SPECTRE ("Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion") is a fictional organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, as well as films and video games based in the same universe. Led by criminal mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld, SPECTRE first formally appeared in the novel Thunderball (1961) and in the film Dr. No (1962). The international organisation is not aligned with any nation or political ideology, enabling the later Bond books and Bond films to be regarded as somewhat apolitical. The presence of former Gestapo members in the organization can be considered as a sign of Fleming's warnings about Nazi fugitives after the Second World War, as first detailed in the novel Moonraker (1955). In the novels, SPECTRE begins as a small group of criminals, but in the films it is depicted as a vast international organisation with its own SPECTRE Island training base capable of replacing the Soviet SMERSH.
Philosophy and goals
In the James Bond novels, SPECTRE is an organised crime enterprise led by Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The organisation's executive consists of 21 individuals, 18 of whom handle day-to-day affairs. Members are drawn in groups of three from six of the world's most notorious organisations — the Nazi German Gestapo, the Soviet SMERSH, Yugoslav Marshal Josip Broz Tito's OZNA, the Italian Mafia, the French-Corsican Unione Corse, and KRYSTAL, a massive Turkish heroin-smuggling operation. Coincidentally, the three from KRYSTAL are all former members of RAHIR, an intelligence agency previously run by Blofeld.Thunderball, Ian Fleming, Page 63, 1961, London: Johnathon Cape The remaining three members are Blofeld himself and two scientific/technical experts who make their debut in the ninth Bond novel, Thunderball (1961). When Ian Fleming was writing the novel in 1959, he believed that the Cold War might end during the two years it would take to produce the film, and he came to the conclusion that the inclusion of a contemporary political villain would leave the film looking dated. Therefore, he thought it better to create a politically neutral enemy for Bond.Ian Fleming, Andrew Lycett, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995. Fleming's SPECTRE has elements inspired by mafia syndicates and organised crime rings that were actively hunted by law enforcement in the 1950s. The strict codes of loyalty and silence, and the hard retributions that followed violations, were hallmarks of American gangster rings, the Italian Mafia, the Russian mafia, the Unione Corse, the Chinese Tongs and Triads, and the Japanese Yakuza and Black Dragon Society. During the events of Thunderball, SPECTRE successfully hijacked two nuclear warheads for ransom.
The organisation is next mentioned in the tenth novel, The Spy Who Loved Me (1962), when James Bond describes investigating their activities in Toronto before the story begins, though they play no part in the story itself. The organisation's third appearance is in the eleventh novel, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963) where Blofeld, hired by an unnamed country or party—though the Soviet Union is implied—is executing a plan to ruin British agriculture with biological warfare. Blofeld, with a weakened SPECTRE, would appear for the final time in the twelfth novel, You Only Live Twice (1964). By this point, the organisation has largely been shut down, and what remains is focused on maintaining Blofeld's alias as Dr. Guntram von Shatterhand and his compound in Japan.
In the films, the organisation often acts as a third party in the ongoing Cold War. Their objectives have ranged from supporting Dr. Julius No (Joseph Wiseman) in sabotaging American rocket launches, holding the world to ransom, and demanding clemency from governments for their previous crimes. The goal of world domination was only ever stated in the film version of You Only Live Twice (1967) when SPECTRE was working on behalf of an unnamed Asian government. This is strongly implied to be Red China, who earlier backed Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) in the 1964 film of the same name.
Its long-term strategy, however, is illustrated by the analogy of the three Siamese fighting fish Blofeld keeps in an aquarium aboard SPECTRE's yacht in the film version of From Russia with Love (1963). Blofeld notes that one fish is refraining from fighting two others until their fight is concluded. Then, that cunning fish attacks the weakened victor and kills it easily. Thus SPECTRE's main strategy is to instigate conflict between two powerful enemies, namely the superpowers, hoping that they will exhaust themselves and be vulnerable when it seizes power. SPECTRE thus works with, and against, both sides of the Cold War. For example, in the film Thunderball (1965), it simultaneously blackmails a Japanese double agent, distributes Red Chinese narcotics in the United States, kills a defector to the USSR on behalf of the French Foreign Ministry, and threatens NATO with stolen nuclear weapons, while continuing ordinary criminal operations such as advising on the British Great Train Robbery.
In both the film and the novel Thunderball, the physical headquarters of the organisation are in Paris, operating behind a front organisation aiding refugees named "Firco" (Fraternité Internationale de la Résistance Contre l'Oppression) in the novels and "International Brotherhood for the Assistance of Stateless Persons" in the films. Organisational discipline is notoriously draconian, with the penalty for disobedience or failure being death. To heighten the impact of executions, Blofeld had been known to focus attention on an innocent member, making it appear his death is imminent, only to suddenly strike down the actual target when that person is off guard.
