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Soviet Union [USSR] THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE ROLE OF THE COMMITTEE FOR STATE SECURITY
The KGB played an important role in furthering Soviet foreign
policy objectives abroad. In addition to straightforward
intelligence collection and counterintelligence, the KGB
participated in the Kremlin's program of active measures. KGB
officials also contributed to foreign policy decision making.
Organization
The First Chief Directorate of the KGB was responsible for KGB
operations abroad. According to John Barron, a Western authority,
the First Chief Directorate was composed of three separate
directorates: Directorate S, which oversaw illegal agents (those
under deep cover) throughout the world; Directorate T, responsible
for the collection of scientific and technological intelligence;
and Directorate K, which carried out infiltration of foreign
intelligence and security services and exercised surveillance over
Soviet citizens abroad. In addition, the First Chief Directorate
had three important services: Service I, which analyzed and
distributed intelligence collected by KGB foreign intelligence
officers and agents, published a daily current events summary for
the Politburo, and made forecasts of future world developments;
Service A, which was responsible for planning and implementing
active measures; and Service R, which evaluated KGB operations
abroad.
The operational core of the First Chief Directorate lay in its
eleven geographical departments, which supervised KGB employees
assigned to residencies abroad. These officers, or
rezidenty, operated under legal cover, engaging in
intelligence collection, espionage, and active measures. The longtime head of the First Chief Directorate, Vladimir Kriuchkov, who
had served under Andropov and his successors, was named head of the
KGB in 1988. The Second Chief Directorate also played a role in
foreign intelligence in 1989. It recruited agents for intelligence
purposes from among foreigners stationed in the Soviet Union, and
it engaged in counterintelligence by uncovering attempts of foreign
intelligence services to recruit Soviet citizens.
Data as of May 1989
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