Royal Intelligence Agency
 Seal of the Royal Intelligence Agency | |
 Flag of the Royal Intelligence Agency | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | May 11, 1921 |
| Preceding agency |
|
| Type | Independent |
| Jurisdiction | Her Royal Majesty's Government |
| Headquarters |
David Remsburg Center, La Cañada City, Gold Coast, K.S. |
| Motto | Sierra's First Line of Defense |
| Employees | 8,487 |
| Annual budget | $9 billion (KSD) |
| Agency executives |
|
| Website | ria.gov.ks |
The Royal Intelligence Agency, commonly known as the RIA, is the civilian foreign intelligence agency of the federal government of the Kingdom of Sierra, tasked with covertly collecting, processing, and analyzing national security overseas through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT). It is one of the core members of the Sierran Intelligence Community and is an independent government agency not under the jurisdiction of any of the Cabinet ministries. The agency reports directly to the Spymaster General, a Cabinet-level official. The RIA is chiefly interested in conveying intelligence to the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, the Executive Council, the Privy Council, and the Joint Chiefs of the Defense Staff.
Working almost exclusively with overseas intelligence gathering, the RIA lacks any law enforcement functions like its domestic counterpart, the Royal Bureau of Investigation, and may only carry out operations against individuals outside the Kingdom of Sierra and its territories. Nonetheless, it plays a leading role in coordinating and managing shared intelligence among Sierra's intelligence community and is the only government agency authorized by the law to execute and oversee covert action on behalf of the Crown. It is subject to public oversight by K.S. Federal Tribunal on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance and the Senate and House Subcommittees on National Intelligence and Security.
The primary objectives and responsibilities of the RIA is to conduct counterintelligence, counterterrorism, counter-proliferation, and cyber intelligence operations for the interests and safety of Sierra, its government, and its people. It is also tasked to carry out covert action operations necessary to attain these objectives, as well as perform paramilitary operations overseas.
The agency was established in 1921, having previously been operating as the Foreign Intelligence Division of the Sierran Secret Service. It was created in the Foreign Intelligence and Information Act of 1921 in Parliament due to heightened concerns of espionage activities by the United Commonwealth. Since 1985, it has been headquartered at the David Remsburg Center in La Cañada City, Gold Coast although it is commonly referred to as basing in Pasadena, Gold Coast because it has a Pasadena ZIP code.
The RIA has been the subject of national and international controversy. It has been accused of illicit covert action, human rights abuses, domestic wiretapping, use of torture, drug trafficking, influencing public opinion, obstruction of justice and Parliament, electoral tampering, state-sponsored terrorism, and engineering politically motivated assassinations.
History
Establishment
The Royal Intelligence Agency traces its origins to the Foreign Intelligence Division of the Sierran Secret Service, which was established in 1898. Its main role was to investigate, sabotage, and prosecute anti-Sierran government officials and royals in Tondo. The division was employed to gather intelligence on the Tondolese government for the purpose of exposing the government's political and military weaknesses. The Sierran military favored overthrowing the Tondolese government and replacing it with a Sierran-led occupational regime. In 1900, the Tondolese Empress Dowager Mei Li ordered the execution of Sierran diplomats and 2 agents from the division, alongside Tondolese sympathizers. This diplomatic crisis triggered the Han–Sierran War and further propelled the division's status and role as a foreign intelligence entity.
Sierran Cultural Revolution
During the initial years of the Sierran Cultural Revolution, the Foreign Intelligence Division made an unsuccessful bid to establish a network of field agents in Sierra's neighboring countries, particularly with Astoria. Relations between the two became fractious due to border disputes at the Shasta–Oregon line and Sierran officials were wary of British and Astorian spies in northern Sierra.
At home, despite its mission dedicated towards foreign intelligence, the division played a minor role in screening foreign immigrants. As the Revolution progressed, the division saw its relevance increase as its agents were encouraged to increase their intelligence of East Asian countries for research and nonmilitary purposes.
Approbatio
During the Approbatio, Sierra grew increasingly worried of foreign espionage and the threat of military conflict. The division discovered Continental spies in Sierra and the political turmoil in Mexico and the United Commonwealth became a matter of grave concern for the government. In 1921, Parliament passed the Foreign Intelligence and Information Act which established the Royal Intelligence Agency. Its purpose was to become a dedicated agency that would fulfill the role of the Secret Service Foreign Intelligence Division. The administrative changes ensured that the Secret Service would maintain its focus as Sierra's secret police and the prime minister's bodyguards, while the Royal Intelligence Agency could focus on foreign intelligence. The agency gathered sensitive information regarding Mexico, the United Commonwealth, Brazoria, and Nicaragua, as well as intelligence in European countries. The RIA especially increased Sierran espionage activity in Latin America due to heightened concern of the rise of leftism in the region. As Sierra experienced a rise in anti-communism, anti-Continentalism, and quasi-derzhavism, the RIA was directed by King Louis I to monitor political development in its southern neighbors as the United Commonwealth supported international leftist movements in the region.
RIA operatives played a minor, observatory role in the Continental Revolutionary War, collecting military intelligence from both the Federalists and the Continentalists. Declassified information revealed that RIA agents were directed to infiltrate the Continentalist chain of command and engineer the revolution towards the ideals espoused in Sierra's own revolution. They were also directed to assassinate Sierran national Zhou Xinyue, who played a critical role in the war in the United Commonwealth as a continentalist.
