KGB

Abbreviation for Komitet gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti (The Committee for State Security), the official name of the Soviet state security organization, which integrated under one roof the functions of state security, secret police, foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, and border guards. The KGB existed from March 13, 1954 until it was abolished by President Mikhail Gorbachev on December 3, 1991. In Western literature, KGB predecessor agencies are also often referred to as KGB.