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O.K., correction: Putin was the former head of the FSB from July 1998 to August 1999. Same difference. In fact Putin once said that "there was no such thing as a former KGB man."

http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/articles/V_Putin_eng.shtml

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11081430/site/newsweek/

O.K., correction: Putin was the former head of the FSB from July 1998 to August 1999. Same difference. In fact Putin once said that "there was no such thing as a former KGB man."

Well, that is like saying once a Marine, always a Marine, or once Special Forces, always Special Forces. Obviously, that means little once you have been out for some time.

Putin "ran" the FSB for a little over a year after Yeltsin brought him in from St. Petersburg. He resigned from the KGB during the 1991 coup. Yeltsin put him in charge of the FSB to make some changes. Why? Because Putin belonged to the part of the KGB that later became the SVR. Therefore, he would have less qualms firing or forcing into retirement FSB guys since they did not come from the foreign intel branch like Putin. It was not a popular move with FSB types to say the least.

In fact Putin once said that "there was no such thing as a former KGB man." ===

No he said that "it is not such thing as the former intellegence man". He meant that the intelegence training is always with him.
Onec he also said tha the journalism is the similar occupation as the intelegence. They use same method to uncover the information. The one difference is the the journalist works for his paper but the intellegence man - for goverment. Second difference taht the journalist can lie but the intelegence man cann't.