Spy Info

Setting:

Espionage is a global industry. Monday you might be needed in Algeria to kill a defector who's threatening to reveal sensitive information. Tuesday you might be in Switzerland stealing the specs for a next-gen bioengineering experiment. Wednesday you could end up in South Africa supplying weapons and training to friendly revolutionaries.

The jet lag can be… troublesome.

You can't restrict your thinking. Any corner of the world could be a hotspot, no matter how remote or how populated. Pack your toothbrush and a change of underwear. From now on, you can expect to be on the move.

Location, location, location.


Factions:

Military

Military intelligence, commonly abbreviated as MILINT, is a military service that uses intelligence gathering disciplines to collect information which may be of use in the decision making process of commanders. This is achieved by providing an analysis of available data from a wide range of sources.

In order to provide an informed analysis, the commander's information requirements are first identified. These information requirements are then incorporated into a process of intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis, protection of this information, and finally, the dissemination of information to decision makers.

Areas of study may include the operational environment, hostile, friendly and neutral forces, the civilian population in an area of combat operations, and other, broader areas of interest. Intelligence activities are conducted at all levels, from tactical to strategic, in peacetime, the period of transition to war, and during a war itself.

These are your big-budget fat cats. US Armed Forces Military Intelligence. Central Security Service. G2. Aman. Different names, same game. These groups all exist for one reason and one reason only. To help their forces better kill the other guy. That's it. They might try to make the facts look pretty for you, salve your conscience. It's a lot like putting an ugly girl in a designer outfit. You can dress the truth up all you want, but at the end of the night, you still have to grit your teeth and do your duty.

Police

Policing or "internal" intelligence agencies most commonly deal with a country's internal intelligence needs, including (but not limited to) those regarding national security.

Threats are assessed and processed in much the same manner as is used by the military. Commonly encountered scenarios include counter-terrorism, computer intrusions, surveillance, weapons of mass destruction, white-collar crime, and training programs. Officers must be equipped and trained to handle these and a wide array of other situations.

These kids are fun. FBI. DEA. MSS. KAPO. MI-5. They rub shoulders with the above and below groups, mingling via inter-office liasons and the like. Sometimes they themselves will cross the line. For example, the Chinese Ministry of State Security is one part police force, one part counterterrorism unit, and one part elite military regiment. Some police intelligence units are even more powerful than their military counterparts.

Take care and tread softly. If you aren't a member of the team, these guys can be dangerous.

Civilian

Civilian intelligence agencies are difficult to classify by definition. Their responsibilities and powers of legal enforcement vary widely by country and agency. As a general rule, they work outside the guidelines laid out for police and military agencies. They frequently have no ability to enforce the law, either at home or abroad. As one might imagine, this often forces agents to resort to unsanctioned tactics.

Most civilian organizations have a primary stated function to collect information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and to advise public policymakers. Organizations are also known to conduct covert operations and paramilitary actions, and exert foreign political influence.

Last but not least, we have "civilian" groups. I put quotes around that because these so-called civilian groups can sometimes be the most dangerous of all. These are your CIAs. Your ASIS branches. They usually operate under a questionably defined charter. Sometimes in locations that are very difficult to police. Or their operations are off the books altogether. It's a rare CIA op that doesn't have at least one black bag component.

There are more legit groups, I'm sure. Ones that truly are run and staffed by civilians with civilian goals. I just don't know of any.

Corporate

Economic or industrial espionage takes place in two main forms. In short, the purpose of espionage is to gather knowledge about (an) organization(s). It may include the acquisition of intellectual property, such as information on industrial manufacture, ideas, techniques and processes, recipes and formulas. Or it could include sequestration of proprietary or operational information, such as that on customer datasets, pricing, sales, marketing, research and development, policies, prospective bids, planning or marketing strategies or the changing compositions and locations of production. It may describe activities such as theft of trade secrets, bribery, blackmail and technological surveillance. As well as orchestrating espionage on commercial organizations, governments can also be targets; for example, to determine the terms of a tender for a government contract so that another tenderer can underbid.

Economic and industrial espionage is most commonly associated with technology-heavy industries, including computer software and hardware, biotechnology, aerospace, telecommunications, transportation and engine technology, automobiles, machine tools, energy, materials and coatings and so on. Silicon Valley, is known to be one of the world's most targeted areas for espionage, but, in effect, any industry with information of use to competitors can be a target.

Corporate espionage is a surprisingly heavy-duty game. They call themselves security consultants instead of spies, but one's the same as the other. These guys tend to spend less time on wetwork and more time on sabotage, good ol' fashioned secret-stealing, or both.

The biggest and baddest I know of is Rasmussen Technologies. RTech maintains what amounts to a small army of security guards, security consutants, cyber-security experts. And so on. And so on. Good paying gigs, if you can land one.

Contractors

A private military company (PMC) provides staff and services of a military nature. The hiring of professional soldiers is a common practice in the history of armed conflict. Historically, these soldiers are commonly known as mercenaries. However, modern-day PMCs prefer to call their active staff security contractors or private military contractors, and prefer to be known themselves as private military corporations, private security providers or military service providers.

The services and expertise cover those typically found in governmental military or police forces, but most often on a smaller scale. While PMCs often provide services to train or supplement official armed forces in service of governments, they can also be employed by private companies to provide bodyguards for key staff or protection of company premises, especially in hostile territories.

Mercenaries. You know it, I know it, and they know it. Sure, private military contractors do their share of bodyguard work. Babysitting VIPs, escorting armored cars, stuff like that. For enough money, though, these guys will rain hot lead down on anyone you want. Good folks to drink with, but a little itchy in the trigger finger for my taste in business partners.

If you're looking to get in, try RCR. Rapid Crisis Response has more branch offices in more countries than you can shake your stick at. They do it all, from low-tech bullet wars to high-priced VIP transport services.

Independents

This covers pretty much everyone else, so long as they're working for themselves. Professional thieves, assassins, saboteurs, criminals, and other agents-for-hire. If you don't fit into one of the above categories, chances are good that you fit here. Or that someone is looking at you down the scope of a rifle right now. Maybe both.


Security Clearance

For the sake of simplicity, here's a unified security clearance hierarchy:

Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI):
CUI is available to just about anyone, though it could be illegal to get your hands on it. This clearance level is for information that people need to know to get their jobs done, but shouldn't be redistributed without approval.

Example: DoD employee, government courier.

Secret:
The first level of actual classified intelligence, this information is considered sensitive and to be kept confidential unless ordered to divulge it.

Example: FBI Chief Inspector's secretary, District Attorney pursuing an extremely sensitive case.

Top Secret:
This is where it starts to get real. Any information classified as Top Secret is considered to be actively harmful if released to anyone without the proper clearance. Often Top Secret intelligence will also be 'Eyes Only,' in that it can be viewed, but cannot be copied or removed from storage.

Example: FBI Senior Inspector, CIA Field Agent, Most Military Intelligence employees.

Secure Compartmentalized Information (SCI):
While not technically classified above Top Secret, SCI is considered inherently more sensitive and requires a higher level of security access to view. As many SCI files are kept segregated from one another for security purposes, access is on a need-to-know basis. Any information classified as SCI is considered immediately and critically detrimental to national, corporate, or private security if revealed to anyone who isn't on a very short list.

Example: Senior Field Agents, Secretary of Defense, Chief of the FBI/CIA.


Don't Die,
-I, Spy


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