How the kgb uses disinformation worldwide even against mild treats like nato. After all, this is the organization that made waterboarding seem much more acceptable, at least to the washington elite, by. As my parents were enjoying the pleasures of the kgb in the 1970s, the philippines were ruled by colonel ferdinand marcos, a usbacked military dictator, who used the army to impose censorship and. An insiders view by ladislav bittman and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Former spy chief reveals secret strategies for undermining freedom, attacking religion, and promoting terrorism is a nonfiction book about disinformation tactics and history rooted in information warfare. Deception, disinformation, and strategic communications.
Pacepa thinks the kgb shrewdly used two american communist party leaders as funnels for disinformation that the kremlin wasnt involved, and castro used a similar tactic, playacting astonishment at the assassination in front of foreign witnesses. In a recent book titled disinformation, former kgb agent ion mihai pacepa image above writes that his colleague and acquaintance yuri andropov image below, the head of the kgb in the 1960s, was taksed with reviving antisemitism in conjuction with antiamericanism among arabs and persians. An insiders view 1st edition by ladislav bittman author visit amazons ladislav bittman page. How the russians practice disinformation accuracy in media. A quartercentury ago, the highestranking soviet bloc intelligence official ever to defect to the west, lt. Disinformation strategic deception to undermine the. The kgb and soviet disinformation ladislav bittman. A quarter century ago, in his international bestseller red horizons, pacepa exposed the massive crimes and corruption of his former boss, romanian president nicolae ceausescu, giving the dictator a nervous breakdown and inspiring him to send assassination squads to the u. Journalists gather outside the headquarters of orbis business intelligence, the. Herbert romerstein is an adjunct professor at the institute of world politics. Oleg kalugin and the late sergei tretyakov have described how soviet intelligence worked to sow disunity and. Just over three years ago, on a bitingly cold spring day, i drove out to rockport, massachusetts, a small town on the tip of cape ann, to meet with a defector from the old soviet bloc. How one interagency group made a major difference by fletcher schoen and christopher j. Along with toppling democratically elected governments, funneling money illegally to dubious political groups and producing pornographic movies about heads of state, the central intelligence agency has also been fiendishly good at manipulating language.
John kerry, the former senator and current secretary of state, was a dupe who parroted communist disinformation about the u. On the basis of his research with scholar christopher nehring in the archives of the former communist secret police in bulgaria. The highestranking soviet bloc intelligence official ever to defect to the west, lt. The first director was general ivan ivanovich agayants, a tall aloof armenian with grizzled hair and a thin gray. The kgb always preferred to place disinformation in nonsoviet media. A quarter century ago, in his international bestseller red horizons, pacepa exposed the massive crimes and corruption of his former boss, romanian president nicolae ceausescu, giving the dictator a nervous breakdown and inspiring him to send assassination. In disinformation, pacepa credits kgb operations with everything from plotting the assassination of u. The kgb conducts hundreds of these categories every year even though their impact is rather limited. Operation infektion was the popular name given to a disinformation campaign run by the kgb in the 1980s to plant the idea that the united states had invented hivaids as part of a biological weapons research project at fort detrick, maryland. Inside neptun, a daring cold war disinformation operation.
An insiders view 1st edition by ladislav bittman author. Dezinformatsia book wikimili, the free encyclopedia. Disinformation is the word of the year and a sign of. Historian thomas boghardt popularized the codename infektion based on the claims of former east german ministry of state security. He was a professional staff member of the permanent select committee on intelligence of the us house of representatives and served as chief of the office to counter soviet disinformation and active measures at the united states information agency. Disinformation is the word of the year and a sign of whats to come foreign nations have been systematically spreading falsehoods on social media for years. Under the direction of the soviet secret police, bittman was deputy chief of the disinformation. Far more kgb energy went into disinformation than traditional espionage.
Lieutenant general ion mihai pacepa was a 3 star general in communist romanias secret police the securitate. How the soviet kgb created conspiracy theories, page 1. When he defected to the united kingdom in 1992 he brought the archive with him the official historian of mi5, christopher andrew, wrote two books, the sword and the. New book reveals how kgb operation seeded muslim countries. Disinformation, democracy, and the rule of law defusing. In addition, the major platforms continue to monetise disinformation and harmful content on the pandemic including prokremlin disinformation sites, e. See all 5 formats and editions hide other formats and editions. The highestranking sovietbloc intelligence officer ever to defect to the west claims in a new book that antiamerican islamic terrorism had its roots in a secret 1970sera kgb plot to harm but the united states and israel by seeding muslim countries with carefully targeted propaganda. His latest book, disinformation, analyzes and reveals a diverse landscape of campaigns in propaganda. However, for most field work abroad, department a relies upon officers and agents from the first chief directorates geographic divisions. Learn how to be a spy from previously unpublished kgb.
