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Younghusband
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Younghusband

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December 4th, 2006

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The Russian intelligence apparatus

With all the recent Russian spy activity I thought it would be interesting to outline the various parts of the Russian intelligence apparatus, which has become highly complex after the splintering of the monolithic, Cold War era KGB.

The KGB, or Committee for State Security (Ã?Å¡Ã?¾Ã?¼Ã?¸Ñ”šÃŒÂ?Ã?µÑ”š Ã?“Ã?¾ÑÂ?уÃ?´ÌÂ?Ã?°Ñ€ÑÂ?Ñ”šÃ?²Ã?µÃ?½Ã?½Ã?¾Ã?¹ Ã?”˜Ã?µÃ?·Ã?¾Ã?¿ÌÂ?Ã?°ÑÂ?Ã?½Ã?¾ÑÂ?Ñ”šÃ?¸), was both an internal and external security organization. It was founded in 1954 to fight the Cold War by conducting espionage and counter-espionage and protect the state and the Revolution by crushing internal counter-revolutionaries. It relied on HUMINT, IMINT and SIGINT but lacked the analysis capabilities of the CIA or MI6. The KGB had numerous directorates, each handling a different aspect of security or intelligence. After the Cold War the KGB was re-organized several times, and today has a number of successors, many of whom were once directorates under the KGB.

The most commonly known in the West is the FSB (Federal Security Service – Ã?¤Ã?µÃ?´Ã?µÑ€Ã?°ÌÂ?Ã?»ÑŒÃ?½Ã?°ÑÂ? ÑÂ?Ã?»ÑƒÌÂ?Ã?¶Ã?±Ã?° Ã?±Ã?µÃ?·Ã?¾Ã?¿Ã?°ÌÂ?ÑÂ?Ã?½Ã?¾ÑÂ?Ñ”šÃ?¸). This is the internal state security apparatus, equivalent to MI5 in the UK.

The SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service – Ã?¡Ã?»ÑƒÃ?¶Ã?±Ã?° Ã?²Ã?½Ã?µÑˆÃ?½Ã?µÃ?¹ Ñ€Ã?°Ã?·Ã?²Ã?µÃ?´Ã?ºÃ?¸), which has been making headlines in Canada with the capture of an alleged agent three weeks ago, is the external counterpart of the FSB, i.e. like MI6 to MI5 in Britain. The SVR was the 1st Directorate of the old KGB.

FAPSI (Federal Agency of Government Communications and Information – Ã?¤Ã?µÃ?´Ã?µÑ€Ã?°Ã?»ÑŒÃ?½Ã?¾Ã?µ Ã?Â?Ã?³Ã?µÃ?½ÑÂ?Ñ”šÃ?²Ã?¾ Ã?ŸÑ€Ã?°Ã?²Ã?¸Ñ”šÃ?µÃ?Ȅ΄Â?Ñ”šÃ?²Ã?µÃ?½Ã?½Ã?¾Ã?¹ Ã?¡Ã?²ÑÂ?Ã?·Ã?¸ Ã?¸ Ã?ËœÃ?½Ñ”žÃ?¾Ñ€Ã?¼Ã?°Ñ” Ã?¸Ã?¸) is the former 16th Directorate of the KGB and is responsible for communications and electronic intelligence. It is analogous to the NSA or GCHQ.

There are other organizations in the constellation of Russian intelligence organizations including military intelligence (GRU), special operations units, official protective units etc. But the three above are the ones you will hear about in the foreign media. Now you will know the whole story when the media uses the phrase “successor to the KGB.”

Comments to this entry

Richardson
December 5, 2006
1:13 am
I've had a few classes on Soviet "active measures"Â? that featured former (i.e., defectors) KGB intelligence officers. They did a fair job of inciting racial tension, influencing America's left against the Vietnam War, and throwing gasoline on the flames of various conspiracy theories, from who shot JFK & MLK, probably to who carried out 9/11. A lot of bang for the buck, relative to U.S. agencies.

One example of how they would tune-up anti-American sentiment in Third World countries; 1) take a congressional report on U.S. intelligence outlays, create copies that are identical, except change a few words here and there to make it appear as if certain Third World nations, and 2) Distribute all over the Third World. Apparently that tactic works well enough to repeat. Often.
Curzon
December 5, 2006
2:13 am
Richardson: you seem to be using that argument to denigrate legislative oversight of intelligence affairs, an important function in checks and balances structure created in the US constitution. Foreign intelligence agencies may take congressional reports and distribute them overseas to try and stir up local sentiment against the US, but they easily think up something more creative themselves. I think the quasi-fiction book "Ugly American" outlines more complicated reasons for US overseas failures during WWII.

While Congress has meddled into the intelligence agencies frequently, and there are numerous examples of mistakes and excesses, that we had freedom of speech and internal criticism of policy during the Cold War is one big reason while we're still around and the USSR is no more.

YH: thanks for the summary -- I was wondering what FSB really was when I saw it in the news.
Richardson
December 5, 2006
2:33 am
I've no problem with intel oversight and was not attempting to make any point about it, but unclassified publication of the detailed reports coming out of congress is an ongoing mistake. Note that oversight and the publication of findings are differentiated. Foreign intel services can and do use that information to identify and exploit weaknesses in our system (i.e., circumvent CI). I'd say the U.S. survived despite rather than because of such publications, and I say this after hearing from former Soviet IOs and how they specifically used such information in the past, and would with current pubs (if they hadn't defected, of course).
Younghusband
December 5, 2006
2:58 am
@Curzon: I am glad you found it useful. Oftentimes the media makes mention of the FSB simply as _the_ successor to the KGB. I wanted to clarify that it is _a_ successor.
Younghusband
December 5, 2006
4:40 pm
"Vladimir Putin is responsible for Litvinenko's death":http://www.slate.com/id/2154887 by Anne Applebaum mentions both the FSB and SVR, but affords too much power to Putin, saying that he is the "hub" of all intelligence activities. I would say that he is _a_ hub, and that _the_ hub does not exist.