When one thinks of the former Soviet Union, many things come to mind. Perhaps one of the first associations would be the KGB. To those living in the USSR, they were an organization to be feared. To those living outside of the Iron Curtain, they were looked at with intrigue. In both cases, they were not to be taken lightly. While they were unique in many ways, they were also similar in function to America’s Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation, Great Britain’s MI5/MI6, and Israel’s Mossad. All of these esteemed groups were created to protect their respective country’s interests at home and abroad, yet for certain reasons the KGB is often held in a different regard.

At the height of its power, the KGB was the world’s largest foreign-intelligence/secret-police organization. As you may have guessed, the letters KGB form an acronym that really stands for Комите́т Госуда́рственной Безопа́сности in Russian. In English it means Committee for State Security. The KGB was created in 1954 and lasted roughly until 1991 and was a predecessor to the Cheka, MGB, NKGB, and FSB or Федеральная Служба Безопасности (which is the current name of this organization). Here is a great documentary on the KGB:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jICB0PaDyrc

The KGB have been portrayed in movies as being made up of a bunch of hard-nosed, sadistic men, hell-bent on fulfilling their missions. To some degree, that may be true; however, I bet that is true of all such agencies at one time or another. Known as the “sword and shield of the Communist Party,” the KGB protected the party from within and from without. They were gatherers of intelligence and counterintelligence from many sources both inside and outside of Russia. They also enforced Soviet ideology and propaganda to the fullest extent of their capacity.

The KGB ran effective spy campaigns in many countries, including America. Through a private US citizen, Elizabeth Bentley, a large spy ring was set up that included a former press officer for the State Department – Bernard Redmont. Once Bentley decided to turn herself in to the FBI, many  people were implicated and she dealt a severe blow to Soviet intelligence gathering in America. Theoretical physicist, Robert Oppenheimer, was also contacted many times by the KGB but he refused to participate. He would later lose his security clearance and you have to wonder if KGB was behind it. The latest Russian spy that was publicly busted was Anna Chapman. Things actually worked out pretty well for her: she made a name for herself and shortly became a host of a popular Russian show “Тайны мира” (Mysteries of the  World).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M54PokbXlwo

The KGB struck fear into the hearts of Russians and foreigners alike. This state-security agency was second to none and they might be considered part of the reason that the Soviet Union was seen as a threat to the rest of the world. After watching the videos, you ought to have a good idea of what the KGB did and how well they did it.

Here is a link about how the KGB worked in America from a panel of experts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRB7wY6dk1o

Всего хорошего!