List of historical secret police organizations
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 In most cases they are no longer current because the regime that ran them was overthrown or changed, or they changed their names.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.
Agencies by country
[Afghanistan]
- Khedamat-e Etelea'at-e Dawlati
[Albania]
- Drejtorija e Sigurimit të Shtetit , active in the People's Socialist Republic of Albania
[Algeria]
- Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité
[Angola]
- Directorate of Information and Security of Angola , active in the People's Republic of Angola
[Argentina]
- Sección Especial de Represión al Comunismo
- División de Información Política Antidemocrática
[Bolivia]
- Servicio Especial de Seguridad
[Brazil]
- Departamento de Operações Internas-Centro de Operações de Defesa Interna , active during the military dictatorship
[Bulgaria]
- Komitet za dǎržavna sigurnost , most commonly referred to as the State Security, or DS, active in the People's Republic of Bulgaria
[Cambodia]
- Santebal - secret police during the Khmer Rouge period
[Cameroon]
- Centre National d'Étude et de Recherche
[Central African Republic]
- Force spéciale de défense des institutions républicaines
- Unité de sécurité présidentielle
- Office central de répression du banditisme
[Chad]
- Direction de la Documentation et de la Sécurité
[Chile]
- Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional , active during the regime of Augusto Pinochet
- Central Nacional de Informaciones , active during the regime of Augusto Pinochet
[China]
- Jinyiwei
- Bureau of Investigation and Statistics
[Colombia]
- Administrative Department of Security Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad
Congo, People's Republic of">People's Republic of the Congo">Congo, People's Republic of
- General Directorate for State Security
Croatia, Independent State of">Independent State of Croatia">Croatia, Independent State of
- Ravnateljstvo za javni red i sigurnost / Glavno ravnateljstvo za javni red i sigurnost
- Ustaška nadzorna služba
[Cuba]
- Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities
[Czechoslovakia]
- Státní bezpečnost / Štátna bezpečnosť , active in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
[Dominican Republic]
- Servicio Inteligencia Militar - Military Intelligence Service under Rafael Trujillo
[Egypt]
- State Security Investigations Service
[Finland]
- Etsivä keskuspoliisi
- Valtiollinen poliisi
[Germany]
- Preußische Geheimpolizei - active during the German Confederation, German Empire and Weimar Republic; merged in the Gestapo
- Geheime Staatspolizei - active in Nazi Germany
- Geheime Feldpolizei - The Wehrmacht's version of the Gestapo
- SS-Sicherheitsdienst - The intelligence agency of the Nazi Party and the SS
- Ministerium für Staatssicherheit - East German organisation active during the Cold War era
[Greece]
- Greek Military Police
[Guatemala]
- Policía Judicial
- Policía Militar Ambulate
- Guardia de Hacienda
- Centro de Servicios Especiales de la Presidencia
[Haiti]
- Service d'Information
- Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale , active during the Duvalier dynasty
[Honduras]
- Departamento Nacional de Investigaciones
[Hungary]
- Államvédelmi Osztály
- Államvédelmi Hatóság
[Indonesia]
- Komando Pemulihan Keamanan dan Ketertiban , active during the regime of Suharto
[Iran]
- Sazeman-i Ettelaat va Amniyat-i Keshvar
[Iraq]
- Jihaz Al-Mukhabarat Al-A'ma
[Ireland]
- Criminal Investigation Department
[Italy]
- Organizzazione di Vigilanza Repressione dell'Antifascismo , active in the Kingdom of Italy and the Italian Social Republic under the rule of Benito Mussolini
[Japan]
- Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu
- Kenpeitai, secret military police of the Imperial Army, later the army and navy
- Tokubetsu Keisatsutai , secret military police of the Imperial Navy, duties later assumed by the Kenpeitai
[South Korea]
- Korea Central Intelligence Agency
- Agency for National Security Planning
[Mexico]
- Dirección Federal de Seguridad
- División de Investigaciones para la Prevención de la Delincuencia
[Mongolia]
- Dotood Yam, active in the Mongolian People's Republic
[Mozambique]
- National Service of Popular Security
[Nicaragua]
- Dirección General de Seguridad del Estado
- Ministerio de Seguridad Interior
[Nigeria]
- Nigerian Security Organization
[Ottoman Empire]
- Teşkilât-ı Mahsusa
[Paraguay]
- Pyraguës
- División Técnica de Represión del Comunismo, active during the El Stronato period, the single-party military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner
- Departamento de Investigaciones de la Policía , active during the El Stronato period, the single-party military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner
