KGB

Kgb History

The KGB had its roots in earlier Soviet security police departments, beginning in 1917 with the CHEKA, a Russian acronym for Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counterrevolution and Sabotage. In the years that followed, the Soviet security police underwent several changes of name and structure but remained politically important. In particular, the security police played significant roles in the development and maintenance of power by Lenin and Stalin.

In 1954, Nikita Khrushchev became First Secretary of the USSR and established the KGB as part of his effort to de-Stalinize his country. While Stalin's regime was noted for its wholesale exercise of repression, Khrushchev's aim was to switch to Party control and enforcement of Party policies. Under Khrushchev's 1955 to 1964 regime, there were legal reforms, including establishment of criminal codes and procedures that limited the KGB's investigatory powers. However, these codes were soon amended in a manner that expanded the KGB's investigatory powers and functions. The power of the KGB increased further during the years when Brezhnev was the USSR's political leader, from 1964 to 1982, and his protégé, Yuri Andropov, was the KGB's chairman.

The nature of the KGB changed again in 1986, when the USSR's political leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, instituted numerous changes that reduced the KGB's influence. Gorbachev based his reform of the KGB on his doctrines of glasnost, which means “openness,” and perestroika, which means “restructuring.” As part of the dissolution of the USSR, Gorbachev dismantled the KGB in 1991.

Kgb Structure

The KGB was a highly centralized organization with rigid control from the top. The USSR Council of Ministers, or Politburo, selected the KGB's chairman, who was then formally appointed by the Supreme Soviet. As of 1978, the KGB's chairman was also a member of the Politburo, giving the KGB direct influence over foreign [Page 996]policy. Despite oversight by the Politburo and the Procuracy, the KGB had considerable autonomy in implementing the broad policy guidelines established by the Politburo and in circumventing the USSR's criminal code when it was politically expedient to do so.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia, shown in 1998 when he was director of the Russian Federal Security Service, the successor agency to the KGB. In 1999, Putin became head of the Security Council and then president of the nation.

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