Intelligence

Eighth Directorate of the General Staff
State Secret Protection Service of the Armed Forces

Currently, the Eighth Directorate of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces is in charge of protecting state secrets in the Armed Forces. Under the direction of the department, a state secret service was created to arm the RF Armed Forces, which officially united regime (regime-secret) bodies; encryption authorities; units of repair and maintenance of encryption equipment; information security authorities at computer facilities; certification units for information security and licensing activities of military units and organizations of the RF Armed Forces; the division of space radio links; units of cryptographic and engineering cryptographic analysis of information security tools; certification centers electronic signature.

In February 2003, on the basis of an order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Eighth Directorate created the State Secret Protection Service of the Armed Forces, which officially united regime (secret-secret) bodies, special bodies, as well as subdivisions ensuring the solution of tasks in various areas of information protection when using funds computing technology.

The need to further improve the system of protecting state secrets was determined by new types of threats in this area. In order to solve a number of problematic issues in observing the secrecy regime and organizing information protection, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense in 2011 decided to assign the tasks of technical information protection to the State Secret Protection Service. Further development of the information protection system was aimed at creating a system for detecting, preventing and eliminating computer attacks on the information resources of the Armed Forces. The created vertically integrated information protection system operates in a single set of measures aimed at ensuring the secure processing of information of limited access in the information infrastructure of the Armed Forces.

At present, the country is in conditions of intensive development of information technologies, which are the basis for the development of the state and are actively used in the military sphere of its activities. At the same time, attempts at unauthorized access to information constituting state secrets by foreign states are intensified. In these difficult conditions, the State Security Service of the Armed Forces solves the tasks assigned to it in the way that time demands.

The Krasnodar Higher Military School is a modern educational organization with a multi-level training system and a research component that trains highly qualified, dedicated officers. The school has a modern educational and material base, created on the basis of modern information technologies, which, taking into account the general military and maritime component, provides high-quality training for information security in the interests of all branches of the Armed Forces. In accordance with the development program of the Krasnodar Higher Military School, approved by the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, active work is underway to build a new complex of buildings, including all the infrastructure necessary to provide a high-tech foundation for training specialists.

The emergence of new threats in the field of information security, an increase in the knowledge-intensive and high-tech component in the activities of state secret protection agencies required the application of fundamental and applied scientific approaches to its organization and provision. To conduct research in the field of information security in 2014 as part of the main educational institution of the State Secret Protection Service - the Krasnodar Higher Military School named after General of the Army S.M. Shtemenko established a research center. In the same year, a scientific company was formed to attract the most talented graduates of civilian universities to military research.

Kindred Formatiosn

The military command body of the Strategic Missile Forces, a structural subdivision of command bodies, unions, formations, military units and organizations of the Strategic Missile Forces, designed to ensure the effective functioning of the system of protecting state secrets, direct measures to protect them, coordinating the activities of structural units of military authorities and organizations of the Strategic Missile Forces on the protection of state secrets within its competence. Services Szg.t. The Strategic Missile Forces is the legal successor of the previously existing structural subdivisions - 8 divisions (offices), special communications divisions and assistant commanders (chiefs of staff) on secrecy.

To the service, the following main tasks are assigned: coordination of the activities of the military authorities and troops to protect state secrets within their competence; the implementation of measures to implement the established regime of secrecy in the bodies of military administration and organizations of the Strategic Missile Forces; organization and provision of hidden communication; protection of information from unauthorized access, cryptographic and anti-virus protection of information in automated control systems for military purposes and at computer facilities; licensing the activities of subordinate military units and organizations to carry out work related to the use of information constituting state secrets and a number of other tasks.

The Department of State Secrets Protection of the Federal Service for Military- Technical Cooperation of Russia is responsible for ensuring the fulfillment by employees of the Service of the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on state secrets, other legal acts and methodological documents defining the procedure for the protection of information constituting state secrets; organization, coordination and control of the activities of the structural units of the Service to fulfill the established requirements of the regime of secrecy and the treatment of information of limited access when they carry out the powers assigned to them.

