07-29-2003, 07:41 AM
ORGANIZATION OF THE K.G.B.
(All material copyright Shawn Caza, 1/98. All rights reserved.)
WHAT WAS THE K.G.B. ?
The KGB was the Soviet Government's Committee of State Security (Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti). (A committee was a Soviet government department smaller than a ministry.)
The KGB was a Union-Republic Committee which officially reported to the USSR Council of Ministers (the Soviet Cabinet). As with all Union-Republic Committees and Ministries, there was an All-Union or USSR KGB and 14 Republican KGBs. Interestingly, the Russian Soviet Republic (RSFSR) did not have its own Republican level KGB until one was set up by RSFSR President Yeltsin on May 6, 1991. The Russian KGB remained a hollow entity, though it briefly inherited control of all KGB functions on Russian territory in late 1991.
Soviet provinces (oblasts and krais) had KGB administrations (upravlenie) while cities, counties (raions) and autonomous districts (okrugs) had KGB departments (otdely) or sections (otdelenie). These sub-Republic KGB organizations reported to the respective Republican KGB except in the case of the RSFSR where they reported directly to the USSR KGB.
The relationship between the Republican KGBs and the USSR KGB was more complex and was known as dual authority. Republic KGBs reported both to their Republic government and to the USSR KGB; actual control was exerted from the top level of the USSR KGB. All personnel matters, including promotion and staffing, were controlled by the centre and personnel often switched back and forth between the USSR KGB and one or more Republic KGBs throughout their career.
STRUCTURE OF THE K.G.B.
The KGB was a large and comprehensive organization performing a wide variety of duties that would fall under the jurisdiction of many different organizations in Western nations. Thus, if compared to American organizations, it performed all the functions of the CIA, NSA, and Secret Service and many of the functions of the FBI, Customs Service, Armed Forces counter- intelligence agencies, BATF, and DEA.
Administratively the KGB was divided into chief directorates (glavnie upravlenie), directorates (upravlenie) and technical departments (otdely) each responsible for certain functions.
The organization of the KGB in the mid- to late-1980's was as follows:
1st Chief Directorate (Foreign Directorate): was the most famous and was responsible for espionage. It was responsible for the collection of all non-military, and much military, foreign intelligence, foreign counterintelligence, recruitment of foreigners, foreign propaganda and disinformation, support for international terrorism, etc. This directorate only existed at the USSR KGB level. The 1st Chief Directorate controlled the Vympel (Pennant) KGB Spetsnaz unit.
2nd Chief Directorate (Counterintelligence): was responsible for domestic counterintelligence and internal security, including hunting for foreign spies and domestic traitors in the USSR. It was also responsible for countering organized crime and narcotics trafficking in liaison with the militia.
3rd Chief Directorate (Military Counterintelligence): was responsible for ensuring the security and loyalty of personnel in the armed forces (including military intelligence [the GRU] and spetsnaz), the MVD troops and the militia, and even among the KGB's own Border and Guard troops. It was also responsible for security of all Soviet ships and aircraft abroad and the physical security of nuclear warheads. Their units in the armed forces were known as the OO (osobye otdely or special sections).
4th Directorate (Transportation): was responsible for all state security matters concerning transportation. They supervised the railways, air transportation, and river and sea ports and lines. (Not for providing transportation to the other branches of the KGB as was previosuly reported here!). It is a direct descendant of the NKVD Railways Administration. Though little is known of it, it continued to exist until 1991.
5th Chief Directorate (Ideological): was responsible for monitoring and repressing all real, or imagined, dissidents in the USSR including activists involved in political, religious, environmental, human rights, and other causes. In the late 1980's this directorate was supposedly dismantled but was actually only retitled the Directorate to Defend the Constitution. It was later named Directorate Z.
6th Directorate (Economic Security): was responsible for guarding against "speculation" (illegal trading), illicit financial transactions, and theft from state enterprises. It was also responsible for securing the nation's financial and economic information from foreign spies.
