ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a general overview of the Committee on State Security's (KGB) foreign activities and considers how these activities, taken together with the KGB's domestic role, affect the KGB's institutional perceptions and its ability to influence policy. Active measures are clandestine operations the purpose of which is to further Soviet foreign policy goals and to extend Soviet influence throughout the world. The Kremlin has placed increased emphasis on covert operations and intelligence gathering as a means of implementing Soviet foreign policy objectives. Jiri Valenta, in his study of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, employs the bureaucratic politics model to conceptualize Soviet decision making. Valenta portrays Soviet foreign policy decision making as a process fraught with political maneuvering and conflicting interests. Despite the shared images of national security, senior Soviet decisionmakers differ on how various issues should be approached and resolved.
