List of historical secret police organizations
Encyclopedia
This is a list of historical secret police
organizations. In most cases they are no longer current because the regime that ran them was overthrown or changed, or they changed their names. Few still exist under the same name as legitimate police forces.
Afghanistan
Albania
Angola
Argentina
Brazil
Cambodia
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Cuba
Czechoslovakia
Dominican Republic
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Italy
South Korea
Mexico
Nicaragua
Paraguay
Peru
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
El Salvador
Somalia
Soviet Union
Uruguay
Venezuela
Zaire
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
organizations. In most cases they are no longer current because the regime that ran them was overthrown or changed, or they changed their names. Few still exist under the same name as legitimate police forces.
AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
- Khedamat-e Etelea'at-e DawlatiKHADKhadamat-e Etela'at-e Dawlati translates directly to English as: "Government Information Agency". However, this phrase is more correctly translated as Government Intelligence Service...
(KHAD) (Government Intelligence Service)
AlbaniaAlbaniaAlbania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
- Drejtorija e Sigurimit të Shtetit (Sigurimi) (Directorate of State Security)
AngolaAngolaAngola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
- Direcção de Informação e Segurança de Angola (DISA) (Directorate of Information and Security of Angola)
ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
- Sección Especial de Represión al Comunismo (SERC) (Special Section for the Repression of Communism)
- División de Información Política Antidemocrática (DIPA) (Political Anti-democratic Information Division)
BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
- Departamento de Operações Internas-Centro de Operações de Defesa InternaDOI-CODIThe Destacamento de Operações de Informações - Centro de Operações de Defesa Interna was the Brazilian intelligence and repression agency during the military government . This period started on March 31, 1964 with the removal of the civilian government by military forces and ended in the 1984....
(DOI-CODI) (Internal Operations Department-Centre for Internal Defence Operations)
CambodiaCambodiaCambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
- SantebalSantebalThe Santebal, a Khmer term meaning "keeper of the peace", was the Special Branch of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.The Santebal was in charge of internal security and running prison camps like Tuol Sleng where thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured and killed...
- secret police during the Khmer Rouge period
CameroonCameroonCameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
- Centre National d'Etude et de Recherche (National Centre for Study and Research)
Central African RepublicCentral African RepublicThe Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...
- Force spéciale de défense des institutions républicaines (FORSIDIR) (The Presidential Lifeguard)
- Unité de sécurité présidentielle (USP) (Presidential Security Organisation - acted as the main secret organisation before and after FORSIDIR)
- Office central de répression du banditisme (OCRB) (Central Office of Banditry Repression)
ChadChadChad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
- Direction de la Documentation et de la Sécurité (DDS) (Directorate of Documentation and Security)
ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
- Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia (DINA) (National Intelligence Directorate)
- Centro Nacional de InteligenciaCNICNI is the abbreviation for a number of organizations and companies, including:* Centro Nacional de Inteligencia, the Spanish secret service agency.* Church of North India...
(CNI) (National Intelligence Centre)
ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
- Jinyi WeiJinyi WeiThe Jinyi Wei was the imperial military secret police of the Chinese emperors of the Ming Dynasty and were bound to serving the emperor only. The Jinyi Wei was founded by the Hongwu Emperor in 1368 to serve as his personal bodyguards and it developed into a military organization the following year...
(Ming DynastyMing DynastyThe Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
) - Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Republic of ChinaRepublic of ChinaThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
) (1938－1946)
CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
- Bureau for the Repression of Communist ActivitiesBureau for the Repression of Communist ActivitiesThe Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities was the secret police agency that Fulgencio Batista maintained in the 1950s, which gained a reputation for brutality in its fight against pro-Castro rebels.The bureau was headed by Mariano Faget, who had first gained fame as a Nazi hunter...
(BatistaFulgencio BatistaFulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
government)
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
- Státní bezpečnost / Štátna bezpečnosťState Security (Czechoslovakia)In former Czechoslovakia, State Security or StB / ŠtB, was a plainclothes secret police force from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990...
