Primary sources:
Blake, George. "KGB Interviews." PBS. Abameida, 1999. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/redfiles/kgb/deep/interv/k_int_george_blake.htm>.
The website provided with an interview with the ex KGB agent from Britain named George Blake. Blake was a British agent who decided to work for the Soviet Union after he witnessed what was happening to the Koreans during the Korean War. He thought that many Korean were defenseless and were being harmed by powerful countries such as United States. The interview was helpful to research because it gave a perspective in why some men from countries like Britain and United States became KGB agents. It also gave information about the type of missions agents had and how they were carried out. The interview gave a new perspective and allowed the research to be balanced.
Hoover, J. Edgar. "The Testimony of J. Edgar Hoover before the House Un-American Activities Committee." 26 Mar. 1947. dubiski.gpisd.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2015. <http://dubiski.gpisd.org/cms/lib01/TX01001872/Centricity/Domain/1156/The_Testimony_of_J__Edgar_Hoov.PDF>.
The following source contained the speech by Hoover at the House Un-American Activities Committee about communism. This speech was an important primary source because it highlighted Hoover’s viewpoint and reflects how he justified his actions to monitor many people in the name of democracy. He considered communism to be a much bigger threat than Hitler ever was. He also lists some of the questions he thinks can be helpful to find out if an organization is communistic or not. Also, he warns how communism is great threat to American democracy and he urges Americans to stay alert and away from Communist propaganda. The source helped our thesis because it showed Hoover’s theory on communism and explained why Hoover might have been compelled to take over the international intelligence and why he contributed to the McCarthyism.
"MITROKHIN Archive." Digital Archive. Wilson Center, n.d. Web. 31 May 2015. <http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/collection/52/mitrokhin-archive>.
The Mitrokhin Archive consists of summarized notes taken by Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin, a former KGB archivist who defected to the United Kingdom after the fall of the Soviet Union. This archive was helpful to the research because it was difficult finding primary sources on the KGB because most of them were in Russian and did not have English translations. The archive also contains a lot of sources in Russian that were not accessible but it provided a greater range of documents and summaries in English.
Secondary Sources:
Boghardt, Thomas. "The Cambridge Five." Spy Museum. International Spy Museum, 2015. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.spymuseum.org/education-programs/news-books-briefings/background-briefings/the-cambridge-five/>.
The Cambridge Five were disaffected British citizens who quickly obtained key positions in the British government and intelligence apparatus, including SIS (foreign intelligence), MI5 (domestic security), and the Foreign Office. They passed important secrets to Soviet Union ranging from information about nuclear technology, the Korean War and operation VENONA. The article was helpful because it showed one of the Soviet tactics to obtain information from other countries. Even though there were other Soviet agents in Britain and US, this was a popular ring of agents that came of light and its actions reflected the so-called espionage war of the time.
Bukharin, Oleg G. "The Cold War Atomic Intelligence Game, 1945-70:From the Russian Perspective." CIA. CIA, 17 Apr. 2007. Web. 27 May 2015.
<https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no2/article01.html>.
The source talked about the Soviet nuclear program and the role of KGB in this program. This was helpful to thesis because it showed immense power secret agencies had at the time. During its early years, the program was directed by the Special Committee chaired by Lavrenti Beria, the head of the Soviet NKVD (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs). The source also mentioned how most of the nuclear facilities were kept a secret and how there were many codes to refer to the operations of the program. I also thought it was interesting that the Soviet nuclear weapons programs was relatively similar to the American Soviet program and spies from both countries were trying to infiltrate each other’s program. The Russian perspective was also insightful because it showed that there were KGB in United States but United States also had agents in Soviet Union and both sides were sort of equal when it came to their power in foreign diplomacy and nuclear weapons. The website also had a lot of details about the countermeasures taken by the KGB to keep the secret and the website also had good technical information about the program.
Crostic, Stacy. "The KGB." Cold War. Cold War Museum, 2010. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/KGB.asp>.
The source was a good starting point for the research about KGB and its role during the Cold War. The website talked about the main duties of the KGB, which were to gather intelligence in other nations, conduct counterintelligence, maintain the secret police, the KGB military corps and the border guards, suppress internal resistance, and conduct electronic espionage. It also discussed the fall of KGB after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. There were also other interesting articles on Cold War events and allowed me to gain some background information about Cold War in general.
Drummey, James J., and Ann Coulter. "KGB Exonerates McCarthyism." Discover the Networks. N.p., 2006. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/KGB%20Exonerates%20McCarthyism.html>.
The website contained few articles about the response to communism in America and how it is portrayed in a negative light even though the threat was real. The articles talk about how people like Hoover and McCarthy should be seen as heroes for their actions because they wanted to fight against communism, which articles say was a real threat to America because of the penetration by KGB agents in American government. The articles seem to be from a conservative point of view because they attack the liberals for not listening to Hoover and McCarthy. The source gave perspective of the other side and related to my research about FBI and Hoover's response to communism.