7th Directorate (Surveillance): was a pool of "watchers" who were used by many other directorates (mostly the 2nd and 5th) to conduct physical surveillance. The 7th Directorate controlled Spestgruppa "A", the famour Alfa Group anti-terrorist team.
8th Chief Directorate (Communication): was a massive organization taking up 1/4 of the KGB's budget. It was responsible for intercepting and analyzing foreign radio signals and telecommunications, designing codes and safeguards to secure Soviet communications, and running the special "V-Ch" high frequency telephone system used by the upper echelons of the Party and government and the KGB itself. Some of these responsibilities may be divided among a 16th Directorate (communications security, which would then leave the 8th to handle interception and code breaking) and an unnumbered Communications Troops Directorate with approximately 16,000 troops.
9th Directorate (Guards): was responsible for guarding the top Party and government leadership of the USSR and its Republics. It consisted of uniformed security guards at Lenin's Tomb, the Kremlin, and other key posts (for more on the KGB's Special Kremlin Regiment and Lenin's Tomb see Don Creamer's article "Post Number 1" in Border Post volume 1, number 2, summer 1997). There were also uniformed and plain clothes personnel who performed close protection duties (bodyguards) for key leaders in the USSR and during trips abroad. It was also responsible for security at events attended by key leaders such as military parades.
10th Directorate (Archives): was responsible for maintaining the KGB's archives and performing some analysis and research.
12th Directorate (Electronic Surveillance): was responsible for electronic eavesdropping (bugging) and telephone wire taps in the USSR and for developing all such devices.
15th Directorate (Bunkers): was responsible for providing security at government installations and administering Soviet underground command and nuclear weapons storage bunkers. It worked closely with the 9th (Guards) Directorate.
16th Directorate (Communications Security): See the 8th Chief Directorate above.
There were also several unnumbered directorates.
Information Analysis Directorate: was responsible for providing key analysis on domestic security and the international situation to the KGB leadership.
Communications Troops Directorate: see the 8th Chief Directorate above.
Border Guards Chief Directorate: was responsible for ensuring the security of the USSR's land, sea, and air borders. It contained over 240,000 troops, including a small air arm (70 fixed-wing aircraft and over 200 helicopters) and a fair sized fresh- and salt-water naval component.
The border guard chief directorate was divided into 8 or 9 Border Districts:
- Northwest
- Baltic
- Western
- Transcaucasus
- Central Asian
- Transbaikal (may have been abolished in the 1970's)
- Eastern
- Far East
- Pacific
Border Districts are usually headed by a Major-General or Lieutenant-General. Border Districts are sub-divided into Detchments (otriady), Commands (komendatury), and Outposts (zastavy).
It is important to note that the KGB Border Guards did not include the Soviet customs service (the GTK, Glavnoe Tamozhennoe Kommission or "State Custom's Commission") which has always been a seperate organization charged with monitoring the import and export of goods and the application of duties and tarrifs. The GTK was part of the Ministry of Foreign Trade (MVT), until 18 July 1986 when it became a seperate Commission within the Soviet Council of Ministers.
Estimates of the total size of the KGB vary. Official figures given in 1990-1991 were around 500,000. This does not include the 240,000 Border Guard personnel. Totals for all branches were thus approximately 3/4 of a million regular paid employees. Estimates for uniformed KGB personnel vary from 15,000 to 40,000 with the lower figure likely representing only the 9th (Guards) Directorate and the later including uniformed personnel of the 15th (Bunker) and 8th (Communication) Directorates.
In addition, during the late 1980's several military units from the Ministry of Defence and the MVD were temporarily placed under the direct control of the KGB (in most cases the Border Guard Chief Directorate). These included the 103rd Airborne Division at Vitebsk, the 117th Narosomensk Motor Rifle Regiment, and units from Pskov, Ryazan, and Tula totalling at least 20,000 troops. However, these troops did not wear KGB uniforms. (Though there are reports that some began to use green shoulder boards and green collar tabs with airborne devices on airborne uniforms before the end of the USSR.)