(StB / ŠtB) (State Security)
Dominican RepublicDominican RepublicThe Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
- Servicio Inteligencia Militar (SIM) - Military Intelligence Service under Rafael Trujillo
East Germany
- Ministerium für StaatssicherheitStasiThe Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
(MfS or Stasi) (Ministry for State Security)
GuatemalaGuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
- Policía Judicial (Judicial Police)
- Policía Militar Ambulate (PMA) (Mobile Military Police)
- Guardia de Hacienda (Palace Guard)
- Ejército Secreto Anti-Comunista (ESAC) (Secret Anti-Communist Army)
- Centro de Servicios Especiales de la Presidencia (Centre for Special Presidential Services)
HaitiHaitiHaiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
- Service d'Information (SD) (FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: Information Service) - Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale (MVSN) (Militia of National Security Volunteers, better known as the Tonton Macoutes)
HondurasHondurasHonduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
- Departamento Nacional de Investigaciones (DNI) (National Investigation Department)
HungaryHungaryHungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
- Államvédelmi Osztály (ÁVO) (State Protection Department)
- Államvédelmi Hatóság (ÁVH) (State Protection Authority)
IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
- Komando Pemulihan Keamanan dan Ketertiban (Kopkamtib) (Security and Order Restoration Command)
IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
- Sazeman-i Ettelaat va Amniyat-i KeshvarSAVAKSAVAK was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service established by Iran's Mohammad Reza Shah on the recommendation of the British Government and with the help of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency SAVAK (Persian: ساواک, short for سازمان اطلاعات و امنیت کشور...
(SAVAK) (National Organization for Intelligence and Security)
IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
- Jihaz Al-Mukhabarat Al-A'maIraqi Intelligence ServiceThe Iraqi Intelligence Service , also known as the Mukhabarat, General Directorate of Intelligence, or Party Intelligence, was the main state intelligence organization in Iraq under Saddam Hussein...
(Mukhabarat) (Iraqi Intelligence Service)
ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
- Organizzazione di Vigilanza Repressione dell'Antifascismo (OVRA) (Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism)
South KoreaSouth KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
- Korea Central Intelligence AgencyNational Intelligence Service (South Korea)The National Intelligence Service is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korea Central Intelligence Agency , during the rule of President Park Chung-hee's military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which displaced the...
(KCIA) - Agency for National Security PlanningNational Intelligence Service (South Korea)The National Intelligence Service is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korea Central Intelligence Agency , during the rule of President Park Chung-hee's military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which displaced the...
(ANSP)
MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
- División de Investigaciones para la Prevención de la Delincuencia (DIPD) (Investigation Division for the Prevention of Delinquency)
NicaraguaNicaraguaNicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
- Dirección General de Seguridad del Estado (DGSE) (Directorate-General of State Security)
ParaguayParaguayParaguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
- PyraguësJosé Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia200px|right|thumb|José Gaspar Rodríguez de FranciaDr. José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia y Velasco was the first leader of Paraguay following its independence from Spain...
(Between 1814 to 1840, nicknamed Hairy Feet by civilians) - División Técnica de Represión del Comunismo (Technical Division for the Repression of Communism)
- Departamento de Investigaciones de la Policía (DIPC) (Police Investigations Department)
PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
- Seguridad del Estado (State Security)
- División Contra el Terrorismo (Anti-Terrorism Division)
PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- Służba Bezpieczeństwa (SB) (Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs)
PortugalPortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
- Policia de Vigilância e de Defesa do EstadoPIDEIn 1969, Marcello Caetano changed the name PIDE to DGS . The death of Salazar and the subsequent ascension of Caetano brought some attempts at democratization, in order to avoid popular insurgency against censorship, the ongoing colonial war and the general restriction of civil rights...
(PVDE) (Vigilance and State Defence Police) - Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do EstadoPIDEIn 1969, Marcello Caetano changed the name PIDE to DGS . The death of Salazar and the subsequent ascension of Caetano brought some attempts at democratization, in order to avoid popular insurgency against censorship, the ongoing colonial war and the general restriction of civil rights...
(PIDE) (International and State Defence Police) - Direcção Geral de Segurança (DGS) (Directorate-General of Security)
RomaniaRomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
- Departamentul Securităţii statuluiSecuritateThe Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
(Securitate) (Department of State Security)
RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
- Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own ChancelleryThird Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own ChancelleryThe Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery was a secret department set up in Imperial Russia, inherited from Tayny Prikaz, Privy Chancellery and Specialty Chancellery, effectively serving as the Imperial regime's secret police for much of its existence. The organization was...
