Military Intelligence Service (Barrayar)

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Military Intelligence Service
ImpSerBarrayarCoA.png
Lesser Coat of Arms of the Imperial Military Service
Active2870 A.D. - Present
CountryBarrayar
BranchMilitary intelligence
Part ofImperial Service
Garrison/HQMilitary Intelligence Analysis Centre, Vorbarr Sultana
Branch coloursQueen's Blue&Turkish Red
Anniversaries2857
EngagementsKomarran Conquest (2896 - 2897)
Escobaran War (2899)
Third Cetagandan War (2903 - 2904)
Komarran Revolt (2904-2906)
Hagen Hub War (2921)
Polian War (2962)
Commanders
Chief of Military Intelligence ServiceLieutenant General Paul Cotineau
Notable
commanders		General Joachim Karrson
Insignia
Branch Coat of ArmsStemma MIS.png

The Military Intelligence Service (MIS) is a major producer and manager of military intelligence. The MIS provides military intelligence to war fighters, defence policy makers and force planners within the Imperial Service and the intelligence complex. The MIS was established in 2870 as a result of a decision by Emperor Ezar Vorbarra, pressed to do so by the War Party. Nowadays is operationally a department within the General Staff. However, through its whole history, the MIS had its competencies partially overlapping with those of the Galactic Affairs Department of the Imperial Security, as well as naturally connecting with areas of responsibility of the Service Security.
MIS's Chief is a Lieutenant General or Vice-Admiral who serves as principal adviser to the General Staff and to the Emperor on matters of military intelligence. MIS possesses a diverse workforce skilled in the areas of military history and doctrine, economics, physics, chemistry, world history, political science, bio-sciences, computer sciences, and other fields of expertise. The MIS's mission is to provide timely, objective, and cogent military intelligence to war fighters, defence planners, and defence and national security policy makers: therefore the Service is in charge of providing foreign confidential information. The MIS operates residencies all over the Nexus, along with signals intelligence stations.
The Military Intelligence Analysis Centre (MIAC) is the headquarters of the Military Intelligence Service. It is located on Imperial Service Base General Pjotr Vorreedi in Vorbarr Sultana. The MIAC was built in 2977 to consolidate MIS activities in the Vorbarr Sultana area.
Alongside and extending its military security duties, the Military Intelligence Service (particularly the Military Security Division) sometimes is involved in political security stability, under the most strict guidance and control of the Imperial Security.