"KGB." New World Encyclopedia. MediaWiki, 2014. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/KGB>.
The source was an important because it gave good background information on the KGB and what it stood for. It also mentioned Soviet Union’s most important intelligence coup, regarding the atomic bomb (the Manhattan Project), and how it occurred due to well-placed KGB agents such as Klaus Fuchs and Theodore Hall. Also, the source talked about how KGB was envisioned as the "sword and shield" of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). This showed KGB's important in the Bolshevik Revolution. In addition, The KGB's operational domain encompassed functions and powers like those exercised by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the counter-intelligence (internal security) division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Security Agency, the United States Federal Protective Service, and the Secret Service. This showed how KGB had a monopoly over the different spy units in Soviet Union.
"The KGB Vs. the CIA: The Secret Struggle." PBS. Abamedia, 1999. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/redfiles/kgb/debrief/k_brief_ter_knightley.htm>.
The source discussed the importance of Soviet Union gaining the information about the atomic bomb in American history. The event discredited the CIA, which had assured the government that the Soviet Union would take at least eight years to make its own bomb. Also, tt discredited the FBI, which had failed to uncover the Soviet atomic spy ring until it was too late. In addition, it made the Americans more paranoid and cautionary of Soviet Union activities in United States and helped usher in the McCarthy era
Kohn, Eric. "The Americans: Were the KGB the Good Guys?" BBC. BBC, 2015. Web. 26 May 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150128-were-the-kgb-the-good-guys>.
The following source discussed the popular show “The Americans”, which portrays two KGB officers living in disguise as a suburban family in America. The source was interesting because it talked about how the Russians have been seen in the American pop culture as the “bad guys” but now the show is trying to reveal how they faced many problems that Americans faced. There was also interesting comparison in the show’s storyline of the tactics used by FBI and KGB and how each country was trying to the edge on the other. I think this helped my research because it made me think about how we thought of KGB and all Russians as “enemies” and how a comparison can be drawn today as seeing a certain ethnicity as “terrorist”.
Llewellyn, J. "Cold War Espionage." Alpha History. Alpha History, n.d. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://alphahistory.com/coldwar/espionage/>.
The source talked about how In the late 1945, the FBI was provided with extensive information about Soviet espionage by Elizabeth Bentley, who herself had been passing information to Moscow. Bentley provided the FBI with a 112-page confession, naming 80 people as paid informers or agents working for Moscow. Bentley’s defection, along with accusations against State Department lawyer Alger Hiss, fuelled the anti-communist hysteria in America during the late 1940s and early 1950s
Pringle, Robert W. "KGB: Agency, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2015. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/315989/KGB>.
The source talked about the organization of the KGB and how it was divided into approximately 20 directorates, the most important of which were those responsible for foreign intelligence, domestic counterintelligence, technical intelligence, protection of the political leadership, and the security of the country’s frontiers. . Researchers with access to Communist Party archives put the number of KGB personnel at more than 480,000, including 200,000 soldiers in the Border Guards. These statistics were helpful to imagine the extent of the power held by the KGB. The Border Guards were also important because their main function was to keep people in instead of stopping others from entering.
Voith, Amie. "Former CIA and KGB Agents Share inside Look at Espionage." UDel. University of Delaware, 2003. Web. 27 May 2015.
The article talked about an ex-KGB officer and an ex-CIA officer who gave a speech about counterintelligence at the University of Delaware. Both of the officers discussed how counterintelligence was and is a big part of the how government functions. The KGB officer, Kalugin said that KGB’s enemy number one during Cold War was United States and KGB tried to infiltrate the US by posing as ordinary citizens and create a negative sentiment towards the capitalistic government. The CIA officer, Redmond also talked about KGB’s deep penetration in the government and how many of the Soviet technologies are similar to US designs. I thought this article was interesting because we often learn that Red Scare was false but the source instead talks about how to a point, US was subjected to spy attacks. I think this topic is still controversial and source might be biased because it is from the point of view of high ranking officers in their respective agency.
Yost, Graham. The KGB: The Russian Secret Police from the Days of the Czars to the Present. New York: Facts on File, 1989. Print.
The book was a helpful source because it gave detailed information about history of KGB and stories of some important agents involved. The source talked about the origin of KGB dating back to Ivan the Terrible and also discussed the role of Cheka during and after the Bolshevik Revolution. Also, it talked about the role of KGB during the Cold War, which was one of the main things I was exploring in the research. The source led me to research other topics more in detail because it provided a starting point with all the relevant information about the organization and how it evolved. It was also interesting to read the source because it was written before the fall of Soviet Union and destruction of KGB.
