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Article: KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti, USSR Committee of
State Security)
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, andSecurity
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti, USSR Committee of State Security)
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K. LEE LERNER
The KGB (
Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti
or Committee of State Security) was the preeminent Soviet intelligence agency and Soviet equivalent of the American CIA. The KGB was the primary organization for intelligence and counterintelligence matters during the later Soviet period. Although the NKVD was tasked with internal security, the KBG role in political security and counterintelligence was so broad that its operations often touched on internal security matters. For example, in 1957, Soviet border guards were placed under KGB supervision.
The KGB and Western intelligence ...