Former FBI operative Eric O'Neill shared his experience in catching the most notorious spy in U.S. history Tuesday night at the UC auditorium. O'Neill's story was depicted in the Universal feature film Breach, starring Ryan Phillippe.

O'Neill graduated from Auburn University in 1995. He then moved to Washington D.C. to work as a consultant. He realized the consultant position was not where he wanted to be, so he began applying for work with governmental agencies.

O'Neill joined the FBI after going through a long process to determine if he represented upstanding citizenry. As an undercover surveillance specialist, O'Neill was trained to watch, photograph and follow people on the streets of Washington, D.C.

If you want me to define what exactly I did, I really can't other than looking at Excel spreadsheets and boring myself to tears.  Eric O'Neill

"In 2001, I am called off the street to discuss a case that my superiors thought I'd be just right for," O'Neill said.

His new assignment was to investigate special agent Robert Hanssen. O'Neill was chosen for this mission because he was a Catholic and a male.

Since the FBI suspected Hanssen of espionage, they built an office for him, gave him an important job and enticed him not to retire.

On the first day of work, Hanssen introduced O'Neill to "Hanssen's Law". This "law" stated that "the spy is always where he has access to the information that he knows he can use to do the most damage and get the most money. And he knows how to use it and get away with it."

O'Neill described Hanssen as a pathologically dishonest person, and a man with strange habits.

"I found out in the middle of investigation that the guy was a sexual deviant, the guy was a shock for me, I was used to following spies around," he said. "I can deal with spies and terrorists, but perverts not so much."

FBI assigned him to get Hanssen's Palm Pilot, which would be critical in learning Hanssen's cooperation with the Russians. Since Hanssen was never without it, a plan had to be developed to gain access to it.

While Hanssen visited a firing range with his bosses, O'Neill used this opportunity to take the Palm Pilot and data card from Hanssen's bag.

The FBI discovered, through the Palm Pilot's data, the date and time Hanssen was supposed to go and pick up another packet of classified material. They followed Hanssen to a park in Virginia and arrested him.

Through O'Neill's work, Hanssen was found to have been selling some of the U.S.'s secret information to the former Soviet Union and Russia for more than 15 years.

"If you are ever in a position to sell part of your life story to Hollywood, get a movie made about you and have a bunch of people that pretend they were you for a certain period of time and act out your life, I highly suggest you do so," O'Neill said.

Issues Committee chair Robin Overby said the committee tries to reach a broad scope of students by inviting guest speakers to talk on different issues.

"We thought Eric O'Neill would be an interesting person to listen to, talking about his experiences within the FBI," Overby said.

The event was sponsored by the Issues Committee.