History

In the Empire of Barrayar, the military intelligence activity was carried out by a number of agencies; at the first time, Imperial Security had a single division dedicated to military affairs, the Military Information Division. In 2866 the Army Intelligence Corps and the Office of Space Information and Intelligence were established alongside the ImpSec division.
The Military Intelligence Service as a separate branch was established in 2870, in the early years of Emperor Ezar's reign, in order to provide only one intelligence agency focused solely on military matters and, thus, to avoid the existing confusion between Imperial Security and military espionage. Although the reorganization was requested by the then-embryonal War Party, in order to have an intelligence structure separate from the Imperial Security, its first commander was Ezar's close confidant General Pjotr Vorkosigan, who equipped the then-Military Information Corps with Imperial Rangers personnel, although both Dorca and Yuri already had their own military information gathering systems.
The first major engagement which the Military Intelligence was involved in was the Komarran Conquest, under the supreme command of then Admiral Lord Vorkosigan. Preparations were made since 2894, three years before the start of hostilities. Between 2896 and 2900 the Military Intelligence Corps was slowly filled with officers loyal to Crown Prince and to his acolytes, despite the containment carried out by Captain Negri and the Emperor.
Following the disastrous defeat of the War of the One hundred and twenty days and the death of Crown Prince and Admiral Vorrutyer, Emperor Ezar purged the Military Intelligence Service stopping all its major officers and commanders. Despite the purges, many officers harboured resentment against the Emperor and the Regent, and supported Vordarian the Pretender in his attempt of seizing the power.
The Lord Regent, following the War of the Pretender and the brief but harsh Third Cetagandan War, took out the purge, and reorganized the MIC in the current Military Intelligence Service. The first test for the new service was the Komarran Revolt, which lasted from 2904 to 2906. Although the revolt took by surprise the Service, which had lowered their guard, partly because of the recent upheavals in it, since the early months of 2904 managed to create an effective network of information and infiltrated, thus creating the potential for large successes, like the capture of some of the most dangerous rebels in the Domed city of Grantham.
This led to an harsh rivalry with the Imperial Security, especially with the Department of Komarran Affairs. The most serious of frictions which happened between the two agencies was the case of the Yellow Cargo, when some of the Imperial Security agents arrested some agents of the Military Intelligence Service on charges of illegal immigration. The MIS response was steady: abroad ImpSec agents began to be exposed, denounced and arrest, until the formal charge of treason, started by the Imperial Security.
The Regent's intervention was hard and fast, and determined the so-called Midwinter Agreements, in late 2907, an informal entente between MIS and ImpSec: the Chief of Imperial Security (at the time Captain Simon Illyan) lost the right to propose or veto the candidate to the leadership of the Military Intelligence Service, but on the other hand MIS lost the responsibility to operate against Komarran and home non-military threats. In operations abroad, the military intelligence service kept the responsibility of military espionage, although with the cooperation of the Imperial Security. In the fourteen years that followed, the collaboration between MIS and Imperial Security was strengthened, so that the 2920 Military Security Act ordered the transfer of oversight of the Service Security to the MIS, also thanks to the fact that the hierarchies of the latter were now reformed.
During the Hegen Hub Crisis and the following War of the Hegen Hub, the Military Intelligence Service provided a constant information flow about military movements of the invading Cetagandan fleet: these data pieces were sent to Pol, in order to convince Polan policy makers to sign the Hegen Hub Alliance with Barrayar, Vervain and Aslund.
During the following, calmer decades, the Military Intelligence Service continued to operate both externally, in a deeper and more integrated manner with the Galactic Affairs Department of the Imperial Security, and internally, with the Service Security; due to elusive borders of spheres of interest, also the MIS was involved into the Yarrow Incident. On the external front, a major deployment of the Military Intelligence Service was those on Ylla, especially during the beginning of the political-military cooperation programme.

Military intelligence

For a commander, military intelligence is critical and essential and knowledge as a first step for the conduct of military operations is a dogma of the military doctrine. The military operation requires a coherent and harmonious development of military information function. The military-technical information activity is primarily aimed at knowing the opponent's war potential, and other types of threats that arise from asymmetric conflict context: generally anything that can be a problem for the military activities.
The military information activity is the set of initiatives aimed at acquiring knowledge and understanding of the environment, the activity, capabilities and intentions of potential adversary through the combined use of the available resources. The military information activity is basically divided into two areas, that of responsibility, where the military commander makes use of organic information assets under its authority to use them in the acquisition of information, and the area of interest, in which the commander makes use of external information.

Mission types

The Military Intelligence Service has, over the years, codified several mission types and requirements.

  • Foreign Military Movement, Strength, and Locations (FoMMoSL): this category of operation covers the monitoring of foreign military movements, the strength of the forein forces and their locations. Information can be gleamed from any source including commercial traffic tactical scans.
  • Foreign Weapons Development and Proliferation (FOWDEP): this category covers the monitoring of military technological development of foreign powers and it is conducted mostly alongside the Imperial Security. The mission category also covers the investigation of foreign military technology or artifacts. The aim is to ensure that the Imperial Service have no surprises in the field of combat.
  • Foreign Friendly Internal Defence Capabilities (FOFRIDEC): this mission is often openly carried out, and the MIS operative has to locate to a friendly power to assess its ability to defend itself from a potentially aggressive neighbour. This covers cultural information as well as tactical. Sometimes this mission type is carried out covertly.
  • Direct Action (DA): a team of Military Intelligence operatives are sent into hostile situations to either conduct covert operations which are detrimental to the hostile target, or overt operations in liaison with special forces to quickly neutralize a hostile environment based on the casework done by operatives prior to the operations commencing.
  • Counter-Terrorism (CT): at the request of ImpSec, the M.I.S. can be directed to gather data on a specific group, faction or species that have a military intent to wage guerrilla warfare. This will include monitoring movements and infiltration by Intelligence operatives.

