A popular study of the KGB and its post-Soviet incarnation by the courageous and opinionated Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats, who was among the first to report on the organization in the post-Soviet Russian press. Based on extensive personal interviews with current and former agents and on material from the KGB archives, The State Within a State makes a compelling argument that the new incarnation of the KGB has grown not only in size but in influence since the fall of the Soviet Union, making it perhaps the most powerful political force in contemporary Russia.