August 15, 2003- New York Times
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
EFL
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 — F.B.I. officials knew as far back as the mid-1980’s that Robert P. Hanssen, the longtime agent and convicted Russian spy, had repeatedly mishandled classified data and violated procedures but did nothing to prompt an investigation....numerous signals ... could have led to Mr. Hanssen’s capture years earlier.

The report concluded that ... the F.B.I. has not done enough to fix gaping holes in its internal security.

...Glenn A. Fine, the Justice Department inspector general, said in an interview... "I believe they [the FBI] still have a long way to go."

...Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said he was alarmed to learn from the report that the F.B.I. remained vulnerable to espionage within its own ranks, and he pressed for greater oversight.
....
The report states that by the mid-1980’s it had become obvious to his F.B.I. colleagues and supervisors that Mr. Hanssen had repeatedly mishandled classified data and exhibited brazen and reckless behavior. But because of cultural and systemic problems at the F.B.I — and a mindset of denial that an F.B.I. agent could possibly be a mole — nothing was done to investigate his behavior, the report says.
...

In 1993, Mr. Hanssen sought out a Russian agent in a parking garage and tried to give him a package with classified data, the report says. The overture was "remarkable for its recklessness and self-destructive quality," it says, and the Russians were so concerned that they were being set up that they filed a formal protest with the United States government. But the investigation never led to Mr. Hanssen.

"We now know that the F.B.I. was on the wrong track from the beginning, because the mole the F.B.I. was looking for was Hanssen, an F.B.I. employee," the report states.