Organization

MIS is led by a Commander, typically a third-level general/flag officer. The current Commander is Vice Admiral Ronald Bourgeois, who assumed command in Midwinter 2998. MIS is organized into a Command and a number of operational directorates and centres. Among the top-level Directorates there are the Training Directorate (D7) and the Combat Intelligence Collection Directorate (D8). The latter is tasked with collecting combat intelligence. It is responsible for intelligence units from the battalion level and up to the entire force; it operates mainly on the ground. It is directly subordinate to the Military Intelligence Service Commander.

Military Intelligence Service Command

Military Intelligence Service Command is the top level of the Military Intelligence Service and is comprised of the Chief of Military Intelligence Service and his Deputy. As well as these two key figures there are several aides and advisers to both the Commander and Deputy Commander which assist them in the running of the Service. Within this office however there are also a number of other key personnel. The S.I.A Judge Advocate is integrated into the Command level. It is this level which runs the Military Intelligence Service.

  • Chief of Military Intelligence Service: is the person appointed to command and direct the activities and agents of the Service. This post is the highest level of command within MIS. He is ultimately responsible for the undertaking of all military intelligence operations, organization and deployment operatives.
    • Service Command
    • Financial Division (SC1): the Division is responsible for predicting the necessary financial and disbursing all finances to the various departments. The duty of this branch was keeping a complete and accurate record on all appropriations, expenditures and dispersals.
    • Personnel Division (SC2).
    • Archive Division (SC3).
    • Logistic Support Division (SC4): the Division serves to organize the requisitions and transportation of all supplies needed by Intelligence stations or personnel through space. As such, this involves coordination and procurement as well as delivery of these goods between the manufacturers and the suppliers.

The Chief of Military Intelligence Service is often an officer of considerable service within the Service itself. Hi is normally of the rank of Vice-Admiral (being formally a space-based organization) or Lieutenant General.

Defence intelligence and HUMINT Directorate

The Defence intelligence and HUMINT Directorate (D1) manages MIS's human source intelligence collection, including the Military Attaché System. D1 conducts worldwide strategic human intelligence collection operations in support of the General Staff and military operations. It deploys teams of linguists, field analysts, case officers, interrogation experts, technical specialists, and special forces. The Directorate's main Division is doubtless the Intelligence Operations Coordination Division (C11), which is the department that is responsible for integrated intelligence operations and collection. It is a distinct structure from the Joint Intelligence Centre (C21) in so far the IOCB manages the overall co-ordination of various theatres, and not only the co-ordination between different branches within a single intelligence operation or theatre. The D1 Directorate operates in strict coordination with the Operations Directorate.

  • Foreign Intelligence Collection Division (C11) with further subdivisions according the foreign policies and threats from the Nexus.
  • Technical Intelligence Division (C12).
  • Economic Intelligence Division (C13).

Directorate for Information Management

The Directorate for Information Management (D2) provides an integrated Information Technology enterprise that is improved and maintained in response to intelligence needs and enables collaborative discovery, synthesis, and delivery of critical intelligence to war fighters, defence planners and policy makers, and international partners. It is further subdivided into seven Divisions:

  • Joint Intelligence Division (C21): The JID-C21 deals with intelligence matters, electronic warfare, IMINT, SIGINT, ELINT and COMINT.
  • Joint Electronic Warfare Division (C22): The JEWD-C22 operates from Military Intelligence Service starships.
  • Computer Emergency Response Unit (C23)
  • Military Cryptoanalysis Activity Division (C24): responsible for Code Breaking, distribution of reports, interception and cryptanalysis, communications security.
  • Space Security Assessment Division (C25): its duties involve monitoring pirate vessels and the ships attacked by them.
  • Information Security Division (C26): is responsible for preventing classified information from being compromised by unauthorized elements. The Division also engages in the study of enemy military intelligence, providing security briefings, securing classified information, and teaching and enforcement activities related to information security; the InfoSec Division closely works with the Nexus Communications Division.
  • Nexus Communications Division (C27): deals with routine messages of M.I.S. operatives trhough the Nexus. It closely works with the Information Security Division.

