History of Russian Government Agency The KGB Part 3

About the Russian government agency the KGB, history and information about the organization.

SHOULD WE BE AFRAID OF THESE GROUPS?

THE KGB

The Abel case is a good example of the KGB technique of infiltrating "illegals" into targeted countries. An illegal is a native Russian agent who is given years of training in the language and customs of the country he is to infiltrate. After this training is completed, he is given the identity of a real person and the passports, papers, and other documents needed to prove his citizenship and identity. Abel entered the U.S. as Andrew Kayotis and was using the name Emil R. Goldfus when he was arrested.

Because it lies squarely on the crossroads between east and west, West Germany has been the target of a number of KGB actions. In one of the most successful, KGB agent Heinz Sutterlin, posing as a photographer, married Lenore Heinz, the secretary to a high official in the West German Foreign Ministry. Heinz proceeded to slip her spy-husband about 2,900 documents, one third of which were top secret. After her husband's cover was blown and she realized she had been the victim of a fraud, Lenore committed suicide.

In another instance, Heinz Felfe, a key man in the BND, the West German CIA, was serving as an agent for the KGB and supplying vital information about BND operations. The information he supplied to the Russians made it all but impossible for the West German intelligence apparatus to operate successfully in Eastern Europe. Felfe was so valuable to the KGB that he was even allowed to expose a less valuable KGB spy to the West Germans to allay any suspicions they might have had about him.

Strength and Influence Today

It is hard to evaluate the strength and influence of the KGB, because it is even more secretive than the CIA. However, it has done a good job of suppressing internal Soviet dissent. On the foreign espionage side, the KGB is probably behind the CIA in advanced technology and sophistication. Its greatest strength may be its size. It is said that for every American CIA agent working abroad, there are two of his Russian counterparts.

Are They a Threat to Our Lives?

The KGB has little to do with the lives of ordinary Americans, although it does exert a disruptive influence in U.S. domestic affairs. Americans traveling in the Soviet Union are susceptible to KGB entrapments. If one is a Soviet citizen, the KGB threat is a very real one, for the organization is always on the watch and ready to act at the slightest hint of nonconformity to the official life-style or approved political opinions. This stifling of dissent, plus KGB operations in other countries, presents a threat to world stability and democratic institutions.

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