Military counterintelligence of the Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was controlled by the nonmilitary Soviet

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of ...

throughout the history of the USSR. The

counterintelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ...

departments of the Armed Forces of the USSR existed at all larger military formations and were called ''Special Departments'' (Особый отдел) or third departments/sections. The staff of the Special Department would usually establish a secret network of

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...

s. ''TGU'' (ТГУ КГБ СССР, 3 ГУ КГБ СССР ('third')) functionaries were responsible for protection of the military units, important soldiers e.g. commanding officers against activities from military attaché offices diplomats.

Timeline

*Initially there was no common counterintelligence directorate. Various

Armies An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and Fronts had their "Special Departments". *Military Department of Vecheka, Военный отдел ВЧК *Special Department of Vecheka, Особый отдел ВЧК, *Special Department of Secret Operative Directorate of GPU NKVD RSFSR, Особый отдел СОУ (Секретно-оперативное управление) ГПУ, July 1922 *Special Department of OGPU, Особый отдел ОГПУ, September 1930 *4th Division of the OGPU Special Department, 4 отделение Особого отдела ОГПУ *Special Department of the GUGB

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, Особый отдел ГУГБ НКВД СССР (July 1934 –) *5th (Special) Dept. of GUGB, 5-й (особый) отдел ГУГБ December 1936 – *2nd Directorate of NKVD (Special Departments), 2-е Управление (особых отделов) НКВД СССР June 1938 – *4th (Special) Dept. of GUGB, 4-й (особый) отдел ГУГБ September 1938 – Feb. 1941 *3rd Directorate of

People's Commissariat A People's Commissariat (russian: народный комиссариат; Narkomat) was a structure in the Soviet state (in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in other union and autonomous republics, in the Soviet Union) from 1917– ...

of Defense,(UKR НКО) Третье Управление НКО February 1941 – July 1941 *3rd Directorate of

of Soviet Navy (UKR NKВМФ), Третье Управление НКВМФ February 1941 – January 1942 *3rd Dept. of NKVD, (OKR NKVD) Третий отдел НКВД February 1941 – Jul. 1941 * Directorate of Special Departments of NKVD, (УОО НКВД) Управление особых отделов НКВД СССР July 1941 – April 1943 *

SMERSH SMERSH (russian: СМЕРШ) was an umbrella organization for three independent counter-intelligence agencies in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially announced only on 14 April 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Josep ...

(ГУРК НКО) 1943–1946 *Third Chief Directorate of MGB of the USSR, Третье Главное Управление МГБ СССР, May 1946 – 1953 *Third Directorate of

MVD The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; russian: Министерство внутренних дел (МВД), ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the interior ministry of Russia. The MVD is responsible for law enfor ...

of the USSR, Третье управление МВД СССР, March 1953 – 1954 *Third Chief Directorate of

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

by the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Третье главное управление КГБ при СМ СССР, March 1954 – 1960 *Third Directorate of KGB by the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Третье управление КГБ при СМ СССР, 1960–1978 *Third Directorate of KGB of the USSR, Третье управление КГБ СССР, 1978–1982 *Third Chief Directorate of KGB of the USSR, Третье главное управление КГБ СССР, 1982–1991

Notes

{{Authority control Military of the Soviet Union KGB NKVD Military intelligence agencies Counterintelligence agencies