KGB

=KGB =



The USSR Counterintelligence Agency

KGB Overview

The KGB was started in March 1954 in Moscow, although it unofficially began after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Its primary purpose was intelligence and counterintelligence and it served as a police force. KGB stands for Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopanosti, or Committee for State Security. The KGB was one of the few groups that were allowed to work outside of government law. It was a strict but powerful organization, and waged a silent war against Western operatives until the very end of the Cold War.

Actions and Responsibilities

media type="youtube" key="zeMZGGQ0ERk" width="425" height="350" align="right" The KGB had many responsibilities. It led the border control, assisted in Kremlin operations, took part in foreign policy decisions, spread propaganda and pro-communist ideas, and served as riot control. Until recently, no one knew anything about how the KGB operated or the extent of its actions. The KGB discovered the Berlin Tunnel and stopped the U.S. and Great Britain from tapping into Soviet headquarters. The KGB commonly used disinformation, or dezinformatsiya, and assassination. Soviet spies frequently planted information that showed the USSR had more nuclear weapons and more advanced technology than the U.S.

The KGB was in control of the Soviet border too. They prevented any arms from being smuggled in by land or sea, and made sure no U.S. spies got in. They also prevented any anti-communist literature or art from entering the Soviet Union. Border protection was considered an important duty because it protected the ideology of communism. This video shows how well-trained the KGB were in brainwashing people and spreading communism

  The head of the KGB was a part of the Politburo, or the central government, so he had a strong influence in foreign policy. The KGB actually pushed the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and was one of the reasons it happened. Even so, the KGB later discouraged the invasion of Poland and Afghanistan, because the KGB leader, Andropov, was worried about the Soviet Union’s international image.

The KGB was also responsible for investigating crimes and punishing prisoners. They mostly dealt with foreigners and cases against the government. Also, the KGB guarded the main Soviet leaders and made sure they were up to date on major developments.

History of the KGB

media type="youtube" key="4KRTPh1PAek" width="225" height="188" align="left"The KGB started immediately after the November revolution in 1917, under the name of the Cheka. It was renamed many times and merged into different groups until after Stalin died and Beria, his chief of police, was executed. Then the KGB was created and placed under the Council of Ministers, designed to handle espionage work. In 1978, the KGB chairman was assured a seat on the Council of Ministers, therefore giving it autonomy. The KGB functioned until closer to the end of the Soviet Union, when Gorbachev tried to reform it in his glasnost. The KGB finally collapsed right before USSR in 1991. The remnants of the KGB attempted a coup to take the Soviet Union from Gorbachev, but it failed. The remaining KGB was split into 3 groups, the, Federal Security Service (FSB), the Russian Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK), and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), after the fall of the Soviet Union.

KGB Tactics

KGB agents were trained in many areas like disinformation,, espionage, and subversion. They used interesting technology to assassinate people, similar to the CIA. They used poison pens, poison-tipped umbrellas, and lipstick pistols. These tactics were used not only against the U.S., but anyone promoting Western ideas.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">There are a few famous Soviet double-agents that have been revealed after the war. The most famous would probably be the Walker family, who, after put on trial during the Cold War and found innocent, finally was revealed on how deep their spying and espionage went. Aldridge Ames was another KGB agent found out to be selling names of CIA double agents to the KGB that would be used to kill or capture them.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">The KGB was in close contact with the Kremlin’s operations. They helped spread information about new technology to scare the west by the Kremlin’s request. They also were directed to start uprisings on pro-western governments by the Kremlin. Uprisings on both Nicaragua and Guatemala were started by KGB assassinations and were fueled by money from the Kremlin to create communist governments. The same process occurred in many African countries, and NATO installations were also targeted. The KGB used disinformation to destabilize the Middle East and cause the assassination of the pro-western Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat. The KGB frequently created terrorist cells and radical groups in the U.S. to prevent direct confrontation, but still create chaos.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">The KGB also used the intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union’s satellite nations to get intelligence. They were loyal first to their own country, but they still gave a massive amount of information to the KGB. An officer in the Czechoslovak intelligence agency said that Soviet intelligence was told about every major development discovered by their own agency.

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ff0000; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 22px; text-align: left;">Signifigance of the KGB <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">It is hard to identify the full signifigance of the KGB. They were so secretive and still keep many of those secrets today. They did participate in many operations and spread lots of destruction and chaos across many nations, including the U.S., without anyone's knowledge.The KGB is still considered by many to be the best and most secretive intelligence agency of all time. They were also intwined in Soviet politics, and influenced many desicisions regarding invasions and foreign policy. Almost every part of Soviet life was affected by the KGB one way or another, especially foreign affairs. The KGB bascally kept the Soviet Union fighting in the Cold War, spread communism to different countries, and didn't allow the U.S. to do anything easily or without their knowledge. They worked alongside the Kremlin to keep things stable at home and gain intelligence abroad, along with dismantelling any NATO installations.

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ff0000; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 22px; text-align: left;">Impact of the KGB <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Again, the secrets of the KGB make it hard to identify how much of an impact they had. The amount of power they had probably means they had a huge impact, one of the biggest out of any agency in the Soviet Union. The KGB effectivlely controlled foreign policy with the Soviet leader, so they were responsible for many of the actions taken place during the Cold War against the U.S. They implanted and expanded terrorist cells in the U.S. and the Middle East, so they are partly responsible for modern day terrorism. They also gained a lot of information that was used against the U.S. In a war of stealth and spies, the KGB was at the front lines, fighting against the CIA in a hidden war. Also, they were really the only government agency allowed to operate independently in the Soviet Union, which gave them room to do anything they wanted in their operations. Overall, the KGB were the main force of the Soviet Union in the Cold War and was instrumental in keeping the Soviet Union in competition with the U.S. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="background-color: #ff1c1c; color: #ffe021; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 23px; text-align: center;">Works Cited <span style="background-color: #ff1c1c; color: #ffe021; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 23px; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Crostic, Stacey. "The KGB." // Cold War Museum //. The Cold War Museum, n.d. Web. 1 May 2012. <http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/KGB.asp>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> LERNER, K. LEE. "KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti, USSR Committee of State Security)." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence and Security //. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 201-204. //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gale World History In Context //. Web. 1 May 2012.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> "KGB." // http://library.thinkquest.org //. N.p., n.d. Web. April 24 2012. <http://library.thinkquest.org/10826/kgb.htm

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Pike, John, and Steve Aftergood. "KGB Committee for State Security." // Federation of American Scientists //. Federation of American Scientists, 26 Nov 1997. Web. 1 May 2012.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Powaski, Ronald E. // The Cold War: The United States and the Soviet Union, 1917-1991 //. Oxford University Press, 1997. Print.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Zubok, Vladislav, and Constantine Pleshakov. // Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev //. Harvard University Press, 1997. Print.