Bureau of Operations

The Bureau of Operations is divided into several divisions, called branches, which themselves are can be further subdivided based on function and sphere of control.

Surveillance Branch

A point of pride with Surveillance Branch (Surveillance) is their small size, especially in comparison with the huge organization maintained by COMPNOR through the ISB, Imperial Intelligence has less than one agent in Surveillance for every 70 so dedicated in the ISB, yet Surveillance successfully keeps watch on more serious threats to the Empire than does the ISB.

The Bureau of Intelligence gives Surveillance megascandocs of material on potential enemies of the New Order; the genius of Surveillance is the ability to sort through the information and unerringly select suspects who are currently involved in anti-Imperial activity. Surveillance agents are thoroughly briefed on everything which is known about the suspect. Often more than one agent is selected for an important case, and Surveillance actively solicits the help of any available system cells.

Surveillance agents are well-trained in a broad variety of skills, including combat skills. They are expected to handle situations by themselves in the field - there is not likely to be enough time to call in backups. Surveillance agents are expected to make arrests if the suspects will get away with a critical crime, and if the arrest looks untenable, stop the suspects in any way the agent can.

Infiltration Branch

"There are three ways to defeat your enemy. The first, and most obvious, is to better him in a trial of force. The best way is to have him destroy himself; few enemies are so obliging. The middle way is to destroy your enemy from within. Judicious application of the middle way shall make your blows more effective if you later take the way of force. From the middle way, it is also possible to push your enemy onto the path of self-destruction."'

-Uueg Tching of Kitel Phard, 54th Emperor of Atrisia

When they join Infiltration Branch (Infiltration), every agent is told the legends of Uueg Tching. The ancient emperor's success against the peoples and nations of the newly-discovered continents on his world of Atrisia was spectacular; of greater interest to Infiltration is the manner in which Uueg Tching managed to subvert no fewer than 30 separate rebellions against his tyrannical rule.

After indoctrination, Infiltration agents are often reassigned to the Bureau of Intelligence, assigned as assistants to a few sector branches, and then assigned to Sedition Branch. The agents learn vast amounts during this period. Many agents have to be released because of overuse of the mnemiotic drugs given them to enhance their absorption of information. Those who survive with their minds intact know a great deal.

Once they have finished their stint with Intelligence Bureau, agents are then tested to see what sort of missions they are best suited for - double-agents, moles, or "polwocz".

Double-agents are active operatives, taking part in enemy actions against the Empire. Their job is to give Imperial Intelligence good enough information to allow the Empire to do greater damage to their enemies than the double-agent's operations do to the Empire.

A mole is inserted behind the lines, to transfer important intelligence about enemy activities when the opportunities arise.

A polwocz is a type of creature located in the Spinward Sector. Their spawn lay underground, undetected for years or even decades. Once hatched, the larvae initiate a feeding frenzy which is reputed to destroy entire cities. A polwocz is therefore an agent who is to be used just once, at a critical moment when his use can be absolutely devastating to the enemy.

Renik Branch

Renik Branch (Renik) is the branch in charge of counterintelligence, which is the art of identifying and dismantling enemy spy operations. If a particular spy operation is considered to be potentially useful, Renik hands over all information on the enemy operation to Infiltration Branch, which takes it from there. If the enemy group is considered insignificant or too dangerous to allow continued operations, Renik destroys it.

The branch has built a considerable myth around where the name Renik came from. They now claim an ancient race existed in the Galactic Core, called the Delorf. The Delorf were a pastoral race, one which never aspired to technological achievements. But many among them had an innate sense which allowed them to feel treachery and animosity in another being, Delorf or not. Upon sensing animosity in another, the Delorf sensitives would gather and pool their energies into a ritual called "Renik". Renik would cleanse the hostility and treachery from the target being, making him one of the Delorf in mind if not in body.

It is far more likely that the term Renik is derived from the last respected counterintelligence officer in the Republic's Senate Bureau of Intelligence, Admiral Markun Kiner. Being counterintelligence, the name was reversed.

Diplomatic Services Branch

Diplomatic Services Branch (DiploSer) is the catch-all branch of the Bureau. It provides a sizable portion of the personnel for trade and diplomatic missions found in Imperial garrisons, as well as political experts for planetary governments and Moffs. Many of these personnel are well trained and expected to perform only their overt duties, with the exception of reporting their actions to Imperial Intelligence. Others are more clandestine agents, some sent of specific anti-sedition missions, but most sent to establish and organize system cells within their area of influence.

Destabilization Branch

Referred to as "the quiet branch", no one hears much about Destabilization Branch (Destab). Part of the reason is that Destab keeps its operations very quiet. The rest of it is the fact that Destab operations make a large number of Imperial Intelligence agents queasy. Destab has been known to move from what agents would consider legitimate intelligence operations into full-fledged atrocities. Given the shadowy ethics of Imperial Intelligence, this says quite a bit about Destab.

Officially, Destabilization is the branch which specializes in "taking the fabric which holds people, society, or governments together and unraveling it." Agents from other branches suggest that Destab's methods more closely resemble shredding.

Assassination Branch

Unlike Destabilization Branch, Assassination Branch (Assassination) is a branch which is wholeheartedly embraced by the agents of other branches; assassination has long been a legitimate means of removal of key members of the opposition for intelligence agencies. The recent ban on assassin droids since the fall of the Confederacy of Independent Systems has enhanced the image of assassination being a fair contest between the hunter and the hunted. While Assassination is careful not to unnecessarily dilute this image, its agents are trained to take every advantage, to use every trick and subterfuge possible; in short, to weight the "contest" as much in the favor of the assassin as possible.

Assassination has been careful to select only those targets for which mission success is probable. It is a tribute to their highly trained agents that the actual success ratio is higher than the theoretical one. This has only served to enhance the mystique of Assassination with Imperial Intelligence.