Leadership SPECTRE is headed by the criminal mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld who usually appears accompanied by a Chinchilla Silver Persian cat in the films, but not in the books. In both the films and the novels, Emilio Largo (played in the film Thunderball by Adolfo Celi) is the second in command. It is stated in the novel that if something were to happen to Blofeld, Largo would assume command. Largo appears in the 1961 novel Thunderball, the 1965 film version and its 1983 remake, Never Say Never Again, where he is renamed Maximilian Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and is said to be Romanian rather than Italian.
The SPECTRE cabinet had a total of twenty-one members. Blofeld was the chairman and leader because he founded the organisation and Largo was elected by the cabinet to be second in command. A physicist named Kotze (who later defected) and an electronics expert named Maslov were also included in the group for their expertise on scientific and technical matters.
Members are typically referred to by number rather than by name. In the novels, the numbers were initially assigned at random and then rotated up by two digits on a once-a-month basis to prevent detection; for example, if a SPECTRE operative is titled 'Number 1' in the present month, the security system will designate them 'Number 3' in the next month, 'Number 5' in the following month and so forth. However, in the EON films the number indicates rank within the organisation: Blofeld is always referred to as 'Number 1' and Emilio Largo, in Thunderball, is 'Number 2'. This particular example of numbering is perhaps deliberately borrowed from revolutionary organisations, where members exist in cells, and are numerically defined to prevent identification and cross-betrayal of aims. By deliberately drawing attention away from the true leader of the organisation, he is protected by masquerading as a target of lower importance, and the structure of the organisation is also obscured from intelligence services.
Members who fail missions are immediately executed, usually in gory and spectacular ways. In the novel, Blofeld electrocutes Pierre Borraud (codename Number 12) in his chair for sexually molesting a girl who had been kidnapped by the organisation; he had previously strangled a second to death with a garrote and shot a third through the heart with a compressed-air pistol. In the film, Number 9 (Clive Cazes) is electrocuted for embezzlement at the Thunderball meeting where he and Number 11 (Murray Kash) report on the proceeds from a narcotics-related operation. The merciless killing of assistant Helga Brandt (Karin Dor) in You Only Live Twice, for failing to kill James Bond (Sean Connery), similarly horrifies visiting Red Chinese agents; she is dropped into a pool of piranha, which quickly eat her alive.
Previously, in From Russia with Love, Tov Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal) was killed with a poisoned shoe knife in front of Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) to motivate Klebb to complete her mission with no further delays. Blofeld prefers to accuse another operative as a decoy, keeping his victim calm inside the trap before executing them.
Appearances
Novels In the original Bond novel series, SPECTRE's first and last appearance as a worldwide power is in the novel Thunderball. In it, SPECTRE attempts to conduct nuclear blackmail against NATO. Apparently disbanded afterwards, SPECTRE is said to be active again in the next book, The Spy Who Loved Me, although the organisation is not involved in the plot. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the second chapter of what is known as the "Blofeld Trilogy", Blofeld has revived SPECTRE where he attempts to carry out biological warfare against the United Kingdom. Blofeld's final appearance is in You Only Live Twice, where SPECTRE has largely disbanded.
Later, the John Gardner Bond novel, For Special Services introduces a revived SPECTRE led by Blofeld's daughter, Nena Bismaquer. Although Bond ultimately prevents SPECTRE from reforming, the organisation continues under the leadership of Tamil Rahani to play a part in Role of Honour and Nobody Lives for Ever. The next Bond novelist, Raymond Benson, reintroduces Irma Bunt, Blofeld's assistant, in his short story "Blast From the Past", which is a sequel to You Only Live Twice.
Films
In the EON Productions's James Bond series, which began in 1962 with Dr. No, SPECTRE plays a more prominent role. The organisation is mentioned as being affiliated with Dr. Julius No, although the main organisation in the movie is No's personal army. In the novel, Dr. No worked for the USSR. In the films, SPECTRE usually replaced SMERSH as the main villain, although there is a brief reference to SMERSH in the second EON Bond film, From Russia with Love (1963). The film adaptation of From Russia with Love also features the first on-screen appearance of Blofeld (portrayed by Anthony Dawson and voiced by Eric Pohlmann), although he is only identified by name in the closing credits of the film and his face is not seen at all. SPECTRE also serves as the primary antagonist of the film, orchestrating a plan to humiliate and kill James Bond as revenge for the death of Dr. No.