Before the reorganization of the OKW in 1938, the Abwehr was merely a department within the Reichswehrministerium (Ministry of Armed Forces), and it was not until after Canaris was appointed chief that its numbers increased and it gained some independence.[22] Experiencing an explosion in personnel of sorts, the Abwehr went from fewer than 150 employees to nearly one-thousand between 1935 and 1937.[23] Canaris reorganized the agency in 1938, subdividing the Abwehr into three main sections: