Soviet Leaders and Intelligence

Assessing the American Adversary during the Cold War

Raymond L. Garthoff

• Publisher: Georgetown University Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781626162303
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: National Security
• Index: Politics & International Relations

During the Cold War, the political leadership of the Soviet Union avidly sought intelligence about its main adversary, the United States. Although effective on an operational level, Soviet leaders and their intelligence chiefs fell short when it came to analyzing intelligence. Soviet leaders were often not receptive to intelligence that conflicted with their existing beliefs, and analysts were reluctant to put forward assessments that challenged ideological orthodoxy.

There were, however, important changes over time. Ultimately the views of an enlightened Soviet leader, Gorbachev, trumped the ideological blinders of his predecessors and the intelligence service's dedication to an endless duel with their ideologically spawned "main adversary, " making it possible to end the Cold War.

Raymond Garthoff draws on over five decades of personal contact with Soviet diplomats, intelligence officers, military leaders, and scholars during his remarkable career as an analyst, senior diplomat, and historian. He also builds on previous scholarship and examines documents from Soviet and Western archives. Soviet Leaders and Intelligence offers an informed and highly readable assessment of how the Soviets understood—and misunderstood—the intentions and objectives of their Cold War adversary.

Appendix 1

Soviet Leaders, 1945–91

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Josef Stalin	1928-53
Georgy M. Malenkov	1953-57
Vyacheslav M. Molotov
Nikolai A. Bulganin
Nikita S. Khrushchev
Nikita S. Khrushchev	1957-64
Leonid I. Brezhnev	1964-82
Yury V. Andropov	1982-84
Konstantin U. Chernenko	1984-85
Mikhail S. Gorbachev	1985-91

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Appendix 2

Heads of the Soviet State Security Organization, 1945–91

Vsevolod N. Merkulov	NKGB/MGB	1943—46
Viktor S. Abakumov	MGB	1946—51
Semyon D. Ignatyev	MGB	1951—53
Lavrenty P. Beria	MVD	1953 (March–June)
Sergei N. Kruglov	MVD	1953—54
Ivan A. Serov	KGB	1954—58
Aleksandr N. Shelepin	KGB	1958—61
Vladimir Ye. Semichastny	KGB	1961—67
Yury V. Andropov	KGB	1967—82
Vitaly V. Fedorchuk	KGB	1982 (May–December)
Viktor M. Chebrikov	KGB	1982—88
Vladimir A. Kryuchkov	KGB	1988—91
Vadim V. Bakatin	KGB	1991 (August 23– December 19)

Key:

KGB    Committee for State Security

MGB    Ministry of State Security

MVD    Ministry of Internal Affairs

NKGB  People’s Commissariat for State Security

Appendix 3

Heads of Soviet Foreign Intelligence, 1945–91

Pavel M. Fitin	INU (NKGB/MGB)	1939–46
Pyotr N. Kubatkin	PGU (MGB)	June–Sept. 1946
Pyotr V. Fedotov	PGU (MGB)	1946–47
	KI (deputy chairman)	1947–49
Sergei R. Savchenko	KI (deputy chairman)	1949–51
	PGU (MGB)	1951–52
Yevgeny P. Pitovranov	PGU (MGB)	1952–53
Vasily S. Ryasnoy	PGU (MVD)	March–June 1953
Aleksandr S. Panyushkin	PGU (MVD)	1953–54
	PGU (KGB)	1954–5...