It was written by former intelligence officer specializing in disinformation for the czech intelligence service and retired professor of disinformation at boston university, ladislav bittman. Active measures in soviet strategy and a later edition published as dezinformatsia. The lowest form of popular culturelack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most peoples liveshas overrun real journalism. The earliest document that christopher nehring found regarding the kgb s aids disinformation campaign in the bulgarian archives if one will, the smoking gun, the first archival evidence documenting the kgb s launch of its disinformation campaign was a telegram from the kgb in moscow to its comrades in bulgarian state security from september 7, 1985. In the second half of the 1980s, the kgb conducted an international disinformation campaign accusing the u. Quoted in kgb page 142 by brian freemantle social science 1982. Russias disinformation war on the west is hardly new. A cuban radio man on duty that day, whose job it was to monitor north. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Many ideas, misconceptions and flatout lies taking hold since world war ii were secretly generated by the kgb.
Thomas rid gives the reader an insiders view of how highprofile influence campaigns are designed and executed, thus providing historical perspective that can help us blunt the impact of disinformation. But since soviet disinformation practices included. The secret work of soviet secret agents, they smeared swastikas, kicked over tombstones, and painted antijewish slogans, then escaped undetected. Author ion pacepa, former romanian spy chief, brings modern world history alive. Disinformation explains of post wwii history from the perspective of one who was on the inside. An insiders view is a nonfiction book about the kgbs use of disinformation and information warfare during the soviet union period. How the west fought against it an analytic history, with lessons for the present. It was written by former threestar general in the securitate, the secret police of socialist republic of romania, ion mihai pacepa, and law professor ronald j. However, these are mostly anecdotes that aptly demonstrate the authors. Lamb strategic perspectives 11 center for strategic research institute for national strategic studies national defense university. Active measures provides a comprehensive look at the disinformation game, from the 1920s through the digital revolution. Long before facebook, the kgb spread fake news about aids in the 1980s, the soviet union and allies participated in a widespread disinformation campaign. The strategy of soviet disinformation is a nonfiction book about disinformation and information warfare used by the kgb during the soviet union period, as part of their active measures tactics.
Operation infektion soviet bloc intelligence and its aids. Such activities continued until the collapse of the soviet union in 1991 and included the training in disinformation techniques of other easternblock. He learns information tactics from protesters in serbia, narcowarlords in mexico, fox news hosts in america, and the kgb officers who forced his own family into exile. Full text of the kgb and soviet disinformation ladislav. Rychlak, adds to this important book by explaining in detail the campaign by the soviet intelligence service, the kgb, against the roman catholic church. It was written by former intelligence officer specializing in disinformation for the czech intelligence service and retired professor of disinformation at boston university, ladislav bittman later known as lawrence martinbittman. In his signature style by turns analytical, poetic, lurid, and funny disinformation expert peter pomerantsev explores the contours of this new global order. With this as a backdrop, its clear who orchestrated jfks assassination, and who initiated worldwide antiamerican sentiment and whipped it into a fury.
The cheka and each of its organizational descendants had a disinformation desk until reorganization of the kgb in 1959 produced a fullfledged disinformation department known as department d of the first chief directorate. Ironically, the author calls stones jfk film the most successful kgb disinformation campaign ever accomplished, at the same time that he substitutes his own nonsense made of whole cloth. Ivan agayants explaining the benefits of disinformation. Weiss, editorinchief of the interpreter, sat down to talk more about his kgb spy manual translation project with the worlds host, marco werman. Going well beyond the authors personal experiencehe left czechoslovakia in 1968the book ranges over the entire field forgeries, black propaganda, front organizations, recruitment of agents, penetration of western institutions, terrorism. The kgb wasted no time propagating the jfk assassination disinformation hoax. Before fake news, there was soviet disinformation a photograph of soviet dictator joseph stalin lies on a floor outside a courtroom in. The mitrokhin archive is a collection of handwritten notes made secretly by kgb archivist vasili mitrokhin during his thirty years as a kgb archivist in the foreign intelligence service and the first chief directorate. Democrats and mainstream media were the real kremlin assets. Lt gen pacepa was chief of foreign intelligence and the state secretary for romanias ministry of interior. Full text of the kgb and soviet disinformation ladislav bittman see other formats. Theres been much written about the kgb since the soviet unions fall opened many of its files. Kgb disinformation was not only to defame or denigrate an enemy or potential enemy, it was also to confuse and even to cause him to take an action beneficial to the soviet union.
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