Kgb Employee: Monitor

Periodically, the internal monitor would run a "provocation." A KGB officer might find a $100 bill (a huge sum) "accidentally" left on the floor of the records room. The camera was watching. If the officer pocketed the money, they were arrested within the hour for "mercenarism." If they reported it, they were praised in their file.

Every KGB desk, from the janitorial closet to the General Secretary’s dacha, was hardwired. The "monitor" here was a passive acoustic sensor embedded in the telephone junction box. However, unlike a bug aimed at a foreigner, this device was aimed at the employee. It listened for "confidential conversations" held outside of designated secure booths. If two officers discussed an operation in a hallway, a technician in the "Monitoring Room" (Komnata Kontrolya) would flag the audio file. kgb employee monitor

What made the KGB employee monitor truly terrifying was the absence of privacy. Former KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin (who defected to Britain in 1992) described the following rules: Periodically, the internal monitor would run a "provocation

Mitrokhin recalled one case: A cipher clerk took a single piece of candy from a jar marked "For Guests." The next day, she was reprimanded for "petty theft of state property" – proof that the monitors were watching everything. Mitrokhin recalled one case: A cipher clerk took

A KGB officer could not simply go to lunch. They had to abide by the "Rule of Three." No employee was permitted to be alone with a classified document unless a third person (the monitor) was present in the room. If two officers needed to discuss a sensitive case, they had to request a "third colleague" join them—someone whose job it was to listen, not contribute.