The International and State Defense Police (; PIDE) was a Portuguese

security agency A security agency is a governmental organization that conducts intelligence activities for the internal security of a state. They are the domestic cousins of foreign intelligence agencies, and typically conduct counterintelligence to thwart other ...

that existed during the '' Estado Novo'' regime of

António de Oliveira Salazar António de Oliveira Salazar (28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese statesman, academic, and economist who served as Portugal's President of the Council of Ministers of Portugal, President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1 ...

. Formally, the main roles of the PIDE were the border, immigration and emigration control and internal and external state security. Over time, it came to be known for its

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

activities. The agency that would later become the PIDE was established by the Decree-Law 22992 of August 1933, as the State Surveillance and Defense Police (Polícia de Vigilância e Defesa do Estado) or PVDE. It resulted from the merger of two former agencies, the Portuguese International Police and the Political and Social Defense Police. PVDE was founded by Captain Agostinho Lourenço, who in 1956 would become the president of

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

. The PVDE was transformed into the PIDE in 1945. PIDE was itself transformed into the Directorate-General of Security or DGS in 1968. After the 25 April 1974

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...

, DGS was disbanded in Portugal, but continued to exist transitionally in the Portuguese overseas territories as the Military Information Police or PIM, being finally completely disbanded in 1975. Although the acronym PIDE was only formally used from 1945 to 1969, the set of successive secret polices that existed during the 40 years of the ''Estado Novo'' regime are commonly referred to as the PIDE. Historically, this set of police agencies is also often referred as PIDE/DGS, from the acronyms of its two last designations. It is referred to in this last way in article 292 of th
Portuguese Constitution
which states its criminalization and judgment of its former officers. During its existence, the organization was known for its actions during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, its role as a political police, its

counter-espionage Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting ac ...

activities during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and its

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the ac ...

operations in the

Portuguese Colonial War The Portuguese Colonial War (), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the Portuguese Empire, former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan War of Independence, Angolan, Guinea-Bissau War of Independence ...

History

Background

During the Portuguese First Republic and the following '' Ditadura Nacional'' regimes, the police services were reorganized several times, with the remote ancestors of PIDE appearing. In 1918, the police services were organized as an

umbrella organization An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and iden ...

named Civic Police, which started to include two agencies that were the remote ancestors of the PIDE: the Preventive Police and the Emigration Police. The first agency was a secret police responsible for the State security. The Preventive Police would become the State Security Police in 1919, the Social Defense Police in April 1919, and the Preventive and State Security Police in October 1919. The Emigration Police was an agency responsible for the border and migration control, with a special focus in the fight against illegal emigration. After the

28 May 1926 coup d'état The 28 May 1926 coup d'état, sometimes called 28 May Revolution or, during the period of the Corporatism, corporatist ''Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo'' (), the National Revolution (), was a military coup of a nationalist origin, that put a ...

and the establishment of the military ''Ditadura Nacional'', the Preventive and State Security Police was disbanded. However, soon after, two similar agencies were created, the Lisbon Information Police and the Porto Information Police, respectively under the control of the civil governor of Lisbon and the civil governor of Porto. In 1928, the two agencies were merged into a single Information Police under the direct control of the Minister of the Interior. In the same year, the Portuguese International Police was created as a section of the Information Police, succeeding the former Emigration Police. In 1931, the Information Police was disbanded and the Portuguese International Police became autonomous, under the direct control of the Minister of the Interior. In 1932, the Political and Social Surveillance Section of the Portuguese International Police was created, with the same role of the former Information Police. With Salazar in office as prime minister, the Political and Social Surveillance Section became autonomous in January 1933, as the Political and Social Surveillance Police. The Portuguese International Police and the Political and Social Surveillance Police would merge in August 1933, as the PVDE.