Nexus Communications Division

The Communications Division (C27) is a bureau within the Military Intelligence Service. The Division is a decentralized, dispersed bureau that handles (almost) all communications generated by the Service itself. The Division is responsible for coding, categorizing, transmitting, storing, receiving and decoding messages from operatives across the Nexus. Divisional stations are located throughout the Nexus; they are small installations which bely the amount of data they deal with on a daily basis, and their hidden locations are the primary method of security.
The Nexus Communications Division is responsible for assigning each agent or branch with its code numbers and sequence, as well as the authorization code required to send, receive, and read Military Intelligence Service documents and files. Messages sent through the Nexus Communications Division are transmitted on multiple conduits. This method of parallel transmission ensures that the message would reach its intended destination even if enemy agents destroyed a few of the conduits. In addition, the message continues to be transmitted after reaching its final destination, making tracking the sender or recipient of the message almost impossible. When multiple copies of a message are transmitted and received, some of which may have been damaged in transit through enemy action or natural occurrence, the Nexus Communications Division computers assembled the message and compared all version to create a near-as perfect copy of the original message.

Directorate for MASINT and Technical Collection

The Directorate for MASINT and Technical Collection (D3) collects Measurement and Signature Intelligence which is technical intelligence that results in intelligence that detects, tracks, identifies, or describes the signatures of fixed or dynamic target sources. Given the interstellar nature of the powers involved, it is by force a relatively inactive subdivision, except for the nearest space forces.
The Missile and Space Intelligence Division (C31) is a component of the Directorate for MASINT and Technical Collection. MSID’s overall mission is to support field commanders, weapon system developers, and policy makers with scientific and technical all-source intelligence on surface-to-air missiles, bombardment missiles, long-range ballistic missiles, missile aggression and defence systems, heavy direct-energy weapons, sensitive space programs and systems, and relevant command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
The Space Intelligence Division (C32) is the branch of the Directorate for MASINT and Technical Collection tasked with communication surveillance and interception.

Directorate of Analysis

The Directorate of Analysis (D4) is responsible for handling amounts of data from sources, searching for hostile activity by analysing the patterns or trends in the data they handle and transmitting the information to the Service Command. Analysis also handles, examines and copies useful technologies. The Directorate of Analysis has several branches:

  • Defence Analysis Division (C41): handles most sensitive information.
    • Asymmetric Threats Analysis Office (B411): carries out asymmetric opponents analysis.
  • Signal Analysis Division (C42): examines the channel through which information is transmitted. Signal Centre examines line noise to check if it contained a pattern rather than random error, and broadcasts and beam casts to see if the backup information sent with the primary information matches, and, if not, how they differ.
  • Cryptanalysis Division (C43): is responsible for all code-breaking. All evidence of coded communication found through Signal's work are transferred to the Cryptanalysis Centre.
  • Technology Division (C44): is the branch of Analysis responsible for analysing a foreign hardware, figuring out how it works and devising methods to provide superior hardware.
  • Interrogation Division (C45) is responsible for the handling of enemy agents captured by MSC-C52.
  • Foreign Weapons Systems Division (C46): it is responsible for testing and analysis of captured and or acquired weapons systems. The Division is a spin-off of the Technology Division (C44), and works in a close relationship with it.
  • Military Long-range Threat Assessment Division (C47): is responsible for delayed menaces assessment.
    • Military Strategic Analysis Office (B471): it uses advanced wargaming and simulation techniques in order to forecast the probable outcomes of a known or probable military scenario.
  • Medical Intelligence Division (C48): is responsible for foreign medical capabilities.
  • Military-Economic Intelligence Division (C49): is responsable for military-related economic analysis. It cooperates with the Imperial Security, the Barrayaran Central Bank and with other bodies.
    • Piracy Intelligence Office (B491): is in charge of monitoring pirate vessels and the ships attacked by them.

