Changes

The GRU continued to be the main structure for spying after the establishment of the Soviet Union, although modified and often renamed. After the rise of the Soviet Union, various organizations were formed that took some of the earlier lessons from the GRU and secret police organizations that were used by the tsars. The first was Cheka, then People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB), the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), which was based on the GRU established in the 1920s, and Ministerstvo gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti SSSR (MGB). These agencies often succeeded each other or overlapped, but they also generally focused on domestic and foreign espionage. Many lessons were learned by these agencies during the 1920-1940s. Sabotage and deception campaigns destabilized the White Army that supported the reestablishment of the tsar. The intelligence agencies also infiltrated Mexico to assassinate Trotsky and his supporting group, who were seen as a rivals to Stalin, and many successful war time sabotage activities were conducted. These events help make the Soviet spy networks among the most effective in internal monitoring and suppression and foreign espionage.<ref>For more on Soviet spy agencies, see: Haslam, Jonathan. 2015.<i> Near and Distant Neighbors: A New History of Soviet Intelligence</i>. First edition. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.</ref>

Sabotage and deception campaigns destabilized the White Army that supported the reestablishment of the tsar. The intelligence agencies also infiltrated Mexico to assassinate Trotsky and his supporting group, who were seen as a rivals to Stalin, and many successful war time sabotage activities were conducted. These events help make the Soviet spy networks among the most effective in internal monitoring and suppression and foreign espionage.<ref>For more on Soviet spy agencies, see: Haslam, Jonathan. 2015.<i> Near and Distant Neighbors: A New History of Soviet Intelligence</i>. First edition. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.</ref>  The most famous organization was the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB) that carried out domestic and international spying. It had some notable successes in Bangladesh and Afghanistan in supporting local Communist-supporting or sympathetic parties. Espionage operations were successful in gaining secrets from Western and NATO rivals, although many incidents were classified.<ref>For more on the history of the KGB, see: Herman, Michael, and Gwilym Hughes, eds. 2013. <i>Intelligence in the Cold War: What Difference Did It Make?</i> 1. publ. London: Routledge.</ref>  Perhaps the greatest successes of the Soviet spy system was the obtainment of atomic bomb information that allowed the Soviet Union to catch up to the United States. Klaus Fuchs and the Rosenbergs (Julius and Ethel Rosenberg) helped steal secrets for the atomic and hydrogen bombs respectively. Similar to how spy networks for Russia were internationally developed in the late 18th century, the Soviet Union began to use foreign sympathizers to help ease its spying activities. In many respects, the Soviets would have developed atomic-based weapons anyway, but the spy networks created in the United States helped to more rapidly develop these weapons at a time the Soviet Union feared it would lose the Cold War.<ref>For more on the Cold War atomic secrets obtained, see: Holloway, David. 1994. <i>Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy, 1939 - 1956</i>. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.</ref>