGB agents called their mysterious source “B”.

DROP LOCATION Please leave your package for me under the corner (nearest the street) of the wooden foot bridge located just west of the entrance to Nottaway Park. (ADC Northern Virginia Street Map, #14, D3)

PACKAGE PREPARATION Use a green or brown plastic trash bag and trash to cover a waterproofed package.

SIGNAL LOCATION Signal site will be the pictorial pedestrian-crossing signpost just west of the main Nottoway Park Entrance on Old Courthouse Road. (The sign is the one nearest the bridge just mentioned.)

SIGNALS My signal to you: One vertical mark of white adhesive tape meaning drop filled.

Your signal to me: One horizontal mark of white adhesive tape meaning I am ready to receive your package.

My signal to you: One vertical mark of white adhesive tape meaning I have received your package.

(Remove old tape before leaving signal.)

NOVEMBER 8, 1985 Degtyar and Cherkashin receive another letter from B. Excerpts:

JUNE 30, 1986 Degytar receives this letter from B outlining plans for continued correspondence.

SEPTEMBER 11, 1987 Another KGB counterintelligence officer, Boris M. Malakhov, receives the following letter in response to a KGB request that B set up an in-person meeting with his Soviet handlers.

NOVEMBER 19, 1987 B has repeated difficulties picking up a package (referred to as AN) left for him in a Virginia park by the KGB. Soviet officials receive a handwritten note that reads as follows.

JULY 15, 1988 Once again, B has trouble finding a package at the drop-off site and expresses frustration to his handlers.

MARCH 14, 2000 After a lull in communications, KGB officials receive a note from B bearing a Chicago postmark.

JUNE 8, 2000 After exchanging packages at drop-off locations in Virginia with B, KGB officials receive the following note.

NOVEMBER 17, 2000 The note that follows is thought to be the final written correspondence B has with the KGB before his arrest this week.

Yours truly, Ramon