SPECTRE Irma Bunt, Blofeld's assistant, in his short story "Blast From the Past", which is a sequel to "You Only Live Twice". In the Eon Productions James Bond series, which began in 1962 with "Dr. No", SPECTRE plays a more prominent role. The organisation is first mentioned in "Dr. No" as the organisation for which Dr. No works. This was changed from Fleming's novels, which had Dr. No working for the USSR. In the films, SPECTRE usually replaced SMERSH as the main villains, although there is a brief reference to SMERSH in the second Eon Bond film, "From Russia with Love"
SMERSH (James Bond) Bond again squares off against SMERSH in "Goldfinger" after learning that Auric Goldfinger is the agency's treasurer. After "Goldfinger", SMERSH is mentioned only fleetingly, usually in reference to having been disbanded. In "Thunderball", three former members of SMERSH joined and became top members of the apolitical criminal organization, SPECTRE. In the continuation novels (and novelizations), however, SMERSH returns as an organisation essentially renamed and reorganised within Soviet intelligence. They are first mentioned again in the novelization of "The Spy Who Loved Me", although replaced by KGB in the film. In John Gardner's series of Bond novels, SMERSH is renamed Department