Medical Intelligence Division

The Division for Medical Intelligence (C48) is a component of the Military Intelligence Service, whose mission is to monitor, track and assess a full range of health events that could negatively impact the health of Barrayaran military and civilian populations. In case of military occupation of a foreign territory, MID-C48 supports planning for the administration of military governments in occupied territories occupied by providing detailed guides for civil public health and sanitation conditions. The MID-C48 is organized into a support Office and two substantive Offices (the Epidemiology and Environmental Health Office and the Medical Capabilities Office).
Main responsibilities of the MID-C48 are to identify and assess environmental risks that can degrade force health or effectiveness, identify, assess, and report on infectious disease risks that can degrade mission effectiveness of deployed forces and/or cause long-term health implications, alert operations and policy makers to foreign disease outbreaks that have implications for national security, assess foreign basic and applied biomedical and biotechnological developments of military medical importance, pharmaceutical industry capabilities and scientific and technological medical advances, assess foreign military and civilian medical capabilities and maintain and update an integrated data base on all medical treatment, training, pharmaceutical, and research and production facilities.

Directorate for Security

The Directorate for Security, General Staff (D5) has the function of advising and supporting the General Staff with foreign military intelligence for defence policy and war planning, as well as for providing security to the military. It closely works with the Service Security. The Directorate is subdivided into six main Divisions:

  • Military Attachés Division (C51): Military attachés are dependant on Military Intelligence Service, but they are drawn from Imperial Security. They are in charge of both Service Security and Imperial Security for the embassy.
  • Military Security Division (C52): The primary business of Military Security Division are counter-espionage security within military bases and personnel, acquisition of military information relating to foreign countries, military-technical information, including those of the military police together with the Service Security.
  • Defence Evaluation Division (C53): Alongside the two operational Divisions, the Defence Evaluation Division acts as an evaluation bodies in charge of assessing the Barrayaran defence capabilities, strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats.
  • Counter-sabotage Division (C54): it is responsible for counter-sabotage operations in domestic military industry, planting false information, penetration of foreign intelligence services and investigating acts of sabotage on Barrayaran soil.
  • Strategic Weapons Security Division (C55): it is a counter-espionage agency tasked to protect Barrayaran secret weapons facilities from threats, including sabotage and cyber warfare.
  • Spaceport and Strategic Facilities Security Division (C56): it is responsible for the security of military spaceports.

Military Security Division

The Military Security Division (C52), organized within the Directorate for Intelligence - General Staff, serves as the internal security apparatus. Its goal is the security of the Imperial Service and of Military Intelligence, both from an espionage and operations scale, as well as a physical security standpoint. The MSD-C52 agents are well mannered but also ruthless to the core. Information inside MSD is heavily secured against unauthorized access, but no restrictions against other agents: every decision, action or piece of data generated by a member of MSC is available for any other agent to examine. This lack of secrecy, and often privacy, is designed to make it difficult for a hostile agent to operate within MSC-C52.
The MSD-C52 is in turn subdivided into two branches: the Internal Security Office (B521) and the Internal Counter Intelligence Office (B522). The Internal Security Office is the security police for the physical locations of Military Intelligence Service. They are the most visible uniformed branch of the Service to openly carry weapons in MIS facilities. The Internal Counter Intelligence Office is the proper internal affairs and counter-intelligence branch. ICIO-B522 is divided into three further units: Analysis (ICIO-A-A5221), Operations (ICIO-O-A5222), and Intelligence (ICIO-I-A5223).
The Intelligence Protection Directorate of the Internal Troops is separate from, but dependent on, the Military Security Division.

