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Counter-Terrorism in a Police State: The KGB and Codename Blaster, 1977

Author

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  • Mark Harrison
Abstract
The paper provides a rare case study of terrorism and counter-terrorism within a closed society, carried out under a blanket of official secrecy. This case is unexpectedly revealing in what it tells us about terrorism, counterterrorism, and the relative strengths of open and closed societies. Documents from the archive of the Lithuania KGB show how the Soviet authorities managed the hunt for the perpetrators of bombing attacks carried out in Moscow in January 1977. Lithuania, a sensitive border region with a troubled history, was far distant from the epicenter of the conspiracy in Soviet Armenia, but the authorities did not know this beforehand, and made considerable efforts to establish or rule out a Lithuanian connection. It was a problem that the KGB, like other Soviet organizations, was vulnerable to boxchecking and other kinds of perfunctory working to the plan. The career concerns of regional KGB leaders appear to have countered this tendency. The paper evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of a counter-terrorist operation carried out under conditions of the intense secrecy that was normal in the Soviet police state.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Harrison, 2009. "Counter-Terrorism in a Police State: The KGB and Codename Blaster, 1977," Economics of Security Working Paper Series 20, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diweos:diweos20
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    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.354154.de/diw_econsec0020.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Mark Harrison & Inga Zaksauskienė, 2016. "Counter-intelligence in a command economy," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(1), pages 131-158, February.
    2. Michael Brzoska & Raphael Bossong & Eric van Um, 2011. "Security Economics in the European Context: Implications of the EUSECON Project," Economics of Security Working Paper Series 58, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Career Concerns; Homeland Security; Moral Hazard; Secrecy; Terrorism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-

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