- Special Corps of GendarmesSpecial Corps of GendarmesThe Special Corps of Gendarmes was the uniformed security police of the Russian Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its main responsibilities were law enforcement and state security....
- Okhrannoye otdeleniyeOkhrankaThe Department for Protecting the Public Security and Order , usually called "guard department" and commonly abbreviated in modern sources as Okhrana or Okhranka in Russia, was a secret police force of the Russian Empire and part of the police department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in...
(Okhrana or slang Okhranka) (Security Section) (1866-1917) - Oprichniki (1565-1573) under Ivan the Terrible
El SalvadorEl SalvadorEl Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
- Organización Democrática NacionalistaOrganización Democrática NacionalistaORDEN, or Organización Democrática Nacionalista was a Salvadoran paramilitary organization founded under the military rule of Julio Adalberto Rivera, headed by José Alberto Medrano, and supported initially by the Green Berets...
(ORDEN) (Nationalist Democratic Organization) - Frente Democrático Nacionalista (FDN) (Nationalist Democratic Front)
SomaliaSomaliaSomalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
- National Security ServiceNational Security Service (Somalia)The National Security Service was the primary intelligence service of the government of Siad Barre and the bedrock of its repressive internal security apparatus, existing from 1970 until 1990 when it was formally abolished.- Organization and structure :...
- HangashHangashThe Hangash a Somali acronym standing for Military Intelligence Unit) was a notorious secret police unit in Somalia under the regime of Siad Barré until its collapse in 1991.- Overview :...
(Military Intelligence Unit)
South-West Africa
- KoevoetKoevoetKoevoet , also known as "Operation K" and officially known as the "South West Africa Police Counter-Insurgency Unit" , was a police counter insurgency unit in South-West Africa during the 1970s and 1980s...
(Crowbar) (officially known as South West Africa Police Counter-Insurgency Unit)
Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
- ChekaChekaCheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
(1917-1922) (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission) - Gosudarstvennoye Politicheskoye UpravleniyeState Political DirectorateThe State Political Directorate was the secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1934...
(GPU) (1922-1923) (State Political Directorate) - Obyedinennoye Gosudarstvennoye Politicheskoye UpravleniyeState Political DirectorateThe State Political Directorate was the secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1934...
(OGPU) (1923–1934) (Joint State Political Directorate) - Narodnyi Kommissariat Vnutrennih DelNKVDThe People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
(NKVD) (1934–1946) (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) - Ministerstvo Vnutrennih Del (MVD) (1946–1954) (Ministry for Internal Affairs)
- Ministerstvo Gosudarstvennoi BezopastnostiMinistry for State Security (USSR)The Ministry of State Security was the name of Soviet secret police from 1946 to 1953.-Origins of the MGB:The MGB was just one of many incarnations of the Soviet State Security apparatus. Since the revolution, the Bolsheviks relied on a strong political police or security force to support and...
(MGB) (1943–1953) (Ministry for State Security) - Komitet Gosudarstvennoi BezopasnostiKGBThe KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
(KGB) (1954–1991) (Committee for State Security)
UruguayUruguayUruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
- Organismo Coordinador de Actividades Anti-Subversivas (Anti-Subversive Activities Co-ordination Organization)
VenezuelaVenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
- Dirección de Inteligencia MilitarDirección de Inteligencia MilitarThe Dirección de Inteligencia Militar was the military intelligence agency of Venezuela.According to the New York Times, as of June 3, 2008, DIM has been replaced with a new agency, the General Counterintelligence Office.-See also:...
(DIM) (Military Intelligence Directorate) - Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y PrevenciónDirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevenciónthumb|250px|right|El Helicoide building in Caracas - old headquarters of SEBINSEBIN, the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia , is the premier intelligence agency in Venezuela...
(DISIP) (Bolivarian Intelligence Service)
ZaireZaireThe Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
- Centre Nationale de Documentation (CND) (National Documentation Center) - 1969-early 1980s
- Agence Nationale de Documentation (AND) (National Documentation Agency) - Early 1980s-August 1990
- Service National d'Intelligence et de Protection (SNIP) (National Service for Intelligence and Protection) - August 1990 - May 1997
See also
- List of fictional secret police organizations
- List of secret police organizations
- PolicePoliceThe police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
- Secret policeSecret policeSecret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....