Kouralian Intelligence Community

The Kouralian Government maintains four statutory intelligence services and various auxiliary organisations with National Security-related functions. The agencies are responsible for collecting and producing foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intelligence, performing espionage and counter-espionage. Their intelligence assessments contribute to the conduct of the foreign relations of the Crown Union, maintaining the national security of the Crown Union, military planning and law enforcement in the Crown Union. They are principally staffed by career-Intelligencer Adjutant Clerks, however there are a number of other Adjutant Clerks, armed forces personnel and territorial watch personnel who serve on secondment.

The main organisations are the Information & Security Executive, Coronial Intelligencery, Signals Information & Security Service, and Military Intelligence Service.

Unlike its allies, Kouralia's intelligence services are subject to strict independent judicial and legislative oversight, and are forbidden from carrying out direct action operations abroad or within Kouralia. Any such activities are the purview of the Watch Special Branches or the Military, therefore requiring decision-making processes to be subject to outside scrutiny.

History

Since ancient times Kouralia's ruling powers has been known to maintain organisations dedicated to gathering information about threats to their security. Even in the years of the Republic of Kurton, over 500 years BCE, a position of Underscout for the Citadel existed with a role of covert information gathering about the plans and troop movement of its enemies. This gradually expanded into a variety of ever-shifting organisations within and outside the Red Legions of Kouralia. At various times there were secret societies dedicated to preserving the personal power of the monarch, Military Intelligence regiments responsible for ensuring Legion commanders had the maximum available information when making decisions, and civilian secret services dedicated to protecting the wider government.

As Kouralia entered the 20th century, it found itself with a tripartite system of intelligence gathering. The Directorate of Military Intelligence was responsible for gathering information on troop movements and military developments of foreign nations. The

Oversight and Governance

Each of the Intelligence Services are Non-Justiciable Crown Departments that are headed by a career Adjutant-Clerk of the relevant Crown Service Discipline. Due to the nature of their work they are separated from politics and do not answer directly to a Justiciar in their day-to-day activities. However, as their role is ultimately to inform the policy of the Government of the Day, they do report to Justiciars.

Internal Governance

Internal Governance is provided through the managerial and budgetary structure of each individual Service under their Director-General.

External Governance

External Governance is provided by the Central Executive for Information & Security, which is the unified operational and professional committee responsible for inter-service liaison and cooperation as well as being the coduit both for orders from Government and for Intelligence Reporting to Government. The Central Executive consists of the First & Principal Director-General, and First & Principal Vice-Director-General of Information & Security - respectively the chairperson and their designated deputy. Also sitting on the CEIS are the Directors-General of the three Intelligence Agencies, the Coronial Security Advisor (a Special Advisor appointed by and reporting to the Captain of Justiciars), the Vys-Justiciar for Information Security, and the Permanent Under-Secretary of Public Safety. Various other figures can be called upon to guest appear at the Central Executive as and when their expertise is required, including the Superintending Officers for each Service Intelligence Branch and various more junior officials within both the intelligence agencies and the Treasury Guard or Territorial Watches.

Independent Oversight

Independent Oversight of Intelligence Services is provided by the Senate, as with all aspects of the executive branch of government. In this case, there is a nine-person Special Sessional Senate Committee of Investigation for Information & Security that consists of Senators and Noble Assembly members selected by the Senate. This Committee's role is to examine the expenditure, administration, policy and operations of the Intelligence Services. To do this it considers written evidence and holds evidence sessions with Justiciars and senior officials (for example, the heads of the intelligence services), expert witnesses such as academics and journalists, and other interested parties. The Committee publishes reports which, once appropriately redacted, are shared with the wider Senate and Public. Every year the Committee publishes an annual Administration and Expenditure report, as well as various other 'Special Reports' on particular aspects of operations.

Unlike most Senate Committees, the ISC shares its reports with the Government and Services it oversees in advance of publication. This is to ensure that no details which might damage national security are published. Each report is subject to four stages which occur over 60 days: requests for factual amendments; requests for redactions; contested requests for redactions (where the Committee is unwilling to accept an initial redaction request, representatives of the Services must appear to argue the case); and confirmation from the Captain of Justiciars that the document no longer contains any details damaging to national security. By convention, the Captain of Justiciars has 10 working days in which to examine the report and confirm that there are no national security issues outstanding. Once that certification is received the Committee makes administrative arrangement to lay the Report before Parliament.

Membership of the Committee is chosen by the whole Senate rather than by the Government. Five nominations are made by the Captain of Justiciars, and five nominations are made by the leader of the opposition. Nine are then selected - though they may not necessarily be from this number, and they must not be a Justiciar or Labouring Lord. The Committee then selects its own Chairperson from its members.

Judicial Oversight

Judicial Oversight is provided by the Tribunal for Information & Security responsible for scrutinising individual aspects of Intelligence, National Security, and Sensitive Law Enforcement activities. Membership of the Tribunal is open to senior magistrates and advocates with relevant experience appointed by the Crown on advice of the Chair of the Special Sessional Senate Committee of Investigation for Information & Security, and the Government.