PVDE

The origins of PIDE can be traced to 1933, the year of the inauguration of the ''Estado Novo''. Under direct orders from Salazar himself, the Surveillance and State Defence (''Polícia de Vigilância e de Defesa do Estado'') or PVDE was created, with two main sections: *Social and Political Defence Section, which was used to prevent and repress crimes of a political and social nature (see:

Censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

) *International Section, which was used to control the entrance of

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

s, to expel undesirable immigrants and to take care of

and/or international espionage. PVDE was founded and led by Captain Agostinho Lourenço. According to Professor Douglas Wheeler "an analysis of Lourenco's career suggest strongly that British Intelligence Services' influence had an impact on the structure and activity of PVDE". Lourenço had earned a reputation with British observers, recorded in a confidential document generated at the British Embassy, which suggested a "pro-British" bias on his part. Lourenço always kept a good relationship with the

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

, which helped him to become the head of the international police organization

in 1956. In 1936, the

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

of Tarrafal was created in the Portuguese colony of Cape Verde. This camp, under the direct control of the PVDE, was the destination for those political prisoners considered dangerous by the regime. Among the first prisoners were the convicted sailors from the 1936 Naval Revolt. The sailors, affiliated with the Communist Party, had attempted to sail two Portuguese Navy ships out of Lisbon to join the Spanish Republican forces fighting in Spain. Throughout the more than 40 years of the ''Estado Novo'', 32 people lost their lives in Tarrafal, which was known for its severe methods of torture. Also in 1936, with the beginning of the

and in 1937 with the attempt against Salazar's life by

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

terrorists, the PVDE started focusing its battle against

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

and the underground

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...

. During this pre-

period, several Italian and German advisers came to Portugal to help the PVDE adopt a model similar to the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

. During World War II, the PVDE experienced its most intense period of activity. Neutral

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

was the

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an center of

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

and one of the favourite

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

destinations. Writers such as

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

(the creator of

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

) were based there, while other prominent people such as the

Duke of Windsor Duke of Windsor was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 8 March 1937 for the former monarch Edward VIII, following his Abdication of Edward VIII, abdication on 11 December 1936. The Duchy, dukedom takes its name from ...

and the Spanish Royal Family were exiled in Estoril. German spies attempted to buy information on trans-

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

to help their

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s fight the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...

. The Spaniard Juan Pujol Garcia, better known as Codename Garbo, passed on misinformation to the Germans, hoping it would hasten the end of the Spanish State—he was recruited by Britain as a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...

while in Lisbon. Conversely, William Colepaugh, an American

traitor Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

, was recruited as an agent by the Germans while his ship was in port in Lisbon—he was subsequently landed by

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

, , in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

before being captured. In June 1943, a commercial

airliner An airliner is a type of airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft. The largest ...

carrying the

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Leslie Howard Leslie Howard Steiner (3 April 18931 June 1943) was an English actor, director, producer and writer.Obituary, '' Variety'', 9 June 1943. He wrote many stories and articles for ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and '' Vanity Fair'' an ...

was shot down over the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

by the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

after taking off from Lisbon, possibly because German spies in Lisbon believed that

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

was on board. Several American reports called Lisbon "The Capital of Espionage". However, the PVDE always maintained a neutral stance towards foreign espionage activity, as long as no one intervened in Portuguese internal policies.

PIDE

In 1945, the PVDE was renamed and replaced by the PIDE. Unlike its predecessor, which sought inspiration in the Gestapo, the regime's propaganda alleged PIDE followed the

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

model. Receiving the same status as the '' Polícia Judiciária'' (criminal investigation police), it had full powers to investigate, detain, and arrest anyone who was thought to be plotting against the State. It had two main functions: *Administrative functions (which included those related to the migration services) *

Criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

prevention and repression functions. As there was already in place one criminal investigation police that dealt with ordinary crime, PIDE focused on political and social issues (political opposition, social unrest, student movements), which the political regime criminalised. At the same time, PIDE was the Portuguese police corresponding with the international

network. PIDE is considered by many authors as being one of the most functional and effective secret services in history . Using a wide network of covert cells, which were spread throughout Portugal and its overseas territories, PIDE had infiltrated agents into almost every underground movement, including the Portuguese Communist Party as well as the independence movements in

