Why 8850 Form Agencies 2016-2023

A recent British inquiry into the suspicious death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin had likely authorized his killing. While it's unclear whether these claims are true, the silencing of dissent is not out of character for the former Soviet security agency, the KGB. So, what exactly was the KGB and why was it so feared in its time? Well, the KGB, or the Committee for State Security, was the Soviet Union's security and foreign intelligence agency. It operated from 1954 to 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. It was then replaced by the FSK and later the FSB in the new Russian Federation. Both of these successors have served similar security functions to the KGB during its existence. Unlike security agencies in other countries, the KGB was effectively an independent government body with little oversight by Russian leaders. The organization had a combination of duties, including intelligence gathering, border security, and propaganda enforcement. However, most controversially, it operated as Russia's secret police and domestic surveillance unit. During its existence, more than half a million people were employed by the KGB, with thousands of international spies. It was the single largest institution of its kind worldwide. The KGB gathered information using legal resident spies, Soviet citizens given permission to work in other countries, usually in embassies, with diplomatic immunity. They also utilized illegal spies, who had no immunity but were able to integrate into countries without immediate suspicion. Domestically, the KGB was feared as the country's secret police. They targeted individuals suspected of being anti-communist or anti-government, frequently searching their homes and making arrests. The organization had separate departments for controlling religious activity, subversive nationalism, influencing unauthorized media, and specifically targeting the Jewish population. The KGB even worked against heads of state who threatened the stability of Soviet ideology....