Management exercises the following powers: analyzes the state of security of information constituting a state secret from unauthorized access, identifies possible channels for their leakage in the structural units of the Service; develops proposals and recommendations for the unconditional closure of possible channels of leakage of information constituting state secrets; organizes the development of proposals in the list of information of the Service to be classified; develops a nomenclature of positions of workers subject to registration for admission to state secrets; conducts inspections of the state of secrecy, countering foreign technical intelligence (hereinafter - ITD), technical protection of information and protection against unauthorized access (hereinafter - TZI and protection against unauthorized access) in the structural divisions of the Service.

History

On 04 May 2017 the Russian Defense Ministry proposed to add the decree of the President of Russia "On the establishment of professional holidays and memorable days in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation" in order to establish in the Russian Armed Forces the State Secret Protection Service Day and celebrate it on November 13. In the explanatory note of the Ministry of Defense of Russia to the draft decree of the head of state it was noted that on November 13, 1918, by order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic No. 217/33, the staff of the organizational department of the All-Russian General Staff was announced, in which for the first time a separate division cryptographic department. From this moment on, the history of encryption agencies begins, which later became the basis of the entire state secret protection system in the RF Armed Forces.

"Historically, and on this date, more than one generation of service specialists was brought up, which was celebrated on November 13 in the Russian Armed Forces, first as the Day of the Cryptographer," and for the last 15 years has been celebrated as the State Secret Protection Service Day, "the accompanying document explained.

The service of protecting state secrets of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation has passed a long and glorious way during its existence and adequately meets its centenary anniversary, which was celebrated on November 13, 2018. Throughout its history, the service, responding to the challenges of the time, has been involved in improving the management of troops, forces and weapons, and has developed a system of protecting state secrets.

The results of the study, analysis and synthesis of documentary sources and scientific literature suggest that state and military secrets in Russia were defended since ancient times, since the advent of Slavic writing. When writing important state or military orders from ancient times resorted to encrypting the text of the ancient Russian secret writing, called a gibberish letter, then the document was packed in a canvas case, sealed it with a wax seal and sent to the addressee with a trusted messenger.

The first of the ancient acts of domestic ciphers that have survived and are stored in the Russian State Archive is considered to be the code number of Patriarch Philaret on August 18, 1633 in the Ambassadorial Order. This documented fact testifies to the introduction of the domestic cipher at the state level in the department of foreign affairs of Russia.

During the military reforms of the 1860s–1870s, the military minister, Adjutant-General D.A. Milyutin decided to enter his own military key in the military department to encrypt secret correspondence. Simultaneously with the key, on May 26 (June 7), 1878, the Minister of War approved the “Rules of conducting encrypted correspondence in the military department”. The peculiarity of the epoch was that directly executors, who were themselves the Minister of War, the Chief of General Staff and further down to the corps commanders and division chiefs, were directly involved in encrypting documents.

After the October Revolution of 1917, the beginning of the Civil War and military intervention in Russia, the issue of protecting state secrets rose to a new level. The old ciphers no longer provided the proper level of information protection, the correspondence between the headquarters and the units of the Red Army was opened by the enemy within an hour after the interception of the encryption. The solution to the problem was found in the creation of a special service, whose main task was to protect state secrets.

The birthday of the Cryptographic Service was the day of the publication of the order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RVSR) No. 217 dated November 13, 1918 on the transformation of the General Branch into the General and Cryptographic Department of the organizational management of the Universal Security Headquarters. From that moment, work began in the army and navy to protect state secrets, accompanied by the development of instructions and rules to ensure the procedure for working with secret documents. In the same month, its own encryption part was created as part of the Field Headquarters of the Republic Military Revolutionary Military Council.

In 1920, the Cipher Division was formed in the Field Headquarters, and regular cipher units were introduced into the troops at the headquarters of the fronts, military districts, armies and divisions. In February 1921, the All-Russia Headquarters and the Field Staff of the RVSR were merged into the Headquarters of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army. In April of the same year, their cryptographic structures were transformed into the Central Cryptographic Department of the Red Army Headquarters, directly subordinate to its commissioner.