Complaints can be made in writing at which point the Tribunal will determine if it should carry out a physical hearing or receive written submissions - the Tribunal can also be directed to hold a hearing by the Senate Committee. If the Tribunal finds that an applicant is under surveillance or otherwise subject to Intelligence Service activity that is unlawful, then it will uphold their complaint. The Applicant may then be awarded damages, and disciplinary or reform proceedings may be ordered by the Tribunal. If the Tribunal finds that the applicant is either not under surveillance or is under lawful surveillance then it will inform the Applicant that their complaint is not upheld with no further information. Tribunal judgements cannot be appealed. If appropriate, the Tribunal can direct the Treasury Guard to open a criminal investigation, or Office of the Crown Prosecutor-General to institute proceedings against an Intelligence Service or its staff.

Statutory Intelligence Services

Information & Security Executive Logo

The 2017 Statute of Information & Security disestablished the Intelligence and Security Agency after a covert investigation by the Treasury Guard saw four members of its Directorate charged with offences relating to service within the Republican Tyranny. Public concern over centralisation of power in the national security function of government, and the lack of oversight that allowed senior government figures to cover up serious criminal offences for years, resulted in the formation of new intelligence services.

Four separate intelligence services were created, dividing each of the main functions of the Intelligence and Security Agency into independent bodies and removing all Operational capability from them. Staff and executives for these new agencies were sourced both from the old Intelligence and Security Agency and also from wider government in conjunction with a wider recruitment drive.

Information & Security Executive

The wider Information & Security Executive is the smallest of the four statutory intelligence agencies and is primarily a staff to support the First & Principal officers and the business of the Central Executive for Information & Security.

The CEIS is the unified operational and professional committee responsible for inter-service liaison and cooperation as well as being the coduit both for orders from Government and for Intelligence Reporting to Government. The Central Executive consists of the First & Principal Director-General, and First & Principal Vice-Director-General of Information & Security - respectively the chairperson and their designated deputy. Also sitting on the CEIS are the Directors-General of the three Intelligence Agencies, the Coronial Security Advisor (a Special Advisor appointed by and reporting to the Captain of Justiciars), the Vys-Justiciar for Intelligence, and the Permanent Under-Secretary of Public Safety. Various other figures can be called upon to guest CEIS, including the Superintending Officers for each Service Intelligence Branch and various more junior officials within both the intelligence agencies and the Treasury Guard or Territorial Watches.

The Information & Security Executive is headed by the Executive Director of Information & Security and operates out of a single large office building in an old Palace in Kurton. The main sub-divisions of the ISE are:

• The Central Executive Support Staff, who directly support the CEIS.
• The Information & Security Vetting Service, who are responsible for carrying out vetting of all government staff to the "Developed Vetting" level, as well as all subordinate vetting level checks of Intelligence staff.
• The Central Information & Security Archive, who are responsible for managing information obtained and recorded by the Intelligence Agencies - including that which is both operationally held, and which is archived for posterity or accountability.
• The Information & Security Training Academy, who are responsible for the training of Intelligence Officers in Kouralia.

Coronial Intelligencery

The Coronial Intelligencery is responsible for the defence of the Kouralian democratic institutions from both internal and external subversive influences. It is headed by the Intelligencer-General, who is career intelligence officer Adjutant Clerk of Director-General Grade.

The Coronial Intelligencery explicitly has no operational capability to prevent abuse of process or corruption by requiring any operations to go through another agency's command and control functions. Field Intelligence Officers are limited to active surveillance, handling sources, installing and operating equipment and other non-interventionist activity. Domestic operations are usually carried out by Watch Special Branches to apprehend the suspects, prepare a file of evidence, and obtain convictions for any offences committed. Foreign operations usually either inform the policy of the Crown Union, or result in an intervention by the Armed Forces.

Signals Information & Security Service

The Signals Information & Security Service is responsible for monitoring and intercepting electronic communications within Kouralia and abroad - both in support of Intelligence gathering and law enforcement operations. It is also responsible for securing the public communications network from being abused by foreign agencies or criminal networks. The SISS is headed by the the Director-General of Signals Intelligence. Very few of the staff of the SISS are Field Intelligence Officers, and most of their work is usually done through analysis of telecommunications data supplied by providers or intercepted by its own machinery, or physically interrogate devices such as mobile phones in laboratories.

Military Intelligence Service

The Military Intelligence Service is responsible for the development of intelligence to support military operations and enable effective force protection in Kouralia, and consists both of civilian Intelligence Officers and also Military Servicepersons. The Military Intelligence Service is headed by the Director-General of Military Intelligence who is supported by the Superintending General, Marischal, and Admiral of each Service's particular Intelligence branch. Each branch has particular specialisms and methods based on the needs of their operations to ensure their respective strategic and tactical commanders have enough information to make the right decisions at the right time.