Intelligence Operations Directorate

The Intelligence Operations Directorate (D6) is tasked with fusing tactical, operational, and strategic intelligence assets and with serving as the centre for coordination of these assets in response to combatant command requirements. In order to carry out its task, the D6 Directorate has three main subordinate organs:

  • Division for Clandestine Service (C61): Is a directorate tasked with ramping up spying operations against high-priority targets, focusing on major targets of classical intelligence beyond pure tactical considerations. The DCS-D61 works in co-operation with the Imperial Security and the special forces, as well as with the D1 Directorate. It is also tasked with directing covert contact/exploitation of discontented minority groups in foreign countries for military intelligence purposes.
  • Division of Logistics (C62): this office serves to organize the logistic services needed by Intelligence stations or personnel through space. Logistics personnel also arrange for interstellar transportation and incorporate the regular Transportations Command routine schedules into their plans. They essentially serve as the quartermaster bureau which must ensure that the supplies get to wherever they are needed.
  • 60th Strategic Unit (C63): information gathering, reconnaissance and sabotage.

Training Directorate

The Training Directorate (D7) carries out courses, seminars and updates regarding the full range of activities within the intelligence of military-technical nature in order to optimize the research and analysis of information. In this perspective, the courses belong in a particular manner to all disciplines of Intelligence (IMINT, SIGINT, HUMINT, OSINT, ACINT, MASINT) and Electronic Warfare. In particular, the Directorate (led by a Lieutenant General) proceeds to qualify and update personnel (of all branches of the Imperial Service, except ImpSec) for use in intelligence by conducting training courses for the informational, counter-informational and security aspects. In addition, it is the point of reference for the elaboration of national doctrine for matters relating to military intelligence and research and maintains contacts with foreign institutions. To fulfill its institutional tasks, the Management is supported in addition to employees, including qualified external collaborators from institutional bodies, universities and private companies. It is divided into three Divisions:

  • Courses Division (C71)
  • Didactic Research Division (C72)
  • Updates Division (C73)

Liaison Directorate

The Liaison Directorate (D8) is the visible component of the Military Intelligence Service, serving as a direct link between the rest of the Imperial Service and the M.I.S. Liaison agents are stationed at embassies, on ground units and formations, on ships, and often accompany diplomatic teams. Embassy liaisons are usually senior officers and are never intended to be in the field except in the most extraordinary of circumstances. Starship-based liaisons are mid-level officers, able to react to situations in the field, but are rarely sent planet side or into deep cover missions unless absolutely necessary.
The hierarchy of the Liaison Directorate is fairly complex. Underneath the Director are Chief Liaison Officers for each Regional Strategic Command; depending on the types of forward deployment ships under its command (more ships of the line increases the number of agents stationed), the Chief Liaison Officer could have between 6 and 30 agents under him; due to the tasks entrusted to it, the EXPRESCOM obviously has the highest number of Liaison Agents. Liaison Agents are mainly stationed on escort, exploratory and front-line ships. Ship-based Liaison Agents report directly to the Command’s Chief Liaison Officer, who reports directly to the Director. They are under the ship’s command structure to a point: orders from the ship’s Captain are to be followed unless the orders from the Command's Chief Liaison Officer are contradictory.

Homeland network

Under the central structure outlined above, the Military Intelligence Service has a local station in each Regional Command and Subordinate Military Region, called Military Intelligence Station. Each Station is usually subdivided into sections for espionage, sabotage and counter-intelligence.
Typically each Station is commanded by a senior officer and is to the Military Intelligence Service HQs. Operations carried out by each Station are subordinated to the overall strategic plan formulated by the Commander of Military Intelligence Service, which in turn receives instructions from the General Staff. In practice, however, each Station is given some degree of autonomy in mission planning and execution. Each local Station recruits potential agents for missions. In most cases, the agents are recruited as civilians.

Intelligence Units

The Military Intelligence Service has at its disposal several units in order to fullfil the tasks.

Intelligence Regiments

Intelligence field operatives are grouped, trained and administered according a regimental frame. Each Regiment provides training, human resources management and administrative support for the personnel assigned to the central offices, but it is not an operational level.

