Kate Burroughs

Laura Linney portrays the character Kate Burroughs, an FBI agent hunting the mole, Robert Hanssen, in the 2007 film “Breach”.

Robert Hanssen, less you forgot, is considered the most treacherous spy in the history of the US. He was arrested in 2001 after 16 illustrious years of espionage for the former Soviet Union.

Now whether Kate Burroughs is a real person or just a character based on a real person, we don’t know. However, Laura Linney plays one bad-ass, rocking Fed and this Agent doesn’t at all mind admitting that “Kate” almost kinda of scares her. Just a little bit.

What is most fascinating about Kate, and refreshing as well, is the fact that she is just a broad doing her job. How many movies or TV shows do we see where women in intelligence are trying to juggle their life, while finding a date, looking hot, or having all sorts of “feelings” about being a “girl” who works intel? Well, it’s either that or they are manifested into some girlfriend or mother figure, both of which are equally frustrating.

But not this sister. Not our Kate. We know she works hard and late, she doesn’t have cats, and is all about her work. She is most certainly not there to play the soothing mommy-type to Ryan Phillipe’s Eric O’Neil. She is a boss with a job to do and being a chick is the least of her. This broad is demanding, she is tough, she is unrelenting, and she is dispassionate about everything except for this: catching Robert Hanssen.

The most mind-blowing feature about the character of Kate Burroughs is that she could just as easily have been a male character. And when I say “mind-blowing”, and I mean this with all sincerity here, it is because Kate is doing a job just like a man would, just like a regular person would, just as women do every damn day without all these gender issues or sexed-up-killer-fembottery tangled up into the mix.

Aside from being an excellent movie about the massive resources it required to hunt down the most dangerous traitor of our time, this movie is also an interesting look into the life of an FBI employee and the sacrifices federal employees of this nature make for our country. Anyone who wishes to glamorize the trade really ought to give this movie a good viewing before signing up.