Intelligence agencies of the Imperium

Overview

There are several intelligence agencies within the Imperial bureaucracy. Each is maintained by a ministry, office or service for a particular purpose. This is a summary listing, detailing the various agencies, their respective purposes and the authorities to which they report.

List of agencies

Imperial Naval Intelligence (INI)

Reports to: the Admiralty.

Purpose: to investigate and assess threats to the Imperium in all matters pertaining to naval technology, strategy and dispositions, including those of neighbouring polities and corsairs; to disseminate this intelligence to the appropriate level of the Imperial and Colonial naval command structures. The INI can draw on the assets of the entire Imperial Navy and is primarily concerned with military intelligence; it tracks starship and troop operations, and can mount intelligence gathering activities into all parts of the Imperium.

Comments: The most socially and politically prestigious of the intelligence agencies, having the backing of the Imperial Navy and numbering many nobles among its active and retired rosters.

Imperial Army Intelligence (IAI)

Reports to: the Unified Armies Command.

Purpose: to investigate and assess threats to the Imperium in all matters pertaining to planetary defence forces out to close orbit, including those of neighbouring polities; to disseminate this intelligence to the appropriate level of the Unified Armies’ command structure.

Comments: Tends toward a parochial focus, with intelligence on any given world not really transferable (or relevant) to another.

Justice Special Branch (JSB)

Reports to: the Ministry of Justice.

Purpose: to investigate suspected breaches of Imperial high law that exceed the capabilities of the Inquisitorial Branch, whether because of scale, political sensitivity, noble involvement or other factors; to apprehend MoJ personnel who violate Imperial law; to investigate anti-Imperial Insurgency movements within the Imperium.

Comments: Often finds itself trumped by other agencies in terms of influence and jurisdiction.

Imperial Bureau of Investigation (IBI)

Reports to: the Ministry of State, Intelligence Division.

Purpose: to investigate potential subversion of Imperial government officers and member worlds by foreign interests; counter-espionage.

Comments: None.

Imperial Intelligence (Impint)

Reports to: the IISS, Detached Duty Office.

Purpose: to debrief detached duty scouts; to collate and assess intelligence on social, political, scientific and economic matters, both foreign and domestic, that is relevant to Imperial interests; to disseminate this intelligence to the appropriate Imperial offices and agencies; to conduct espionage and counter-espionage operations, via the agents of the Espionage Division, that fall within their areas of interest; to generate reports on trade and technology from across the Imperium, via the Rhylanor Taoiseach.

Comments: None.

Imperial Secret Service (ISS)

Reports to: the IISS, Operations Office.

Purpose: to conduct espionage and counter-espionage operations both within and beyond the Imperial borders; to conduct deniable regime change operations, assassinations and paramilitary operations (mostly) outside Imperial space in the Imperial interest.

Comments: None.

Covert Survey Bureau (CSB)

Reports to: the IISS, Survey Office, External Mapping Branch.

Purpose: to provide sensitive mapping, survey and defence data from external polities, that can be used in planning naval strategy. In time of war, provides special forward observation information to the Imperial Navy and Imperial Marine Force.

Comments: Has close links with INI; analogous to military special reconnaissance units.

Imperial Trade and Tariff Oversight (ITTO) Intelligence

Reports to: the Ministry of Commerce.

Purpose: to conduct commercial and industrial espionage missions against both neighbouring states and Imperial megacorporations, with the aim of maintaining both the economic stability of the Imperium and the balance of power between Imperium and megacorporations.

Comments: Instrumental in keeping the megacorporations in check.

Imperial Bureau of Internal Security (IBIS)

Reports to: the Office of Security.

Purpose: to investigate and counter threats to the Emperor, the Imperial family and the palace by any necessary means, backed by Imperial warrants and the threat of Imperial Guard intervention.

Comments: Analogous to the old Terran Gestapo, Stasi and Spanish Inquisition rolled into one scary entity; you don’t mess with these people… they mess with you; they could make a sector duke disappear and no one would ask questions.

Imperial Regency of Intelligence and Security (IRIS)

Reports to: the Emperor.

Purpose: to ensure the smooth succession of the Iridium Throne’s rightful heirs; to prevent ‘unreliable’ individuals from gaining direct access/proximity to the person of the Emperor; to check and compare all information relayed to the Emperor against IRIS’ own independent sources; to identify all significant anti-Imperial covert activities initiated by foreign powers and to formulate and expedite responses thereto; to conduct and maintain covert activities in foreign territories, pursuant to ensuring the security of the Imperium.

Comments: Established by Arbellatra Alkhalikoi at the end of the Civil War in 622, this most secret and powerful of agencies has been instrumental in preventing another civil war. To most Imperial citizens, this agency is the stuff of rumour and legend; to the nobility it is the secret gun to their head, reining in their personal ambition. Its reach is long, its touch is ethereal and its action is absolute.

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Most of the agency names and descriptions were taken from entries in the wiki (in particular, the Imperial Bureaucracy page, which was my main point of reference) and a combination of Mongoose and GURPS Traveller books.
• The Covert Survey Bureau is the invention of Andy Slack and first appeared in White Dwarf magazine #41, p.31.
• The Imperial Secret Service is the invention of Robert McMahon and first appeared in White Dwarf magazine #27, p.10.
• I made modifications to the descriptions of the above two agencies as written by the original authors in order to fit them into the Imperial state apparatus laid out in the Imperial Bureaucracy wiki page. This in no way means that I think I've improved on the articles.
• IBIS is the invention of Kenneth Burke and first appeared in Dragon magazine #35, p.7.
• IRIS is a Megatraveller variant, the invention of Charles E. Gannon. It first appeared in Challenge magazine #33, pp.53-58.
• The Imperial Bureau of Investigation is my own contribution, just because I thought there should be such an agency.
• I've only come across one mention of ITTO Intelligence, on the Imperial Secret Service wiki page and in Robert McMahon's original White Dwarf magazine article. I've been unable to find mention of it anywhere else, nor learn what the abbreviation actually stands for, so I made up the details myself.
• Where original sources were scant in detail (or, indeed, lacking) I've extrapolated what I thought likely from the context of the 3rd Imperium setting and attempted to depict a particular role for each agency within the Imperium.
• Author & Contributor: Phil Borrill.