Gralan Intelligence Community (GIC)

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Andreas the Wise
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Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2010 11:40 pm

Gralan Intelligence Community (GIC)

Post by Andreas the Wise »

The Gralan Intelligence Community

Intelligence is ultimately 'useful information'. It is not necessarily secret, or covertly collected. Nor does it necessarily demand certain actions be taken. What intelligence does do is inform those who need to know what is happening. In Gralus, this is primarily the Lord General, but for certain issues, other triumvirs are involved, and so the Gralan Intelligence Community (GIC) ultimately reports to the Triumvirate as a whole.

Power and roles is clearly delineated between the Triumvirate and the different branches of the GIC, to ensure there are not power struggles or turf wars. Part of that delineation includes separating four keys aspects of intelligence: Direction, Collection, Assessment, and Reaction.
Direction involves choosing broadly what intelligence should be pursued, and what sort of methods are appropriate for pursuing it.
Collection involves finding out the intelligence, whether this be by talking to people, interpreting computer signals, viewing satellite data etc.
Assessment involves taking the collected information and putting it into its context, to work out what it means.
Reaction involves taking these assessments, and choosing what course of action should be taken because of it, which feeds into a new Direction.

Most micronations allow their single intelligence agency to do all four roles, with a limited direction role granted to the Executive to decide broadly what information is pursued. The inherent danger of this approach, however, is the silo-mentality - a relatively small organisation working in a highly charged atmosphere can become out of touch with the rest of world; leading to them not passing on this 'useful information' to those who need to know, or even pursuing actions at odds with the rest of a government's foreign policy, because the intelligence agency is only thinking about what it is doing. At worst, an intelligence agency can think they know better than the government, and oppose them. Having a single intelligence agency can also lead the agency to focus on specific types of intelligence, at the expense of other forms which in the right situation, might be far more useful. In Gralus, these difficulties are overcome by having a variety of intelligence agencies with clearly delineated role and power.

The Triumvirate are, ultimately, the head of the Gralan Intelligence Community. They are the leaders of Gralus, and for them is reserved the role of Direction. They set the broad scope under which the various agencies function - what intelligence is to be pursued, at what cost it may be obtained, and what risks may be taken in obtaining it. The Triumvirate retain the ability at all times to direct specific investigations of their own choosing, or to order the cessation of investigations originating from within the agencies themselves. Nothing is secret from the Triumvirate, and all those who work in the GIC are reminded that it is the Triumvirate they work for.

The Lord General, within the Triumvirate, is the primary user of the GIC. In particular, LGAO reports only to him, not to the other Triumvirs, because it is the Lord General alone who is in charge of ensuring the safety of the Gralan people during war. He has the role of Direction over all those agencies which report to LGAO, and also reserves large Reaction powers, ensuring that any operation which has a reasonable chance of being exposed, or is notably risky, is approved by him personally before commencing. Though this may sometimes cause minor delays, it ensures that the GIC do not overstep their bounds, nor endanger key alliances over a matter which, in the scheme of things, is not important.

TAO is the Triumvirate Assessment Office, and is the primary Assessment agency (though some of the agenices are allowed to do some of their own assessment, to a limited degree). All the agencies within the GIC report the information they have collected to TAO, and it is TAO's responsibility to place this information in its overall context, connecting it with information reported by diplomats and other publicly accessible sources, before passing it onto the Triumvirate. TAO plays no role in collection - all of its workers are desk based. Because TAO sees the broad picture of events, and is in regular contact with the Triumvirate, TAO is able to act as an independent reality check on all intelligence collected. Within TAO is the sub-office LGAO (Lord General Assessment Office). LGAO specifically receives reports from DSD, DIGO and, when appropriate, the Dark Watchers, and assesses this intelligence for defence purposes. While in peace time DSD and DIGO might also report to TAO, during times of war they report only to LGAO who remains in constant contact with the Lord General, and relays necessary information to officers in the field. TAO and LGAO only do Assesssment - they do not determine other organisations Reaction (except during times of war, when LGAO might request specific updates), and indeed, are charged with being policy neutral.

NISB is the Novatainian Intelligence and Secrecy Bureau, and the premiere 'spy agency' of Gralus. Inherited from the Kingdom of Novatainia when it formed the Gralan Empire with Toketi and Relaram, NISB are the oldest and most experienced members of the GIC. NISB is one of only two organisations granted all three powers of Collection, Assessment and Reaction, albeit limited in Assessment to operations within Novatainia. Primarily, NISB operate outside of the Empire, and work to collect HUMINT (Human Intelligence) - they work to uncover details which exist not in electronic signals, but in people's heads. As a result of their previous role in Novatainia, NISB reports to both TAO and the King of Novatainia; and they have permission to operate within Novatainia to discover internal plots against the King or Novatainian Government, where that is deemed necessary. While much of what NISB does is classified, it is known that they are broken into several divisions.
NI 1 Assess the data collected by NISB that relates to Novatainia.
NI 2 Liaise with their counterparts in the intelligence organisations of other countries Gralus is allied with.
NI 3 Operate outside Gralus primarily to infiltrate organisations and the like. They are not empowered to use force.
NI 4 Operate outside Gralus primarily to gain information from specific individuals and less friendly sources. They are empowered to use non-terminal force.
NI 5 Operate outside Gralus, including in external counter-espionage, and are empowered to use terminal force, if necessary.
NI 6 Operate within Novatainia, discovering plots against the King/Novatainian Government, and acting to remove those. They are empowered to use terminal force, if necessary, though any operation where they may be required to do so must be approved by the King prior to commencing.
The Director of NISB is a publicly proclaimed position, and he is responsible for the overall conduct of his agency; for reporting to the King; and for reporting to the TAO.
In summary, NISB collect data both outside of Gralus, and within Novatainia; assess data within Novatainia; and react to events both outside Gralus and within Novatainia.

