Source: Cooperation could spare Hanssen from death penalty

Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen pleaded not guilty to 21 counts of spying on May 31

By Kelli Arena
CNN Justice Department Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A highly placed source close to negotiations tells CNN that federal prosecutors are considering a deal that would spare accused FBI spy Robert Hanssen from the death penalty if he fully cooperates.

However, the official points out the negotiations remain "very fragile and informal" and far from a done deal.

In recent weeks, sources told CNN, the federal tug of war over whether to go ahead with plans to seek the death penalty have gone as high as CIA Director George Tenet, who favors keeping Hanssen alive, and to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who favors seeking the death penalty.

CNN reported last week that plea negotiations had resumed after breaking down in April. Hanssen faces 21 spying charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

Fourteen of the charges are "capital eligible," meaning they could incur the death penalty if Hanssen is convicted.

Hanssen, a 25-year veteran FBI agent, allegedly spied for Russia and the former Soviet Union over a period stretching back to 1985.

A federal indictment accuses Hanssen of taking $1.4 million in cash and diamonds as payment for passing U.S. secrets to Moscow. It alleges Hanssen compromised national security secrets, including the identities of U.S. spies, highly classified eavesdropping technology and nuclear war plans.

Prosecutors allege that information Hanssen gave to his handlers led to the deaths of at least two double agents.

It is not known how much damage Hanssen inflicted on U.S. security. An FBI damage assessment could take a year to complete, FBI officials have said.

Hanssen, an FBI counterintelligence expert, was arrested in February. He was seized near a Virginia park just minutes after he allegedly left a package under a wooden footbridge. Investigators say the bridge was a "dead drop" site for delivering secret documents to his Russian handlers.