Blake, George. "KGB Interviews." PBS. Abameida, 1999. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/redfiles/kgb/deep/interv/k_int_george_blake.htm>.
The website provided with an interview with the ex KGB agent from Britain named George Blake. Blake was a British agent who decided to work for the Soviet Union after he witnessed what was happening to the Koreans during the Korean War. He thought that many Korean were defenseless and were being harmed by powerful countries such as United States. The interview was helpful to research because it gave a perspective in why some men from countries like Britain and United States became KGB agents. It also gave information about the type of missions agents had and how they were carried out. The interview gave a new perspective and allowed the research to be balanced.
Hoover, J. Edgar. "The Testimony of J. Edgar Hoover before the House Un-American Activities Committee." 26 Mar. 1947. dubiski.gpisd.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2015. <http://dubiski.gpisd.org/cms/lib01/TX01001872/Centricity/Domain/1156/The_Testimony_of_J__Edgar_Hoov.PDF>.
The following source contained the speech by Hoover at the House Un-American Activities Committee about communism. This speech was an important primary source because it highlighted Hoover’s viewpoint and reflects how he justified his actions to monitor many people in the name of democracy. He considered communism to be a much bigger threat than Hitler ever was. He also lists some of the questions he thinks can be helpful to find out if an organization is communistic or not. Also, he warns how communism is great threat to American democracy and he urges Americans to stay alert and away from Communist propaganda. The source helped our thesis because it showed Hoover’s theory on communism and explained why Hoover might have been compelled to take over the international intelligence and why he contributed to the McCarthyism.
"MITROKHIN Archive." Digital Archive. Wilson Center, n.d. Web. 31 May 2015. <http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/collection/52/mitrokhin-archive>.
The Mitrokhin Archive consists of summarized notes taken by Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin, a former KGB archivist who defected to the United Kingdom after the fall of the Soviet Union. This archive was helpful to the research because it was difficult finding primary sources on the KGB because most of them were in Russian and did not have English translations. The archive also contains a lot of sources in Russian that were not accessible but it provided a greater range of documents and summaries in English.
Secondary Sources:
Boghardt, Thomas. "The Cambridge Five." Spy Museum. International Spy Museum, 2015. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.spymuseum.org/education-programs/news-books-briefings/background-briefings/the-cambridge-five/>.
The Cambridge Five were disaffected British citizens who quickly obtained key positions in the British government and intelligence apparatus, including SIS (foreign intelligence), MI5 (domestic security), and the Foreign Office. They passed important secrets to Soviet Union ranging from information about nuclear technology, the Korean War and operation VENONA. The article was helpful because it showed one of the Soviet tactics to obtain information from other countries. Even though there were other Soviet agents in Britain and US, this was a popular ring of agents that came of light and its actions reflected the so-called espionage war of the time.
Bukharin, Oleg G. "The Cold War Atomic Intelligence Game, 1945-70:From the Russian Perspective." CIA. CIA, 17 Apr. 2007. Web. 27 May 2015.
<https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no2/article01.html>.
The source talked about the Soviet nuclear program and the role of KGB in this program. This was helpful to thesis because it showed immense power secret agencies had at the time. During its early years, the program was directed by the Special Committee chaired by Lavrenti Beria, the head of the Soviet NKVD (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs). The source also mentioned how most of the nuclear facilities were kept a secret and how there were many codes to refer to the operations of the program. I also thought it was interesting that the Soviet nuclear weapons programs was relatively similar to the American Soviet program and spies from both countries were trying to infiltrate each other’s program. The Russian perspective was also insightful because it showed that there were KGB in United States but United States also had agents in Soviet Union and both sides were sort of equal when it came to their power in foreign diplomacy and nuclear weapons. The website also had a lot of details about the countermeasures taken by the KGB to keep the secret and the website also had good technical information about the program.
Crostic, Stacy. "The KGB." Cold War. Cold War Museum, 2010. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/KGB.asp>.
The source was a good starting point for the research about KGB and its role during the Cold War. The website talked about the main duties of the KGB, which were to gather intelligence in other nations, conduct counterintelligence, maintain the secret police, the KGB military corps and the border guards, suppress internal resistance, and conduct electronic espionage. It also discussed the fall of KGB after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. There were also other interesting articles on Cold War events and allowed me to gain some background information about Cold War in general.
Drummey, James J., and Ann Coulter. "KGB Exonerates McCarthyism." Discover the Networks. N.p., 2006. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/KGB%20Exonerates%20McCarthyism.html>.
The website contained few articles about the response to communism in America and how it is portrayed in a negative light even though the threat was real. The articles talk about how people like Hoover and McCarthy should be seen as heroes for their actions because they wanted to fight against communism, which articles say was a real threat to America because of the penetration by KGB agents in American government. The articles seem to be from a conservative point of view because they attack the liberals for not listening to Hoover and McCarthy. The source gave perspective of the other side and related to my research about FBI and Hoover's response to communism.
