Cold War Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Espionage=== {{Main|Cold War espionage|American espionage in the Soviet Union and Russian Federation|Soviet espionage in the United States}} All major powers engaged in espionage, using a great variety of spies, [[double agent]]s, [[Mole (espionage)|moles]], and new technologies such as the tapping of telephone cables.{{sfn|Garthoff|2004}} The Soviet [[KGB]] ("Committee for State Security"), the bureau responsible for foreign espionage and internal surveillance, was famous for its effectiveness. The most famous Soviet operation involved its [[atomic spies]] that delivered crucial information from the United States' [[Manhattan Project]], leading the USSR to detonate its first nuclear weapon in 1949, four years after the American detonation and much sooner than expected.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/news/atomic-bomb-soviet-spies|title=8 Spies Who Leaked Atomic Bomb Intelligence to the Soviets|date=21 July 2023|website=HISTORY}}</ref><ref>Christopher Andrew, ''The Sword And The Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'' (1999).</ref> A massive network of informants throughout the Soviet Union was used to monitor dissent from official Soviet politics and morals.<ref>Raymond L. Garthoff, "Foreign intelligence and the historiography of the Cold War." ''Journal of Cold War Studies'' 6.2 (2004): 21β56.</ref><ref>Michael F. Hopkins, "Continuing debate and new approaches in Cold War history." ''Historical Journal'' 50.4 (2007): 913β934.</ref> Although to an extent [[disinformation]] had always existed, the term itself was invented, and the strategy formalized by a [[black propaganda]] department of the Soviet KGB.<ref name="jowett">{{citation|author1=Garth Jowett|title=Propaganda and Persuasion|pages=21β23|date=2005|chapter=What Is Propaganda, and How Does It Differ From Persuasion?|publisher=Sage Publications|isbn=978-1-4129-0898-6|quote=In fact, the word disinformation is a cognate for the Russian dezinformatsia, taken from the name of a division of the KGB devoted to black propaganda.|author2=Victoria O'Donnell}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Before 'fake news,' there was Soviet 'disinformation'|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/11/26/before-fake-news-there-was-soviet-disinformation/|access-date=13 November 2021|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Based on the amount of top-secret Cold War archival information that has been released, historian [[Raymond L. Garthoff]] concludes there probably was parity in the quantity and quality of secret information obtained by each side. However, the Soviets probably had an advantage in terms of [[Human intelligence (intelligence gathering)|HUMINT]] (human intelligence or interpersonal espionage) and "sometimes in its reach into high policy circles." In terms of decisive impact, however, he concludes:{{sfn|Garthoff|2004|pp=29β30}} :We also can now have high confidence in the judgment that there were no successful "moles" at the political decision-making level on either side. Similarly, there is no evidence, on either side, of any major political or military decision that was prematurely discovered through espionage and thwarted by the other side. There also is no evidence of any major political or military decision that was crucially influenced (much less generated) by an agent of the other side. According to historian Robert Louis Benson, "Washington's forte was [[Signals intelligence|'signals' intelligence]]--the procurement and analysis of coded foreign messages." leading to the [[Venona project]] or Venona intercepts, which monitored the communications of Soviet intelligence agents.<ref name="benson">{{Cite book|last1=Benson|first1=Robert Louis|last2=Warner|first2=Michael|title=Venona Soviet Espionage and the American Response 1939β1957|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c8NIAQAAIAAJ|access-date=17 September 2021|date=1996|pages=vii, xix|publisher=National Security Agency}}</ref> [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan|Moynihan]] wrote that the Venona project contained "overwhelming proof of the activities of Soviet spy networks in America, complete with names, dates, places, and deeds."<ref name=":4">{{cite book|last=Moynihan|first=Daniel Patrick|url=https://archive.org/details/secrecyamericane00moyn|title=Secrecy: The American Experience|publisher=Yale University Press|date=1998|isbn=978-0-300-08079-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/secrecyamericane00moyn/page/15 15]β16|url-access=registration}}</ref> The Venona project was kept highly secret even from policymakers until the [[Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy|Moynihan Commission]] in 1995.<ref name=":4" /> Despite this, the decryption project had already been betrayed and dispatched to the USSR by [[Kim Philby]] and [[Bill Weisband]] in 1946,<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0" /> as was discovered by the US by 1950.