Breach

buckaroo

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Some months ago, I heard on NPR and interview with Terry Gross interviewing Eric O'Neill and Billy Ray. Eric was an FBI wanna be agent and Billy Ray wrote and directed the movie. Eric, already working for the FBI was asked to be the inside guy on an investigation of Robert Hanssen, who was the worst spy in the country's history. The interview piqued my interest in this movie and I had to see it as I did remember when the whole thing came down, early 2001. Of course the movie is only "based" on the story, but Eric said that most of it was true to form and he, Eric, worked with the actors and crew during the filming of the movie.

The DVD has lots of extras that really are interesting and includes a Dateline story done about the capture of Hanssen, only two weeks after he was caught. At that time, it wasn't disclosed yet that he confessed. Also, in the many stories and books that came out afterwards, none of them even mentioned Eric. The movie great, but it doesn't show the fear that Eric faced almost daily, but he was able to hang in there with no cover at all and did a marvelous job.
 
Excellent movie. Talk about getting pissed off at somebody.
 
bump, have you had a chance to hear or read of the ordeal that Eric went through? I remember when this all went down, but the press didn't, or weren't allowed to even mention Eric in their reports. Eric was a part of the movie in that he advised here and there.
 
No, I haven't heard or read anything about Eric's ordeal. I'm kinda embarrassed that I don't remember hearing anything about this. Musta been during my "happy" days. I need to check into it more. It's just scary to think about all the deals could could be happening. Even though money wasn't the motivator here, it's a huge motivation for anyone else to sell out their country.
 
bump, don't know if it's still available, but NPR's Terry Gross interviewed both Eric and the producer of the movie and there was a lot of info there that was amazing. Eric said that the part in the movie where he took the PDA and copied it's contents and then put it back before he was noticed was real, including the part where he couldn't remember what pocket in the briefcase it was in. While the movie does show what a great job Eric did for our country, it really left a lot out. And the press never has acknowledged what he did. But that's the secrets of our country.
 
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