Washington Center For Psychiatry

By Alen J. Salerian, MD

The purpose of this letter is to correct the record about false accusations of ethical misconduct against me in the case of Robert Hanssen, America’s most notorious spy responsible for the death of three agents and compromising national security.

There is a short and a long answer to the saga of false claims.

The short answer is for the very conclusions of Maryland’s Appeals Court decision of my unethical conduct, several well-respected organizations declared me innocent after very thorough examinations. The first one was the ethics board of Washington Psychiatric Institute. Later both Washington Psychiatric Society and American Psychiatric Association, in a stunning reversal of their earlier decisions, declared me innocent.

The long answer about my innocence has several basic elements summarized below.

1. Throughout the administrative hearings, all my constitutional rights as a citizen were violated for I was not given the privilege to face or confront my accuser. Indeed, when I emphatically requested that I cross examine Mr. Plato Cacheris, one of my chief accusers, Judge Klein without any explanation declined.
2. Judge Klein’s final decision was based upon hearsay and lies. The crux of the matter was whether I was authorized by my patient, Robert Hanssen, to speak with his wife about his psychiatric condition. The key evidence, a piece of paper written and signed by Robert Hanssen thanking me for my contributions, mysteriously disappeared while in the custody of Mr. Cacheris.
3. Judge Klein’s decision was based upon erroneous assumptions of my practicing medicine without license in the state of Virginia. This was not true. I had unwisely written a few lines on a prescription pad as a summary of a consultation note for the prison doctor recommending Paxil, a medication, for Mr. Hanssen. I mailed this note to Mr. Cacheris, who then forwarded it to the prison doctor. The prison doctor wrote the orders for Paxil. No patient can have two primary doctors at the same time. There is always one doctor in charge and responsible for the care of each patient. In this particular case, all the documents clearly show that the doctor in charge for Mr. Bob Hanssen was the prison doctor; hence the allegation that I, as Hanssen’s doctor, gave orders for medication is inaccurate and illogical.
4. Plato Cacheris, under oath, lied repeatedly. His testimony was crucial in Judge Klein’s final decision. Plato Cacheris claimed he had not known me or worked with me closely despite the fact that for over many years he and I had professionally collaborated on a number of highly publicized cases. He had publicly claimed and sounded surprised and annoyed at the fact that Bob Hanssen was prescribed a medication upon my suggestion; yet Plato Cacheris was the person who received the consultation note and forwarded it to the prison doctor.

But this case is not about Plato Cacheris. These are just examples that crucial information about my role and function in dealing with Bob Hanssen was manipulated by Plato Cacheris and were inaccurate and naturally led to the wrong conclusion.

In summary and in retrospect, I am very proud of the way I dealt with Bob Hanssen and his family. At no time did I betray his confidence. The claims that I betrayed him by speaking with the media are lies, and the evidence would show that all my publicly documented interviews were highly skilled representations of making general statements about the problems with the justice system and FBI not dealing correctly with people like Bob Hanssen in highly sensitive positions and never revealing anything of substance.
For whatever it is worth, I have put Bob Hanssen behind me and for all practical purposes forgiven the profound human failures of Plato Cacheris and Judge Klein.
Sincerely,

Alen J. Salerian, MD