The chairman of the KGB was the head of the Committee for State Security (KGB), the main security agency of the Soviet Union in 1954–1991. He was assisted by one or two first deputy chairmen, and four to six deputy chairmen. He was also the head of the Collegium of the KGB—which consisted of the chairman, deputy chairmen, directorate chiefs, and one or two republic-level KGB organization chairmen—who affected key policy decisions.
In 1934–1943 the Soviet State Security agency was part of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) as the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB). The director of the GUGB was the first deputy of the People's Commissar of Interior.
List of officeholders Portrait Name Term of office Leader Took office Left office Time in office Chairman of the Cheka (1917–1922) 1 Felix Dzerzhinsky(1877–1926) 20 December 1917 7 July 1918 Vladimir Lenin (1917–1924) — Jēkabs Peterss(1886–1938)Acting 7 July 1918 22 August 1918 (1) Felix Dzerzhinsky(1877–1926) 22 August 1918 6 February 1922 Chairman of the GPU–OGPU (1922, 1923–1934) Felix Dzerzhinsky(1877–1926) 6 February 1922 20 July 1926 Vladimir Lenin (1917–1924) Joseph Stalin (1924–1953) 2 Vyacheslav Menzhinsky(1874–1934) 30 July 1926 10 May 1934 Joseph Stalin (1924–1953) 3 Genrikh Yagoda(1891–1938) 10 May 1934 10 July 1934 People's Commissar for Internal Affairs (1934–1941) Genrikh Yagoda(1891–1938) 10 July 1934 26 September 1936 Joseph Stalin (1924–1953) 4 Nikolai Yezhov(1895–1940) 26 September 1936 25 November 1938 5 Lavrentiy Beria(1899–1953) 25 November 1938 3 February 1941 People's Commissar for State Security (1941) 6 Vsevolod Merkulov(1895–1953) 3 February 1941 20 July 1941 Joseph Stalin (1924–1953) People's Commissar for Internal Affairs (1941–1943) (5) Lavrentiy Beria(1899–1953) 20 July 1941 14 April 1943 Joseph Stalin (1924–1953) (6) People's Commissar for State Security (1943–1946) Vsevolod Merkulov(1895–1953) 14 April 1943 15 March 1946 Joseph Stalin (1924–1953) Minister of State Security (1946–1953) Vsevolod Merkulov(1895–1953) 15 March 1946 4 May 1946 Joseph Stalin (1924–1953) 7 Viktor Abakumov(1908–1954) 4 May 1946 14 July 1951 — Sergei Ogoltsov(1900–1976)Acting 14 July 1951 9 August 1951 8 Semyon Ignatiev(1904–1983) 9 August 1951 5 March 1953 Minister of Internal Affairs (1953–1954) (5) Lavrentiy Beria(1899–1953) 5 March 1953 26 June 1953 Georgy Malenkov (1953–1953) Nikita Khrushchev (1953–1964) 9 Sergei Kruglov(1907–1977) 26 June 1953 13 March 1954 Chairman of the Committee for State Security (1954–1991) 10 Ivan Serov(1905–1990) 13 March 1954 8 December 1958 Nikita Khrushchev (1953–1964) — (1907–1980)Acting 8 December 1958 25 December 1958 11 Alexander Shelepin(1918–1994) 25 December 1958 5 November 1961 — Pyotr Ivashutin(1909–2002)Acting 5 November 1961 13 November 1961 12 Vladimir Semichastny(1924–2001) 13 November 1961 18 May 1967 Nikita Khrushchev (1953–1964) Leonid Brezhnev (1964–1982) 13 Yuri Andropov(1914–1984) 18 May 1967 26 May 1982 Leonid Brezhnev (1964–1982) 14 Vitaly Fedorchuk(1918–2008) 26 May 1982 17 December 1982 Leonid Brezhnev (1964–1982) Yuri Andropov (1982–1984) 15 Viktor Chebrikov(1923–1999) 17 December 1982 1 October 1988 Yuri Andropov (1982–1984) Konstantin Chernenko (1984–1985) Mikhail Gorbachev (1985–1991) 16 Vladimir Kryuchkov(1924–2007) 1 October 1988 28 August 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev (1985–1991) — Leonid Shebarshin(1935–2012)Acting 22 August 1991 23 August 1991 17 Vadim Bakatin(1937–2022) 29 August 1991 3 December 1991
Timeline
See also Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies Director of the Federal Security Service Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service
Citations
Sources Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, Gardners Books (2000), Basic Books (1999), hardcover, ; trade paperback (September, 2000), John Barron, "KGB: The Secret Work of Soviet Secret Agents", Reader's Digest Press (1974), Vasili Mitrokhin and Christopher Andrew, The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World, Basic Books (2005) hardcover, 677 pages
Further reading Yevgenia Albats and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on RussiaPast, Present, and Future. Farrar Straus Giroux (1994) . John Barron. KGB: The Secret Works Of Soviet Secret Agents. Bantam Books (1981) Vadim J. Birstein. The Perversion Of Knowledge: The True Story of Soviet Science. Westview Press (2004) (describes a secret KGB lab engaged in development and testing of poisons) John Dziak, Chekisty: A History of the KGB, Lexington Books (1988)
Бережков, Василий Иванович (2004). Руководители Ленинградского управления КГБ : 1954–1991. Санкт-Петербург: Выбор, 2004. (in Russian)
External links KGB Information Center from FAS.org Chebrikov, Viktor M., et al., eds. Istoriya sovetskikh organov gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti. (1977) Slaves of KGB. 20th Century. The religion of betrayal (Russian) - book by Yuri Shchekochikhin