A Long Awaited Update

Well, I have some good news, and some bad news, and just some plain old news. The first is: once again I apologize for the lack of posts. Okay, shall I start with the good news? The good (well, actually GREAT) news is that I have been promoted in the agency. The bad news is I probably won't have very much time to sit down at the computer. Hey, I barely have time now! I'll still be around to monitor Josie's posts (not that you need monitoring, Josie, I mean more of following your blog and commenting on it), and on very rare occasions may I write posts of very great importance. So I leave you with this, and you will probably hear from me in the future. Until next time...

Top Secret

Sorry about the small print. I tried to change it and my brilliant internet service keeps changing it.

HVA

The HVA...

What it is: East German foreign intelligence, part of the Stasi
What it stands for: Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung
What it Means: General Reconnaissance Administration
Primary Mandate: Foreign Reconnaissance (espionage); this includes political, military, economic and technological intelligence-gathering

Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauptverwaltung_Aufkl%C3%A4rung_(GDR) for more information.

I severely apologize for the lack of posts I have been doing, and I'm sure that my former student Josie McKay does the same. Lately we have been doing some training in a foreign country, as well as going on a few TOP SECRET missions, so we have been quite on our toes. I scarcely have time to sit down at the computer and use Blogger, and when I am on the computer, it is usually to document things, report to the HQ, and other spy-related things. So if this seems a bit short and rather uninformative, please do realize that we've been quite busy! Once again my apologies.

GRU

<--- GRU emblem and sleeve ensign





GRU: Soviet/Russian military intelligence agency created under Lenin
When: 1918 - today
Translation: GRU is the English transliteration of the Russian acronym ГРУ, which stands for "Гла́вное Разве́дывательное Управле́ние" (Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije), meaning "Main Intelligence Directorate" of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Current GRU Director: General of the Army Valentin Vladimirovich Korabelnikov
More Information: The GRU deploys six times in foreign countries as the SVR (KGB intelligence successor), making it Russia's largest intelligence agency. Also, in 1997, it commanded 25,000 spetsnaz troops.

Wanna learn more? Click on the links above or see http://www.fas.org/irp/world/russia/gru/index.html.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation

<--- Seal of the FBI






FBI: United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, founded in 1935; descendant of the BI (Bureau of Investigation)
Purpose: The FBI serves both as a federal criminal investigative body and a domestic intelligence agency. At present, the FBI has investigative control over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes, in reality, making the FBI the number one law enforcement agency of the United States Government.
Motto: Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity
Where: The FBI headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. There are also 56 field offices located throughout the United States in major cities, as well as over 400 residential agencies in smaller cities and towns across the country, and more than 50 Legal Attachés, otherwise known as international offices, in the United States embassies worldwide.
When: The FBI was founded in 1935, as a descendant of the BI (Bureau of Investigation).

Want more facts and stories about this well-known agency? See http://www.fbi.gov/ for facts, stories, contacts, and even a kids' page!
For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fbi.

FAPSI

<--- Coat of Arms of FAPSI








FAPSI: the Russian counterpart to the US National Security Agency

English: Federal Agency of Government Communications and Information (FAGCI)
Russian: Федеральное Агентство Правительственной Связи и Информации, or ФАПСИ for short. It is from the Russian that the FAPSI gets its initials.
Agency Type: Russian government agency
More Information: One of the successors of the KGB; now a part of the FSB (Russian secret service agency); equivalent to the United States NSA

For more information, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAPSI or http://www.agentura.ru/english/dosie/fapsi/.

The United States Central Intelligence Agency (1947 - today)

Now I'm sure you have all heard of the CIA, or Central Intelligence Agency. Here's a bit of information on how it was started. Of course, I can't tell you everything. After all, the agency will always have its secrets...

Ever since the days of George Washington, the United States has carried out several intelligence activities. However, it was not until World War II that they have been coordinated on a government-wide basis. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed William J. Donovan, a war hero as well as a lawyer from New York, to be the Coordinator of Information, and later the head of the Office of Strategic Services, a forerunner to the CIA. The OSS had authorization to collect and analyze strategic information. However, after World War II, the OSS was disbanded along with several other war agencies. Its functions were then transferred to the State and War Departments. President Truman soon realized the need for a postwar, centralized intelligence agency. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 to create a fully functional intelligence office. This established the CIA - the well-known organization which coordinates the nation's intelligence activities and associates, evaluates, and distributes intelligence affecting national security.

For more information, see https://www.cia.gov/.

Cheka

Facts about the Cheka...

Cheka: the Soviet agency responsible for state security
Full Name: The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage (Russian: Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия по борьбе с контрреволюцией и саботажем; Vserossijskaya Chrezvychajnaya Komissiya). Quite a mouthful, isn't it?
When: 1917 - 1922
More: The Cheka was the first of a string of Soviet State Security agencies. It soon became an important military force, crucial to the Soviet government's survival. In 1954, it became the KGB.

For more information on the Cheka, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka, and if that bores you, check out http://vip.latnet.lv/LPRA/celmina/1.html. It's a little more interesting!