<ref name="benson2">{{Cite book|last1=Benson|first1=Robert Louis|last2=Warner|first2=Michael|title=Venona Soviet Espionage and the American Response 1939β1957|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c8NIAQAAIAAJ|access-date=17 September 2021|date=1996|pages=xxvii, xxviii|publisher=National Security Agency}}</ref> Nonetheless, the Soviets had to keep their discovery of the program secret, too, and continued leaking their own information, some of which was still useful to the American program.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=West|first=Nigel|date=1 March 2002|title='Venona': the British dimension|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/02684520412331306440|journal=Intelligence and National Security|volume=17|issue=1|pages=117β134|doi=10.1080/02684520412331306440|s2cid=145696471|issn=0268-4527}}</ref> According to Moynihan, even President Truman may not have been fully informed of Venona, which may have left him unaware of the extent of Soviet espionage.<ref name="trumanfas">{{Cite web|title=Did Truman Know about Venona?|url=https://fas.org/irp/eprint/truman-venona.html|access-date=12 June 2021|website=fas.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Moynihan|first=Daniel Patrick|url=https://archive.org/details/secrecyamericane00moyn|title=Secrecy: The American Experience|publisher=Yale University Press|date=1998|isbn=978-0-300-08079-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/secrecyamericane00moyn/page/70 70]|url-access=registration}}</ref> Clandestine [[atomic spies]] from the Soviet Union, who infiltrated the [[Manhattan Project]] at various points during WWII, played a major role in increasing tensions that led to the Cold War.<ref name="benson" /> In addition to usual espionage, the Western agencies paid special attention to debriefing [[Emigration from the Eastern Bloc|Eastern Bloc defectors]].<ref>Cowley 1996 p. 157</ref>{{citation not found}} [[Edward Jay Epstein]] describes that the CIA understood that the KGB used "provocations", or fake defections, as a trick to embarrass Western intelligence and establish Soviet double agents. As a result, from 1959 to 1973, the CIA required that East Bloc defectors went through a counterintelligence investigation before being recruited as a source of intelligence.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Epstein|first=Edward Jay|title=Secrets of the Teheren Archive|url=https://www.edwardjayepstein.com/archived/teheren.htm|url-status=live|access-date=13 November 2021|website=www.edwardjayepstein.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010217081540/http://www.edwardjayepstein.com:80/archived/teheren.htm |archive-date=17 February 2001 }}</ref> During the late 1970s and 1980s, the KGB perfected its use of espionage to sway and distort diplomacy.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Epstein|first=Edward Jay|title=Secrets of the Teheren Archive (page 2)|url=https://www.edwardjayepstein.com/archived/teheren2.htm|url-status=live|access-date=13 November 2021|website=www.edwardjayepstein.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010223043813/http://www.edwardjayepstein.com:80/archived/teheren2.htm |archive-date=23 February 2001 }}</ref> [[Active measures]] were "clandestine operations designed to further Soviet foreign policy goals," consisting of disinformation, forgeries, leaks to foreign media, and the channeling of aid to militant groups.<ref>{{Cite web|title=KGB Active Measures β Russia / Soviet Intelligence Agencies|url=https://irp.fas.org/world/russia/kgb/su0523.htm|access-date=13 November 2021|website=irp.fas.org}}</ref> Retired KGB Major General [[Oleg Kalugin]], former head of Foreign Counter Intelligence for the KGB (1973β1979), described active measures as "the heart and soul of [[List of historical secret police organizations#Soviet Union|Soviet intelligence]]."<ref name="Kalugin">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070627183623/http://www3.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/21/interviews/kalugin/ Interview of Oleg Kalugin on CNN] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070627183623/http://www3.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/21/interviews/kalugin/|date=27 June 2007}}</ref> During the [[Sino-Soviet split]], "spy wars" also occurred between the USSR and PRC.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Soviet-Chinese Spy Wars in the 1970s: What KGB Counterintelligence Knew, Part II {{!}} Wilson Center|url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/soviet-chinese-spy-wars-1970s-what-kgb-counterintelligence-knew-part-ii|access-date=13 November 2021|website=www.wilsoncenter.org|language=en}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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