As host of the weekly CBS News podcast series The Takeout, CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett focuses on the nitty gritty of U.S. politics and policy, and speaks with the top newsmakers of the day.
Garrett is going in a totally different direction for his second podcast. He has embarked on an investigation into the life of Robert Hanssen, an American FBI agent who spied for Soviet and Russian Intelligence services against the U.S. from 1979-2001.
Garrett’s new eight-episode CBS News podcast series is titled Agent of Betrayal: The Double Life of Robert Hanssen, and is poised to debut Thursday, Sept. 28.
“Hanssen’s story is about lying on a deadly and diseased scale,” Garrett told TVNewser earlier this week. “I’ve been in Washington more than 30 years. Liars are not new to me. But Hanssen was. Why? Because he lied to his wife, his bosses, his co-workers, his country, and to himself. And people died.”
Garrett describes Hanssen as “a gruff, paper-pushing know-it-all,” and “a kaleidoscope of contradictions.”
He was also responsible, directly or indirectly, for several deaths and is considered the biggest espionage failure in FBI history.
“As we make clear, espionage will never cease. Traitors to America came before Hanssen and will doubtless come after,” Garrett added. “But not one will be like Hanssen. That’s why I had to tell this story.”
More than 40 people have been interviewed as part of Garrett’s investigation: These include Hanssen’s family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, the agents who caught him, and more creating a full picture of the man that many call the most dangerous FBI spy in history.
Hanssen died in a federal supermax prison this past June.
Garrett’s second CBS News podcast joins an ever-growing lineup of CBS News audio offerings, including 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty’s My Life of Crime, CBS Sunday Morning David Pogue’s Unsung Science, Jill Schlessinger’s Eye on Money, Allison Keyes’ Kaleidoscope, Mike Morell’s Intelligence Matters, as well as podcasts from CBS News franchises CBS Sunday Morning, CBS Mornings, 48 Hours, the CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell and 60 Minutes.