[Peru]
- Seguridad del Estado
- División Contra el Terrorismo
[Philippines]
- Military Intelligence and Security Group, active during the rule of Ferdinand Marcos
- National Intelligence and Security Authority or NISA, active during the rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Headed by Marcos' trusted military man, General Fabian Ver, who was also the commander of presidential security and in 1981, was appointed as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
[Poland]
- Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego 1945-1954, active in the Polish People's Republic
- Służba Bezpieczeństwa 1956-1989, active in the Polish People's Republic
[Portugal]
- Polícia Preventiva : 1918-1919, active in the First Portuguese Republic
- Polícia de Segurança do Estado : 1919, active in the First Portuguese Republic
- Polícia de Defesa Social : 1919-1926, active in the First Portuguese Republic
- Polícia de Informações : 1926-1931, active during the Ditadura Nacional period
- Polícia de Vigilância Política e Social : 1933, active during the Ditadura Nacional period
- Polícia de Vigilância e de Defesa do Estado : 1933-1945, active during the Estado Novo regime under the rule of António de Oliveira Salazar
- Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado - PIDE : 1945-1968, active during the Estado Novo regime under the rule of António de Oliveira Salazar
- Direcção-Geral de Segurança : 1968-1974, active during the Estado Novo regime under the rule of Marcelo Caetano
[Republic of China] (Taiwan)
- Taiwan Garrison Command
[Roman Empire]
- Agentes in rebus
- Frumentarii
- Cohors Praetoria An ancient Roman institution in charge of the emperor's safety.
[Romania]
- Departamentul Securităţii statului , active in the Socialist Republic of Romania
Russian Monarchy">Tsarist autocracy">Russian Monarchy
- Oprichniki under Ivan the Terrible
- Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery under Nicholas I of Russia
- Special Corps of Gendarmes
- Okhrannoye otdeleniye
[Rwanda]
- Service Central de Renseignements
[El Salvador]
- Organización Democrática Nacionalista
- Frente Democrático Nacionalista
[Singapore]
- Special Branch
[Somalia]
- National Security Service, active in the Somali Democratic Republic
- Hangash, active in the Somali Democratic Republic
- Victory Pioneers, active in the Somali Democratic Republic
- Dhabar Jabinta, active in the Somali Democratic Republic
- Red Berets, active in the Somali Democratic Republic
[South Africa]
- Bureau of State Security, active during the Apartheid era
[Soviet Union]
- All-Russian Extraordinary Commission
- State Political Directorate
- Joint State Political Directorate
- People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs
- Main Directorate of State Security
- People's Commissariat for State Security
- Ministry for State Security
- Committee for State Security
[Spain]
- Servicio de Información Militar
- Brigada Político-Social / Brigada de Investigación Social , active during the regime of Francisco Franco
- Servicio Central de Documentación
- Servicio de Inteligencia de la Guardia Civil
[Turkey]
- Jandarma İstihbarat ve Terörle Mücadele
[Uganda]
- Public Safety Unit
- State Research Bureau
[United States of America]
- COINTELPRO, a program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that included operations directed against Communists, anti-Vietnam War organizers, the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, feminist organizations, anti-colonial movements, and the New Left generally, as well as small operations purportedly directed against white supremacist and far-right groups.
- CONUS INTEL, a program of the United States Army that investigated and engaged in counterintelligence activities against civil rights and anti-Vietnam War organizations.
- CONARC, the United States Army Continental Army Command, operated a separate program paralleling CONUS INTEL.
- Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, largely confined to one state
[Uruguay]
- Organismo Coordinador de Actividades Anti-Subversivas
[Venezuela]
- Bolivarian Intelligence Service
- Dirección General de Contrainteligencia Militar
- National Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services
[South Vietnam]
- Social and Political Research Service
[Yugoslavia]
- Department for People's Protection
- State Security Administration
- Counterintelligence Service
- State Security Service
- Security Administration
[Zaire]
- Centre Nationale de Documentation - 1969-early 1980s
- Agence Nationale de Documentation - Early 1980s-August 1990
- Service National d'Intelligence et de Protection - August 1990 - May 1997