KGB
Moscow's Cold War agency
The KGB was the Soviet Union's primary security and intelligence agency from 1954 until the USSR's dissolution in 1991.
It conducted foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and internal surveillance, becoming synonymous with Cold War espionage and state repression.
The initials stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security).
The KGB had files on millions of Soviet citizens.
U.S. foreign intelligence service
Methods of secret agents
- molesBurrowing insectivore mammals
- honeypotDecoy system catching attackers
- tradecraftEspionage methods and skills
- sleeperOne at rest
handler · asset · turncoat · defector · exfiltration · infiltration · recruitment · covert
Defense against enemy espionage
- signalsConveyed indications
- cryptographyScience of secure messaging
- codebreakingSolving secret communications
- cipherHidden writing system
decryption · analysis · dossier · informant · intel · reconnaissance · classified · briefing
Former communist superpower
- KremlinMoscow's fortified government seat
- MoscowRussia's capital city
- StalinSoviet autocrat, mid-century
- BrezhnevSoviet general secretary
Pravda · Politburo · NKVD · Cheka · Bolsheviks · Gorbachev · Khrushchev
Systematic observation of subjects
- wiretappingCovert phone surveillance
- assassinationMurder of a prominent figure
- poisoningHarmful substance exposure
- disinformationIntentional deceptive falsehoods
interrogation · blackmail · kompromat · kidnapping · wetwork · sabotage · propaganda · subversion
CIA
U.S. foreign intelligence service
spycraft
Methods of secret agents
- molesBurrowing insectivore mammals
- honeypotDecoy system catching attackers
- tradecraftEspionage methods and skills
sleeper · handler · asset · turncoat · defector · exfiltration · infiltration · recruitment · covert · clandestine
counterintelligence
Defense against enemy espionage
- signalsConveyed indications
- cryptographyScience of secure messaging
- codebreakingSolving secret communications
cipher · decryption · analysis · dossier · informant · intel · reconnaissance · classified · briefing · assessment
USSR
Former communist superpower
- KremlinMoscow's fortified government seat
- MoscowRussia's capital city
- StalinSoviet autocrat, mid-century
Brezhnev · Pravda · Politburo · NKVD · Cheka · Bolsheviks · Gorbachev · Khrushchev
surveillance
Systematic observation of subjects
- wiretappingCovert phone surveillance
- assassinationMurder of a prominent figure
- poisoningHarmful substance exposure
disinformation · interrogation · blackmail · kompromat · kidnapping · wetwork · sabotage · propaganda · subversion · destabilization
Abel
Hebrew name meaning breath
- Cold WarBerlin Wall, Iron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis
- Soviet EraUSSR, Soviet Union, Soviet rule, CCCP, Eastern Bloc
- Cold War Dissentdissidents, samizdat, refuseniks, defectors, Radio Free Europe
- Defunct OrganizationsLeague of Nations, Warsaw Pact, Pan Am, TWA, Enron
- Russian EntitiesAeroflot, Yandex, Kremlin, RT, Pravda
- secret networkssecret societies, cabals, cells, hidden networks, criminal networks
KGBCIA
U.S. foreign intelligence service
free world · Voice of America · Radio Free Europe · democratic institutions
KGBACLU
Advocacy group for constitutional protections
free press · open society · independent journalism · Radio Free Europe · glasnost