Shawn
(All material copyright Shawn Caza, 1/98. All rights reserved.)
WHAT WAS THE K.G.B. ?
The KGB was the Soviet Government's Committee of State Security (Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti). (A committee was a Soviet government department smaller than a ministry.)
The KGB was a Union-Republic Committee which officially reported to the USSR Council of Ministers (the Soviet Cabinet). As with all Union-Republic Committees and Ministries, there was an All-Union or USSR KGB and 14 Republican KGBs. Interestingly, the Russian Soviet Republic (RSFSR) did not have its own Republican level KGB until one was set up by RSFSR President Yeltsin on May 6, 1991. The Russian KGB remained a hollow entity, though it briefly inherited control of all KGB functions on Russian territory in late 1991.
Soviet provinces (oblasts and krais) had KGB administrations (upravlenie) while cities, counties (raions) and autonomous districts (okrugs) had KGB departments (otdely) or sections (otdelenie). These sub-Republic KGB organizations reported to the respective Republican KGB except in the case of the RSFSR where they reported directly to the USSR KGB.
The relationship between the Republican KGBs and the USSR KGB was more complex and was known as dual authority. Republic KGBs reported both to their Republic government and to the USSR KGB; actual control was exerted from the top level of the USSR KGB. All personnel matters, including promotion and staffing, were controlled by the centre and personnel often switched back and forth between the USSR KGB and one or more Republic KGBs throughout their career.
STRUCTURE OF THE K.G.B.
The KGB was a large and comprehensive organization performing a wide variety of duties that would fall under the jurisdiction of many different organizations in Western nations. Thus, if compared to American organizations, it performed all the functions of the CIA, NSA, and Secret Service and many of the functions of the FBI, Customs Service, Armed Forces counter- intelligence agencies, BATF, and DEA.
Administratively the KGB was divided into chief directorates (glavnie upravlenie), directorates (upravlenie) and technical departments (otdely) each responsible for certain functions.
The organization of the KGB in the mid- to late-1980's was as follows:
1st Chief Directorate (Foreign Directorate): was the most famous and was responsible for espionage. It was responsible for the collection of all non-military, and much military, foreign intelligence, foreign counterintelligence, recruitment of foreigners, foreign propaganda and disinformation, support for international terrorism, etc. This directorate only existed at the USSR KGB level. The 1st Chief Directorate controlled the Vympel (Pennant) KGB Spetsnaz unit.
2nd Chief Directorate (Counterintelligence): was responsible for domestic counterintelligence and internal security, including hunting for foreign spies and domestic traitors in the USSR. It was also responsible for countering organized crime and narcotics trafficking in liaison with the militia.
3rd Chief Directorate (Military Counterintelligence): was responsible for ensuring the security and loyalty of personnel in the armed forces (including military intelligence [the GRU] and spetsnaz), the MVD troops and the militia, and even among the KGB's own Border and Guard troops. It was also responsible for security of all Soviet ships and aircraft abroad and the physical security of nuclear warheads. Their units in the armed forces were known as the OO (osobye otdely or special sections).
4th Directorate (Transportation): was responsible for all state security matters concerning transportation. They supervised the railways, air transportation, and river and sea ports and lines. (Not for providing transportation to the other branches of the KGB as was previosuly reported here!). It is a direct descendant of the NKVD Railways Administration. Though little is known of it, it continued to exist until 1991.
5th Chief Directorate (Ideological): was responsible for monitoring and repressing all real, or imagined, dissidents in the USSR including activists involved in political, religious, environmental, human rights, and other causes. In the late 1980's this directorate was supposedly dismantled but was actually only retitled the Directorate to Defend the Constitution. It was later named Directorate Z.
6th Directorate (Economic Security): was responsible for guarding against "speculation" (illegal trading), illicit financial transactions, and theft from state enterprises. It was also responsible for securing the nation's financial and economic information from foreign spies.