"KGB." New World Encyclopedia. MediaWiki, 2014. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/KGB>.
The source was an important because it gave good background information on the KGB and what it stood for. It also mentioned Soviet Union’s most important intelligence coup, regarding the atomic bomb (the Manhattan Project), and how it occurred due to well-placed KGB agents such as Klaus Fuchs and Theodore Hall. Also, the source talked about how KGB was envisioned as the "sword and shield" of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). This showed KGB's important in the Bolshevik Revolution. In addition, The KGB's operational domain encompassed functions and powers like those exercised by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the counter-intelligence (internal security) division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Security Agency, the United States Federal Protective Service, and the Secret Service. This showed how KGB had a monopoly over the different spy units in Soviet Union.
"The KGB Vs. the CIA: The Secret Struggle." PBS. Abamedia, 1999. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/redfiles/kgb/debrief/k_brief_ter_knightley.htm>.
The source discussed the importance of Soviet Union gaining the information about the atomic bomb in American history. The event discredited the CIA, which had assured the government that the Soviet Union would take at least eight years to make its own bomb. Also, tt discredited the FBI, which had failed to uncover the Soviet atomic spy ring until it was too late. In addition, it made the Americans more paranoid and cautionary of Soviet Union activities in United States and helped usher in the McCarthy era
Kohn, Eric. "The Americans: Were the KGB the Good Guys?" BBC. BBC, 2015. Web. 26 May 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150128-were-the-kgb-the-good-guys>.
The following source discussed the popular show “The Americans”, which portrays two KGB officers living in disguise as a suburban family in America. The source was interesting because it talked about how the Russians have been seen in the American pop culture as the “bad guys” but now the show is trying to reveal how they faced many problems that Americans faced. There was also interesting comparison in the show’s storyline of the tactics used by FBI and KGB and how each country was trying to the edge on the other. I think this helped my research because it made me think about how we thought of KGB and all Russians as “enemies” and how a comparison can be drawn today as seeing a certain ethnicity as “terrorist”.
Llewellyn, J. "Cold War Espionage." Alpha History. Alpha History, n.d. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://alphahistory.com/coldwar/espionage/>.
The source talked about how In the late 1945, the FBI was provided with extensive information about Soviet espionage by Elizabeth Bentley, who herself had been passing information to Moscow. Bentley provided the FBI with a 112-page confession, naming 80 people as paid informers or agents working for Moscow. Bentley’s defection, along with accusations against State Department lawyer Alger Hiss, fuelled the anti-communist hysteria in America during the late 1940s and early 1950s
Pringle, Robert W. "KGB: Agency, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2015. Web. 27 May 2015. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/315989/KGB>.
The source talked about the organization of the KGB and how it was divided into approximately 20 directorates, the most important of which were those responsible for foreign intelligence, domestic counterintelligence, technical intelligence, protection of the political leadership, and the security of the country’s frontiers. . Researchers with access to Communist Party archives put the number of KGB personnel at more than 480,000, including 200,000 soldiers in the Border Guards. These statistics were helpful to imagine the extent of the power held by the KGB. The Border Guards were also important because their main function was to keep people in instead of stopping others from entering.
Voith, Amie. "Former CIA and KGB Agents Share inside Look at Espionage." UDel. University of Delaware, 2003. Web. 27 May 2015.
The article talked about an ex-KGB officer and an ex-CIA officer who gave a speech about counterintelligence at the University of Delaware. Both of the officers discussed how counterintelligence was and is a big part of the how government functions. The KGB officer, Kalugin said that KGB’s enemy number one during Cold War was United States and KGB tried to infiltrate the US by posing as ordinary citizens and create a negative sentiment towards the capitalistic government. The CIA officer, Redmond also talked about KGB’s deep penetration in the government and how many of the Soviet technologies are similar to US designs. I thought this article was interesting because we often learn that Red Scare was false but the source instead talks about how to a point, US was subjected to spy attacks. I think this topic is still controversial and source might be biased because it is from the point of view of high ranking officers in their respective agency.
Yost, Graham. The KGB: The Russian Secret Police from the Days of the Czars to the Present. New York: Facts on File, 1989. Print.
The book was a helpful source because it gave detailed information about history of KGB and stories of some important agents involved. The source talked about the origin of KGB dating back to Ivan the Terrible and also discussed the role of Cheka during and after the Bolshevik Revolution. Also, it talked about the role of KGB during the Cold War, which was one of the main things I was exploring in the research. The source led me to research other topics more in detail because it provided a starting point with all the relevant information about the organization and how it evolved. It was also interesting to read the source because it was written before the fall of Soviet Union and destruction of KGB.