GERSO are the Gralan Espionage Reversal and Security Operatives. They are the only agency apart from NISB empowered to undertake Collection, Assessment (of security data) and Reaction. They operate within Gralus and work to uncover plots against the Triumvirate and the peoples of Gralus, both from State and non-State threats. Terrorists, anti-Imperialists, spy agencies from other nations - all are included among the potential threats to Gralus, and all are investigated by GERSO. In addition to this Collection of data, GERSO operates as counter-espionage and counter-terrorism to take out those who would seek to subvert Gralus. When large, extended operations are planned, GERSO seeks approval from the Emperor to manage its own assessment for that issue, allowing it to quickly determine the meaning of new data and react instantly in what are sometimes quite dangerous operations. At all other times, all of GERSO's data is assessed by TAO. While in the other provinces of Gralus, GERSO also looks for threats against provincial leaders, in Novatainia GERSO stays carefully away from that, leaving it to NISB to avoid turf wars. GERSO often work closely with the Imperial Police and, when in Novatainia, with NISB, when making arrests or breaking largescale operations. While GERSO is empowered to use lethal force, they are not empowered to arrest without the specific approval of the Emperor.

The Dark Watchers are Gralus' only magical intelligence agency. Established by MANA, they operate counter-magical intelligence, collecting information on magical and non-human threats. They handle Collection only - any threats deemed necessary to stop are handled by trained magical officials outside of the Dark Watchers. The Dark Watchers operate all over Micras, but primarily within Gralus, and around those entities located outside of Gralus but deemed to be a threat to Gralus. The Dark Watchers report primarily to the Arcane Quartet and the Council of Mages. Where this information is deemed necessary for the Triumvirate, the Council of Mages report the data to TAO. During the course of magical wars, the Dark Watchers report directly to LGAO.
The Dark Watchers are made up for four divisions:
There is a non-magical division, largely made up of operatives from other intelligence agencies. They are responsible for getting information when the use of magic might lead to detection. They are headed by the High Druid of Sea.
There is a magical division, largely made up of MANA trained Archmages. They deal with the serious cases, when the use of magic is not a problem, or when magic is the problem. They are headed by the High Druid of Land.
There is an inter-racial division, made up of a variety of operatives and races. They are responsible for gathering intelligence on general feeling within the races, and any threats to Gralus originating from tensions within the non-human races. Some of their collection is from consultation with the leaders of these races. They are headed by the High Druid of Air.
Finally, there is the insubstantial division, made up of wraiths, Astral Spirits and Dark perma-mentals (elementals enchanted to last for a number of years). They do work when stealth is of the utmost importance, as well as accessing areas that are hard for those with a body to access. They are headed by the Novatainian Lord of Magic.

DSD are the Defence Signals Directorate, and are the organisation that deals with SIGINT (Signal Intelligence). DSD are responsible for tapping phone lines, running scans on emails, scouring the radio waves and otherwise searching for electronic signals which may contain intelligence. DSD uncovers both plots against Gralus (which are passed on to the relevant agencies, NISB or GERSO), and also broadcasts from enemy military units and installations. For this reason, DSD is particularly active during times of war, reporting directly to LGAO. DSD have listening stations set up around Gralus, but the locations are undisclosed. DSD only collect information.

DIGO are the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation, and are the organisation that interpret imagery obtained from manned flights, UAVs, radar and satellite imagery. DIGO work closely with the Pink SAMIN satellite array, utilising it for both generic and infra-red imagery.. If there's a warehouse being constructed that seems to have a suspicious number of deliveries, or there's an enemy fleet to be tracked, or missiles to be noticed, DIGO are the people to turn to. DIGO is particularly active during times of war, reporting directly to LGAO. DIGO only collect information.
The character Andreas the Wise is on indefinite leave. But he does deserve a cool war ribbon.
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However, this account still manages:
Vincent Waldgrave - Lord General of Gralus
Manuel - CEO of VBNC. For all you'll ever need.
Q - Director of SAMIN
Duke Mel'Kat - Air Pirate, Melangian, and Duke of the Flying Duchy of Glanurchy
Cla'Udi - Count of Melangia
Vur'Alm Xei'Bôn - Speaker of Nelaga, Minister of Interior Affairs, and a Micron

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