  • 1st Military Intelligence Regiment: Aerial Signals Information Acquisition, mostly dedicated to support Service Security in peacetime. For non-combat signal intelligence-related activities and data collections, the Regiment is subordinate also to the Chief of Signals and Communications Security Department of the Imperial Security.
  • 2nd Military Intelligence Regiment: Interrogation
  • 3rd Military Intelligence Regiment: Human Intelligence
  • 4th Military Intelligence Regiment: Combat Electronic Warfare Intelligence
  • 5th Military Intelligence Regiment: Functional Training
  • 6th Military Intelligence Regiment: Intelligence and electronic warfare, Human Intelligence (HUMINT)
  • 7th Military Intelligence Regiment: Counter-intelligence
  • 8th Military Intelligence Regiment: Counter-intelligence
  • 9th Military Intelligence Regiment: Analysis, Collection Management
  • 10th Military Intelligence Regiment: Intelligence collection, Analysis, and Dissemination
  • 11th Military Intelligence Regiment: Electronic warfare

Service Strategic Command Intelligence Brigades

While the Military Intelligence Regiments function as administrative support for the central offices of the Military Intelligence Service, there are also seven Service Strategic Command Intelligence Brigades (SSCIB), which function as both support and operational commands for military intelligence support purposes. They depend on the relevant Field Commander and they also function as liaison between the SSC and the M.I.S.
The structure of varies according the specific needs of the individual Service Strategic Command, but they range from 5 Battalions (Transportation and Logistic Commands) to 10-11 Battalions (regional-focus commands). Each Battalion assigned to the various Brigades traces its lineage back to one of the Intelligence Regiments, but they are not operationally linked in any way.

  • Barrayar Command (BARCOM): 10 Intelligence Battalions;
  • Komarr Command (KOMCOM): 11 Intelligence Battalions;
  • Sergyar Command (SERCOM): 11 Intelligence Battalions;
  • Expeditionary and Reserve Force Headquarters (EXPRES-FORCOM): 11 Intelligence Battalions;
  • Logistic Command (LOGCOM): 5 Intelligence Battalions;
  • Transportation Command (TRANSCOM): 5 Intelligence Battalions;
  • Defence Cyber Command (DEFCYCOM): The Defence Cyber Command Intelligence Brigade (DECYCOIB), due to its obvious links with the Military Intelligence Service, does not deploy unified Battalions, but it has several Intelligence Companies which are attached to the individual DEFCYCOM branches.

Intelligence Fleet

Military Intelligence operates a relatively small fleet of starships dedicated to various aspects of its operations. Information about these ships, including their names, registries, and crews, are tightly controlled as they often contain sensitive materials, technologies and individuals with a high level of knowledge of intelligence operations. Only a few of these ships are authorized to identify themselves as Military Intelligence Service ships, though their specifications and missions are still classified. These "public" ships are made known to other Sector Commanders and tactical officers with the necessary security levels so that those officers may request location specific intelligence information which can often be more efficient and time saving than contacting Military Intelligence through proper channels, especially in more remote locations. Intelligence ships have hulls as cargo freighter, but they are capable of gathering the necessary intelligence themselves or tapping into tightly secured networks to retrieve the information requested.
Ships operating within the Military Intelligence Service run without transponders or (more often) with altered signals to mask their true identity.

Intelligence officer

An Intelligence officer is the title given to the serviceman aboard a military unit (usually a starship or space station) who is responsible for intelligence matters. The officer keeps in contact with the central organization. The position of Intelligence officer is open to both officers and enlisted soldiers, as well as ISWA auxiliaries.

Planetary cell

A planetary cell is one of the basic units of Military Intelligence Service. Dozens of planetary cells are deployed, existing on most habitable worlds in the Barrayaran area of interest, and even those uninhabited worlds with strategic or tactical value. Planetary cells are generally staffed by between four and twenty personnel, although the number could range for one individual to a hundred. Personnel is often recruited from the planet on which it was based, with off-world training a rarity. Planetary cells are isolated from one another, with all communications coming directly from the command structure above them.

Operatives selection

Military Intelligence Service Operatives are highly trained and recruited from the cream within the Imperial Service; from whatever walk of life these Intelligence Operatives come from, they have to thrive on challenges and to have excellent judgement and problem-solving skills as well as high observational skills and dedication and loyalty to Barrayar.

See also

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