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. The PIDE encouraged citizens – the so-called ''bufos'' (snitches) – to denounce suspicious activities, through the use of monetary and prestige incentives. This resulted in an extremely effective espionage service which was able to fully control almost every aspect of Portuguese daily life. PIDE was credited with the torture and assassination of many political activists, controlled the political soundness of any candidate to public employment, vetoing anyone who could be suspicious of favouring the opposition and had extrajudicial powers of detention, so it could retain in prison any activist after he or she had served a sentence. These actions extended beyond politicians and significant activists. For example, law student Aurora Rodrigues was arrested for association with the Portuguese Workers' Communist Party and was kept awake for weeks and endured multiple simulated drownings. The PIDE intensified its actions during the

, creating a successful paramilitary unit called Flechas (Arrows). Yves Guérin-Sérac, a former officer of the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

and founder of the OAS right-wing terrorist group during the

Algerian War of Independence The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

(1954–62), set up " Aginter Press" in Lisbon and participated with the PIDE in

covert operation A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible. US law Under US law, the Central Intelligence A ...

DGS

In 1969,

Marcelo Caetano Marcello José das Neves Alves Caetano (17 August 1906 – 26 October 1980) was a Portuguese politician and scholar. He was the second and last leader of the Estado Novo after succeeding António de Oliveira Salazar. He served as prime mini ...

changed the name PIDE to DGS (''Direcção-Geral de Segurança'', "General Security Directorate"). The death of Salazar and the subsequent ascension of Caetano brought some attempts at

democratization Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an democratic transition, authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction ...

, in order to avoid popular insurgency against

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

, the ongoing colonial war, and the general restriction of civil rights. This resulted in a decrease in the perceived level of

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

used by the secret police and a consequent reduction in its effectiveness.

End of PIDE/DGS

The most dramatic moments of the 1974 Carnation Revolution occurred near the DGS headquarters at António Maria Cardoso Street in Lisbon. Unidentified agents - desperate after being surrounded by rebellious troops and a throng of civilians - opened fire from the top of the building, killing four demonstrators. In turn, a DGS agent was also killed by the rebellious troops when trying to escape. These five people were the sole victims of the coup d'état which brought down the dictatorship. This was the last strategic point to be occupied by the insurgents, thus leading to the escape of many of the agents and the destruction of most of the records. In the days following the revolution, most escaped to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

or went underground. Many of the agents, including the director-general Silva Pais were, however, captured. Of those agents, 89 would later escape from the Alcoentre penitentiary, in a massive and never well-explained prison break in June 1975. Some of the PIDE/DGS archives were reportedly handed over by the Portuguese Communist Party to

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

agents. After being ''sanitized'', the corporation continued its operations in the Portuguese colonies under the name of the Military Information Police (''Polícia de Informação Militar''). A commission was created for the extinction of the secret police. The remainder of the documents since 1990 are in the Torre do Tombo National Archive. They can be accessed, but the names of agents and informers are not disclosed. The only PIDE agents who faced trial were those responsible for the death of exiled opposition leader Humberto Delgado. They were tried ''in absentia'' and the case dragged on for several years. None of them served time in jail. The brutality of the PIDE/DGS is dramatised in the 2000 film '' April Captains'', about the events of the day of the Carnation Revolution. Because of the memory of the abuses of the PIDE/DGS in supporting the regime, the establishment of a new civilian intelligence agency was delayed for more than a decade. However, following a terrorist attack on the

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, the assassination of a

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

representative at a

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

conference in 1983, and a number of domestic terrorist attacks by isolated far-left and far-right groups, the Portuguese government became convinced of the need for a new intelligence agency. This led to the establishment of the Sistema de Informações da República Portuguesa (SIRP, Intelligence System of the Portuguese Republic) in 1984.

References

Citations

Sources

* {{refend

External links

A History of the PIDE 'from below', Duncan Simpson's blog, September 4, 2019PIDE Documentation of PIDE/DGS in the National Archive
(in Portuguese) Portuguese intelligence agencies PIDE Defunct law enforcement agencies of Portugal Defunct intelligence agencies Estado Novo (Portugal) 1945 establishments in Portugal 1969 disestablishments in Portugal Anti-communist organizations Emigration policy