SPECTRE SPECTRE SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) is a fictional organization featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games. Led by evil genius and supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the international organization first formally appeared in the novel "Thunderball" (1961) and in the film "Dr. No" (1962). SPECTRE is not aligned to any nation or political ideology, enabling the later Bond books and Bond films to be regarded as somewhat apolitical, though the presence of former Gestapo members in the organization are a clear sign of
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