Gonzaga Graduate Portrayed on the Big Screen

FORMER FBI OPERATIVE HELPS CAPTURE A SPY, AND HOLLYWOOD LIKES THE STORY

BY KATE PIPKIN

Gonzaga College High School graduate Eric O’Neill flashes a hint of a smile as he recalls the last words he ever said to his boss, Robert Hanssen.

“I’ll catch you later, boss.”

As a young FBI employee in 2001, O’Neill was instrumental in helping to bring down Hanssen, one of the most sought-after spies in FBI history. O’Neill’s compelling story was recently turned into a major motion picture called Breach.

O’Neill had been working in undercover surveillance for the FBI for four years when he was asked to work on a special case – Hanssen’s. O’Neill had never worked face-to-face before with a “target.”
“My job was to get him to communicate and talk – to trip him up,” says O’Neill, a 1991 graduate of Gonzaga.

The FBI suspected Hanssen of selling American secrets to the Russians, but had been unable to catch him at it. They had reason to believe he was going to make just one more drop to the Russians and then “retire” from the espionage business. If they didn’t catch Hanssen now, they would never catch him.

Enter Jesuit-educated O’Neill. Bright, young, computer-savvy. The plan was that O’Neill would be Hanssen’s new assistant, get to know him and attempt to thwart that final drop. It would not be easy. Hanssen was a suspicious, domineering man who also purported to be a devout Catholic and was part of the controversial Opus Dei group.

 O’Neill’s Catholic upbringing came in handy, because the overbearing Hanssen would often quiz O’Neill about Catholicism, implying that O’Neill was not as faithful as he could be.  Little did Hanssen know that these discussions gave O’Neill great insight to what made the seasoned spy tick.
“The irony is that he was betraying everything he claimed to believe,” says O’Neill.
Hanssen’s constant verbal badgering did not rattle O’Neill, who says he was secure enough in his faith not to be influenced by the strange zealot. O’Neill says his Jesuit education prepared him well for such cautious FBI work.

“With Jesuit education, the impetus is to question and to take an active role in classes,” he explains. “We were taught to constantly ask ‘why’ until that questioning pushes you to the point where you have to have faith.”

O’Neill studied his target and learned that Hanssen kept all valuable information on a Palm Pilot. The FBI devised a plan to distract Hanssen so O’Neill could confiscate the Palm Pilot and download the information, including where and when Hanssen’s final drop would be. 

Hanssen was arrested on February 18, 2001, after he made his final drop of American secrets in a park near his Virginia home. Just two days earlier, Hanssen had left the office for the weekend and said goodnight to O’Neill who responded, “I’ll catch you later, boss.” Hanssen was sentenced to life in prison.      

After the capture of Hanssen, O’Neill could have become a full-fledged FBI agent, but he instead chose to leave the agency.

“I made a decision to focus more on family and what is really important to me,” he says.
With the help of his actor and screenwriter brother, David, O’Neill pitched the story to movie executives. Released by Universal Studios in February of this year, Breach is directed by Billy Ray and stars actor Ryan Phillippe as O’Neill.

Although O’Neill is now a government contracts lawyer in Washington, D.C., the experience of having part of his life turned into a movie has sparked a new interest for him: screenwriting. He is working on several screenwriting projects and expects that Breach will not be his final foray into the movies.

Kate Pipkin is director of communications for the Maryland Province Jesuits.

Related Links

Gonzaga College High School
Breach