Unlike the other statutory intelligence services, the Military Intelligence Service and the three Service Intelligence Branches are also responsible for developing tactical and strategic intelligence on military operations. Tactical and military strategic intelligence is less likely to be overseen by the Military Intelligence Service unless it is of the utmost importance to grand strategic goals.

Auxiliary National Security Services

Beyond the four statutory intelligence services, there are a number of other organisations which fulfil intelligence-related functions. These include those whigh gather intelligence regarding criminality and also those which assist the statutory intelligence services in carrying out national security activities.

Local Criminal Intelligence Offices

Unlike many countries, the Statutory Intelligence Agencies of Kouralia do not have any involvement in investigating crime - even if many acts of espionage or terrorism constitute specific criminal offences. Intelligence gathering into volume, priority, serious & organised, and major criminal offenders at a local and national level is carried out by Local Watches and also by the Treasury Guard.

The Treasury Guard has a substantial intelligence branch dedicated to analysing, developing and exploiting, and disseminating intelligence reports obtained from a number of sources. This is all under the auspices of the Treasury Intelligence Command, however their personnel are spread out amongst almost all field offices in order to make investigations and operations more intelligence-led. The Treasury Guard also has responsibility for maintaining both the National Justice Computer, and a number of forensic intelligence databases. The former is a searchable database of convictions, information markers and other information about vehicles, properties, and people across Kouralia. Some records are secured, or will activate alerts upon being searched, but otherwise almost every Watchman in Kouralia can have access to it. Each local Watch has its own NJC Bureau responsible for Quality Assuring and inputting any signals, markers, or records onto it. Beyond this, there are a variety of forensic intelligence databases to allow samples and marks to be compared against one-another. This includes firearms striations, fingerprints, shoeprints, DNA samples and even thaumic resonances.

Each Local Watch will have its own HQ Intelligence Office responsible for force-wide and sensitive intelligence handling, as well as various local intelligence offices who are responsible for informing the risk & threat operations within their divisions.

Special Branches

The Special Branches of the Treasury Guard and of individual territorial watches are the departments responsible for investigating National Security-related offences. They provide Operational and Investigative Support to Intelligence Service-Led activities, instigate their own investigations and provide advice to general Law Enforcement agencies. Special Branches are firmly Investigative Policing Functions as opposed to Operational Policing Functions, and most staff are Detectives of many years experience selected for their skills. Specialist operational capabilities are usually provided for by teams with a sole responsibility for that, but who are tasked to support the Special Branch investigation. For example, arrests of suspected armed terrorists may be carried out by a local Watch's Tactical Armed Operations branch but who otherwise have no involvement with the Special Branch.

As with many specialist functions, the Treasury Guard has a national coordination and liaison role as well as having its own Special Branch for investigations deemed too sensitive, serious or complex for a local Special Branch to handle.

Joint Intelligence Exploitation Regiment

The Joing Intelligence Exploitation Regiment is an elite, small formation of Special Forces soldiers, support personnel, and vehicle crews who are responsible for providing a dedicated Operations Capability to Intelligence activities abroad. This can range from escorting Officers or carrying out field intelligence-gathering activities to exfiltrating Officers as a contingency if a mission goes awry, and even acting on the intelligence gathered if the wider Kouralian military cannot act. Unlike the Intelligence Services, The Regiment is entirely a part of the Kouralian Armed Forces and its deployment must not only satisfy the criteria of senior Intelligencers, but also Military Officers. Generally, deployment is sanctioned through the relevant geographic Joint Service Command's three-star Special Operations Forces Commander - though the latitude granted for independently and dynamically changing their tasking based on developments in the circumstances can vary hugely.

Whilst entitled a Regiment and usually commanded by an Army Officer, The Regiment features personnel from all three service branches. This includes special forces soldiers, helicopter, transport and prototype airframe aircrew and ground crew, small-craft crews, and even dedicated SSKs seconded to the unit.

Special Projects Directorate

Not strictly a part of the Information & Security Executive, the Special Projects Directorate is a loose collection of semi-independent projects and operations that the Kouralian Government determine defy classification. Many of them do not solely belong in the sphere of Intelligence-Operations; Faeryn Command for example, is a military combatant command responsible for warfighting against the Hundred Worlds of Lord Atum, however the development and research of the Stargate technology previously fell under the SPD until it became clear it needed a military chain of command. Other Special Projects include the containment and research of a cabinet of curiosities that produces oracular prophecies and yet which has defied all categorisation and anaylsis by technological and thaumical means, and a blue Police Telephone Box which also defies all analysis.

The Special Projects Directorate is overseen by the Superintending Director of Special Projects who has a small staff to assist in administration of projects and considering other entities or events for inclusion within its remit. Otherwise, each project is usually a largely-independent organisation whose hierarchy, organisation, funding, purpose, and relationships with other Government Departments varies immensely depending on its Establishment Document.