7th Directorate (Surveillance): was a pool of "watchers" who were used by many other directorates (mostly the 2nd and 5th) to conduct physical surveillance. The 7th Directorate controlled Spestgruppa "A", the famour Alfa Group anti-terrorist team.
8th Chief Directorate (Communication): was a massive organization taking up 1/4 of the KGB's budget. It was responsible for intercepting and analyzing foreign radio signals and telecommunications, designing codes and safeguards to secure Soviet communications, and running the special "V-Ch" high frequency telephone system used by the upper echelons of the Party and government and the KGB itself. Some of these responsibilities may be divided among a 16th Directorate (communications security, which would then leave the 8th to handle interception and code breaking) and an unnumbered Communications Troops Directorate with approximately 16,000 troops.
9th Directorate (Guards): was responsible for guarding the top Party and government leadership of the USSR and its Republics. It consisted of uniformed security guards at Lenin's Tomb, the Kremlin, and other key posts (for more on the KGB's Special Kremlin Regiment and Lenin's Tomb see Don Creamer's article "Post Number 1" in Border Post volume 1, number 2, summer 1997). There were also uniformed and plain clothes personnel who performed close protection duties (bodyguards) for key leaders in the USSR and during trips abroad. It was also responsible for security at events attended by key leaders such as military parades.
10th Directorate (Archives): was responsible for maintaining the KGB's archives and performing some analysis and research.
12th Directorate (Electronic Surveillance): was responsible for electronic eavesdropping (bugging) and telephone wire taps in the USSR and for developing all such devices.
15th Directorate (Bunkers): was responsible for providing security at government installations and administering Soviet underground command and nuclear weapons storage bunkers. It worked closely with the 9th (Guards) Directorate.
16th Directorate (Communications Security): See the 8th Chief Directorate above.
There were also several unnumbered directorates.
Information Analysis Directorate: was responsible for providing key analysis on domestic security and the international situation to the KGB leadership.
Communications Troops Directorate: see the 8th Chief Directorate above.
Border Guards Chief Directorate: was responsible for ensuring the security of the USSR's land, sea, and air borders. It contained over 240,000 troops, including a small air arm (70 fixed-wing aircraft and over 200 helicopters) and a fair sized fresh- and salt-water naval component.
The border guard chief directorate was divided into 8 or 9 Border Districts:
- Northwest
- Baltic
- Western
- Transcaucasus
- Central Asian
- Transbaikal (may have been abolished in the 1970's)
- Eastern
- Far East
- Pacific
Border Districts are usually headed by a Major-General or Lieutenant-General. Border Districts are sub-divided into Detchments (otriady), Commands (komendatury), and Outposts (zastavy).
It is important to note that the KGB Border Guards did not include the Soviet customs service (the GTK, Glavnoe Tamozhennoe Kommission or "State Custom's Commission") which has always been a seperate organization charged with monitoring the import and export of goods and the application of duties and tarrifs. The GTK was part of the Ministry of Foreign Trade (MVT), until 18 July 1986 when it became a seperate Commission within the Soviet Council of Ministers.
Estimates of the total size of the KGB vary. Official figures given in 1990-1991 were around 500,000. This does not include the 240,000 Border Guard personnel. Totals for all branches were thus approximately 3/4 of a million regular paid employees. Estimates for uniformed KGB personnel vary from 15,000 to 40,000 with the lower figure likely representing only the 9th (Guards) Directorate and the later including uniformed personnel of the 15th (Bunker) and 8th (Communication) Directorates.
In addition, during the late 1980's several military units from the Ministry of Defence and the MVD were temporarily placed under the direct control of the KGB (in most cases the Border Guard Chief Directorate). These included the 103rd Airborne Division at Vitebsk, the 117th Narosomensk Motor Rifle Regiment, and units from Pskov, Ryazan, and Tula totalling at least 20,000 troops. However, these troops did not wear KGB uniforms. (Though there are reports that some began to use green shoulder boards and green collar tabs with airborne devices on airborne uniforms before the end of the USSR.)
Shawn
