The Soviet State Defense Committee divided the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs Main Directorate for State Security (GUGB/NKVD) into three organizations: People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD; under Lavrentiy Beria; political repression, slave labor camps, prisoners of war camps, and NKVD troops), People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB; under Vsevolod Merkulov; foreign intelligence and domestic counterintelligence), and State Directorate of Counter-Intelligence (GUKR-NKO or SMERSH; later assigned under Viktor Abakumov; counterintelligence).
