In 1991, following the fall of the Soviet Union, Hanssen felt that the instability of the nation (and its intelligence community and operatives) made it too dangerous to continue in his espionage activities. For the next eight years he continued on at the FBI, but when former KGB official Vladimir Putin rose to power in 1999, Hanssen felt it was time to get back into the game and he re-established contact with the Russians.
In September 2000, a Russian agent cooperating with the FBI provided files he had received and included the plastic bags in which they were delivered. Robert Hanssen's fingerprints were found on these bags. The FBI quietly began surveillance on him and videotaped him taking documents marked SECRET from the FBI office. The Bureau went so far as to bug his home, office and car and purchased a house across the street from him in which they increased their surveillance.
He was observed making numerous trips to Foxstone Park where Hanssen checked for a signal that the Russians were ready to trade information for money.
On February 18, 2001, Hanssen went to church and then dropped off his friend Jack Hoschuer at Dulles Airport in Virginia. He traveled to Foxstone Park, near his Vienna, Virginia home, got out of his car and walked over to a footbridge, under which he left of package. The package contained the documents he had taken from his office as well as a computer diskette upon which was a goodbye letter to his Russian "friends."
The letter stated:
