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.

No.	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Term of office			Premier
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1	Chairman of the Cheka (1917–1922)
		Felix Dzerzhinsky (1877–1926)	20 December 1917	7 July 1918	199 days	Vladimir Lenin (1917–1924)
2		Yakov Peters (1886–1938)	7 July 1918	22 August 1918	46 days
1		Felix Dzerzhinsky (1877–1926)	22 August 1918	6 February 1922	3 years, 168 days
	Chairman of the GPU–OGPU (1922, 1923–1934)
		Felix Dzerzhinsky (1877–1926)	6 February 1922	20 July 1926	4 years, 164 days	Vladimir Lenin (1917–1924) Alexey Rykov (1924–1930) Vyacheslav Molotov (1930–1941)
3		Vyacheslav Menzhinsky (1874–1934)	30 July 1926	10 May 1934	7 years, 284 days	Vyacheslav Molotov (1930–1941)
4	Main Directorate of State Security of People's Commissar for Internal Affairs (1934–1941)
		Genrikh Yagoda (1891–1936)	10 July 1934	26 September 1936	2 years, 78 days	Vyacheslav Molotov (1930–1941)
5		Yakov Agranov (1893–1938)	29 December 1936	15 April 1937	107 days
6		Mikhail Frinovsky (1898–1940)	15 April 1937	28 March 1938	347 days
7		Lavrentiy Beria (1899–1953)	29 September 1938	17 December 1938	79 days
8		Vsevolod Merkulov (1895–1953)	17 December 1938	3 February 1941	2 years, 48 days
	People's Commissar for State Security (1941)
		Vsevolod Merkulov (1895–1953)	3 February 1941	20 July 1941	167 days	Vyacheslav Molotov (1930–1941) Joseph Stalin (1941–1953)
	Main Directorate of State Security of People's Commissar for Internal Affairs (1941–1943)
		Vsevolod Merkulov (1895–1953)	20 July 1941	14 April 1943	1 year, 268 days	Joseph Stalin (1941–1953)
	People's Commissar for State Security (1943–1946)
		Vsevolod Merkulov (1895–1953)	14 April 1943	15 March 1946	2 years, 335 days	Joseph Stalin (1941–1953)
	Ministry of State Security (1946–1954)
		Vsevolod Merkulov (1895–1953)	15 March 1946	18 March 1946	3 days	Joseph Stalin (1941–1953)
9		Viktor Abakumov (1908–1954)	18 March 1946	14 July 1951	5 years, 118 days
—		Sergei Ogoltsov (1900–1976) Acting	14 July 1951	9 August 1951	26 days
10		Semyon Ignatiev (1904–1983)	9 August 1951	5 March 1953	1 year, 208 days
7		Lavrentiy Beria (1899–1953)	5 March 1953	26 June 1953	113 days	Georgy Malenkov (1953–1955)
11		Sergei Kruglov (1907–1977)	June 1953	13 March 1954	9 months
12	Chairman of the Committee for State Security (1954–1991)
		Ivan Serov (1905–1990)	13 March 1954	8 December 1958	4 years, 270 days	Georgy Malenkov (1953–1955) Nikolai Bulganin (1955–1958) Nikita Khrushchev (1958–1964)
13		Alexander Shelepin (1918–1994)	25 December 1958	13 November 1961	2 years, 323 days	Nikita Khrushchev (1958–1964)
14		Vladimir Semichastny (1924–2001)	13 November 1961	18 May 1967	5 years, 186 days	Nikita Khrushchev (1958–1964) Alexei Kosygin (1964–1980)
15		Yuri Andropov (1914–1984)	18 May 1967	26 May 1982	15 years, 8 days	Alexei Kosygin (1964–1980) Nikolai Tikhonov (1980–1985)
16		Vitaly Fedorchuk (1918–2008)	26 May 1982	17 December 1982	205 days	Nikolai Tikhonov (1980–1985)
17		Viktor Chebrikov (1923–1999)	17 December 1982	1 October 1988	5 years, 289 days	Nikolai Tikhonov (1980–1985) Nikolai Ryzhkov (1985–1991)
18		Vladimir Kryuchkov (1924–2007)	1 October 1988	28 August 1991	2 years, 331 days	Nikolai Ryzhkov (1985–1991) Valentin Pavlov (1991)
—		Leonid Shebarshin (1935–2012) Acting	22 August 1991	23 August 1991	1 day
19		Vadim Bakatin (1937–2022)	29 August 1991	3 December 1991	96 days	Ivan Silayev (1991)

• Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies
• Director of the Federal Security Service
• Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service

• Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, Gardners Books (2000), ISBN 0-14-028487-7 Basic Books (1999), hardcover, ISBN 0-465-00310-9; trade paperback (September, 2000), ISBN 0-465-00312-5
• John Barron, "KGB: The Secret Work of Soviet Secret Agents",Reader's Digest Press (1974), ISBN 0-88349-009-9
• 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 ISBN 0-465-00311-7

• Yevgenia Albats and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia – Past, Present, and Future. Farrar Straus Giroux (1994) ISBN 0-374-52738-5.
• John Barron. KGB: The Secret Works Of Soviet Secret Agents. Bantam Books (1981) ISBN 0-553-23275-4
• Vadim J. Birstein. The Perversion Of Knowledge: The True Story of Soviet Science. Westview Press (2004) ISBN 0-8133-4280-5 (describes a secret KGB lab engaged in development and testing of poisons)
• John Dziak, Chekisty: A History of the KGB, Lexington Books (1988) ISBN 978-0-669-10258-1
• Sheymov, Victor (1993). Tower of Secrets. Naval Institute Press. pp. 420. ISBN 1-55750-764-3.
• Бережков, Василий Иванович (2004). Руководители Ленинградского управления КГБ : 1954–1991. Санкт-Петербург: Выбор, 2004. ISBN 5-93518-035-9 (in Russian)

• KGB Information Center from FAS.org
• Chebrikov, Viktor M., et al., eds. Istoriya sovetskikh organov gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti. (1977) [1]
• Slaves of KGB. 20th Century. The religion of betrayal (Russian) - book by Yuri Shchekochikhin

55°45′31″N 37°37′32″E / 55.7587°N 37.6256°E / 55.7587; 37.6256