In the 1930s, cryptographers took an active part in the fighting at Lake Hassan, on the Khalkhin Gol River, in Spain and China, during the Soviet-Finnish war. By the beginning of World War II, the cryptographic service was already a coherent system of cryptographic bodies, staffed by trained command and commanding and engineering personnel.

By order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR No. 0397 of October 7, 1941, the Office of the Cipher Service of the General Staff of the Red Army was transformed into the Eighth Directorate of the General Staff. In the General Staff of the Red Army, the management of the cryptographic service was assigned to the special (8th) Division of the Operational Directorate, which was responsible for organizing and directing the special service in peacetime and wartime. Throughout the war, the department (and then the directorate) was headed by the brigade commander, Pyotr Nikolayevich Belyusov (from May 21, 1942 - Major General, from October 7, 1943 - Lieutenant General).

By order of the General Staff No. 051 of July 29, 1941, the department was withdrawn from the Operational Directorate and became known as the encryption department of the General Staff of the Red Army. In July-August, for all encryption agencies of the fronts and armies, a single name was also introduced - the crypto department. At the front headquarters he was directly subordinate to the chief of staff, and at the army headquarters he was subordinated to the head of the operations department.

Soon, on August 18, by order of the People’s Commissar of Defense No. 02260, the cipher department of the General Staff was reorganized into the Cipher Office of the General Staff of the Red Army. In the autumn of the same year, another renaming took place. Defense of the USSR People's Commissar Order #0397 of October 7, 1941 Management of encryption service of the General Staff of the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Directorate of the General Staff.

During the war years, 5,530 special agencies were formed and reformed; 15,634 specialists were sent to staff them, fighting losses among them during the Great Patriotic War amounted to 2,163 people. There are many examples of the selfless actions of cryptographers under combat conditions. In addition to the ability to work and strictly keep the secret of encrypted correspondence, they were given special responsibility for the quality of work. Cryptographers were required utmost attention and high accuracy, they had no right to mistakes in the text cipher telegrams. When a ship was destroyed or when part was surrounded, the cipher workers first of all took care of saving the documents, and then about their own security. This is evidenced by numerous facts and memories.

During the war, the Eighth Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army, all the cipherorgans, selflessly fulfilled the functions and duties assigned to them, gained vast experience in organizing and implementing special communications in combat conditions. This experience was taken into account when developing guidance documents for the special service, clarifying the tasks and duties of special bodies in wartime conditions. The creation of the Eighth Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army was an important step in the development of the special service, increased its role in organizing the hidden control of troops, ensuring the preservation of state and military secrets in extreme conditions.

The results of the work of the cipher bodies of the Armed Forces of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War were summed up at the General Staff of the Red Army at a meeting of the chiefs of the 8th divisions of the headquarters of military districts, military groups and the Navy on April 22-26 April 1946. Based on the experience of the cipher-agencies of the fronts, military districts and fleets during the war years , new documents were developed and put into effect that regulate in detail the activities of the cryptographic service.

In the post-war years, encrypted communication was the most reliable type of hidden communication in the Armed Forces of the USSR and was intended to transmit the most important information concerning a limited number of people, as well as messages requiring special confidentiality. During the construction of the Armed Forces of the USSR in the 1950s – 1990s, the formation of the Armed Forces and the arms, the alteration and improvement of the military-military system, the cryptographic service continued to be improved. Its activity at that time was characterized by an increase in the load on almost all special organs. First of all, this is due to the constant expansion of the range of tasks solved by the service. Since the late 1970s, the service began to develop measures to ensure the security of information in automated troop control systems and in computer centers being created.

To ensure the increased requirements for stealth command and control and the task of providing the command and control agencies of the Military Academy of Material and Technical Support with operational, confidential communications, a special post was created in 1994 by directive of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces. In 1998, he was transformed into the eighth section. In order to optimize the structure of the security agencies, in 2003, the Directive of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation No. 314/6/212 established a state secret protection service of the Military Academy of Material and Technical Support consisting of: a secret department, an eighth department, and an information security department.