State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus

The State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (KGB RB; Russian: Комитет государственной безопасности Республики Беларусь, КГБ РБ; Belarusian: Камітэт дзяржаўнай бяспекі Рэспублікі Беларусь, КДБ РБ, romanized: Kamitet dziaržaŭnaj biaspieki Respubliki Belarus', KDB RB) is the national intelligence agency of Belarus. Along with its counterparts in Transnistria and South Ossetia, it kept the unreformed name after declaring independence. It is the successor to the KGB of the Byelorussian SSR, a branch of the Soviet KGB which operated in the Byelorussian republic. Felix Dzerzhinsky, who founded the first Soviet secret police, the Cheka, was born in present-day Belarus and remains an important figure in the state ideology of Belarus under president Alexander Lukashenko as well as a patron of the Belarusian KGB. It is governed by the law About State Security Bodies of the Republic of Belarus. The KGB has command over the Alpha Group as the main counter-terrorist unit, although they can be tasked to help the Militsiya and other law enforcement organizations in anti-crime operations.