KGB

:For other meanings, see KGB (disambiguation).

Organization

• The KGB was a national Intelligence and Security Agency for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and directly controlled the Republic-level KGB organizations, however, as Russia was the core republic of the Soviet Union, the KGB, itself, also was Russia's republic-level KGB. The CPSU directly controlled the KGB and guided its operations.
• The Senior staff were a Chairman, one or two First deputy chairmen, and four to six deputy chairmen.
• the KGB Collegium--a Chairman, deputy chairmen, Directorate chiefs, and one or two republic-level KGB organization chairmen--effected key policy decisions.
• The KGB was organized into directorates. Some were:
• The First Chief Directorate (Foreign Operations)--responsible for foreign operations and intelligence-gathering.
• The Second Chief Directorate--responsible for internal political control of citizens and foreigners in the USSR.
• The Third Chief Directorate (Armed Forces)--controlled military counter-intelligence and the political surveillance of the Soviet armed forces.
• The Fifth Chief Directorate--also responsible for internal security; originally combatted political dissent; later assumed tasks of the Second Chief Directorate, such as controlling religious dissent, monitoring artists, and the publications .
• The Seventh Directorate (Surveillance)--handled surveillance, providing equipment to follow and monitor activities of both foreigners and Soviet citizens.
• The Eighth Chief Directorate--responsible for communications, monitoring foreign communications and the cryptological systems used by KGB divisions, KGB transmissions to overseas stations, and the development of communications technology.
• The Ninth Directorate (Guards)--40,000-man uniformed guard force providing bodyguard services to: the principal CPSU leaders (and families), major Soviet government facilities (including nuclear weapons stocks). It operated the Moscow VIP subway system, and the secure government telephone system linking high-level government and CPSU officers; it became the Federal Protective Service (FPS) under President Boris Yeltsin.
• The Sixteenth Chief Directorate (State Communications)--upgraded from Department to Directorate, operated the USSR's government telephone and telegraph systems.
• The Border Guards Directorate--245,000-man border security force combatted smuggling along the USSR's borders with terrestrial, naval, and air force contingents.
• The KGB also contained these independent sections and detachments:
• KGB Personnel Department
• Secretariat of the KGB
• KGB Technical Support Staff
• KGB Finance Department
• KGB Archives
• Administration Department of the KGB, and
• the CPSU Committee.
• KGB OSNAZ (Special Operations) detachments such as: the Alpha Group, the Beta Group, the Delfin, and the Vympel, etc.;missions and command-control structures remain unkown.
• Kremlin Guard Force--beyond control of the Ninth Guards Directorate. The uniformed Kremlin Guard Force were the bodyguard of the Praesidium, et al.; it later became the Presidential Security Service PSS.