The book sets out the history of the formation and development of special services and special units of Russia over a thousand years, starting with Rurik. A special place in the book is occupied by the issue of ensuring the security of the state and its leaders. The authors trace the change in the goals, tasks and methods of work of special services set at different stages; they show both achievements and the search for solutions to problems that have arisen in the process of historical development. Analysis of the historical material allows us to conclude: the professional culture is laid down for years, and polished for decades to become a real school; without it, the effective functioning of complex power mechanisms is unthinkable. An important semantic load is carried by the texts of documents given in the book, some of them have not been published before, as well as an illustrative series that allows you to visualize the events described.