ABSTRACT
The State Security (KGB) and, to a lesser extent, the Soviet military intelligence (GRU) have been for many years the chief opponents of US intelligence. The Soviet security and intelligence system is rooted in a tradition both Russian and Bolshevik. The two principal collectors of Soviet intelligence are the KGB and the Armed Forces General Staff's GRU, or military intelligence. Soviet weaknesses will even be magnified occasionally so as to make the country appear militarily weaker than it really is. The very presence of satellite intelligence agents is of great assistance to the Soviets. Satellite secret services can be of help to the Soviet Union in recruiting sources among ethnic minorities in the West, such as Poles and Czechs, and also in West Germany. Soviet intelligence shows profound differences with Western secret services. Soviet intelligence is much larger than its Western counterparts and operates more freely at home and abroad.