Great War
Cold War
Post Cold-War
Modern activities
Other activities
Organizational structure
The RIA is organized into six bodies, including the Executive Office and the following five directorates:
- Directorate of Analysis and Strategy
- Directorate of Human Resources and Policy
- Directorate of Operations
- Directorate of Support and Logistics
- Directorate of Technology and Systems
Executive Office
The Executive Office functions as the administrative and operational leadership for the RIA. It is led by the Director of the Royal Intelligence Agency who is also the Chair of the National Intelligence Council. The Director is appointed by the Prime Minister with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Director is in charge of maintaining open channels and communications between the RIA and its sister intelligence agencies, the Sierran Royal Armed Forces, Parliament, and the Getty House. The Director is supported by the Office of the Director, as well as the Deputy Director who is responsible for the internal affairs of the RIA. Immediately below the Deputy Director are the Chief Operating Officer and the General Counsel. The former is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the agency while the latter is the chief legal officer for the agency. The Executive Office also has an Inspector General, a Director of Compliance, and their related offices.
The Executive Office provides an important role in supplying information and intelligence to the K.S. military by gathering and curating intelligence from other military intelligence agencies and working alongside field operatives. Within the Royal Intelligence Agency, the position of the Deputy Director is always reserved for a senior military officer to ensure a level of integration and cooperation between the agency and the military. In addition, each branch of the armed forces have their own intelligence offices which are led by a director. Each of these directors are in daily contact and communications with the Director of the RIA, usually through the agency's Chief Liaison Officer of Military Affairs.
Directorate of Analysis and Strategy
The Directorate of Analysis and Strategy is primarily concerned with data analysis, collection, and organization. It is also responsible for developing the agency's policies and agenda through research. It sends its recommendations to the Executive Office for consideration and implementation. The directorate also sends reports and relevant information to other government agencies, policymakers, and military officials on-demand. It maintains five different analytic groups based in Sierra as well as ten international analytical offices.
Directorate of Human Resources and Policy
The Directorate of Human Resources and Policy is in charge of human resources, internal management, and internal policymaking. It is tasked with screening and vetting potential recruits and training hirees through the Office of Recruitment and Training. It is also responsible for ensuring a safe workplace environment for all employees, managing the employees' payroll and benefits, providing security through the Royal Intelligence Agency Police, and performing other housekeeping operations.
Directorate of Operations
The Directorate of Operations is responsible for collecting foreign intelligence through human intelligence (HUMINT) sources and covert action. It plays a central role in coordinating intelligence gathering and sharing with the rest of Sierra's intelligence community and the military. Much of the directorate's organization and hierarchy has remained classified and not publicly disclosed. However, two known divisions within the directorate have been in the public knowledge: the Clandestine Activities Division (CAD) and the Geopolitical Engineering Center (GEC). Both divisions have been accused of being Sierra's mechanism for state-sponsored terrorism.
The Clandestine Activities Division is the division within the directorate primarily concerned with the collection and extraction of sensitive information and intelligence from high-level military or political threats. It is also the main apparatus by which the RIA engages in covert action operations through paramilitary tactics and personnel.
The Geopolitical Engineering Center is the division identified with influencing and manipulating the politics, policies, and social climates of other countries. It has also been linked with financing foreign entities that promote Sierra's interests and engaging in propaganda. It also wages economic warfare and psychological operations to achieve its goals.
Directorate of Support and Logistics
The Directorate of Support and Logistics is focused on the communications, infrastructure, logistics, finances, transportation, and supplies necessary to run the agency and support its staff. It maintains the agency's own fleet of aircraft (mostly helicopters) and vehicles. It is in charge of the maintenance and upkeep of the RIA's publicly acknowledged properties, as well as RIA's undisclosed or unlisted black sites. It also cooperates with the Sierran Crown Armed Forces for transportation and logistical arrangements, as well as security in certain cases.
Directorate of Technology and Systems
The Directorate of Technology and Systems is responsible for creating, innovating, improving, and using technologies to support the agency's mission and goals. It is also tasked with engaging in cyber-warfare and gathering cyber-intelligence. It focuses its attention to technologies pertaining to application software, biotechnology, nuclear technology, chemical technology, communications, energy, and digital security.
In pursuance of its mission to innovative technologies, the directorate has developed a number of technological innovations, some of which have entered into the mainstream. During the Space War, the RIA worked alongside the Royal Aeronautics and Aerospace Agency in developing low-orbit satellites and space shuttles to compete against China, Germany, and the United Commonwealth. The RIA played an instrumental role in the development of the modern Internet. In 2005, the MonkaSBot, an artificial intelligence bot was created by the directorate's software engineers and was used to identify and report online foreign spies.
Budget
Under confidentiality and national security federal laws, the Royal Intelligence Agency has the right to keep its finances and budget classified from public knowledge. However, since 2001, the agency has disclosed its overall budget totals annually and simple, partial statistics on its spending and expenditures. In the fiscal 2018–2019 year, the agency had a budget that was approximately $9 billion (KSD), which accounted for nearly 27% of the total budget spent on Sierra's intelligence. It is suspected that the figures may be higher, especially for the agency's covert action activities and programs.
Employees
The RIA is divided into three classes of employees: administrative, field, and office. All employees must undergo rigorous background check screening, psychological test examinations, intensive interrogation, and vetting, including a polygraph examination every three to four years. RIA operatives undergo additional screening and training prior to undertaking assignments. All administrative and field employees, as well as select office employees possess some form of security clearance. While the RIA is not a military organization, its structure is similar and seniority is based on pay grades in a fashion akin to the military's.
Employees with high security clearances or work in sensitive fields are sworn to secrecy and are contractually prohibited from revealing or discussing certain details of their employment or activities without prior authorization from the Executive Office of the RIA. RIA careers have been regarded as one of the most competitive and prestigious titles in the Sierran public sector workforce, as the base salaries of senior field agents and operatives are $150,000 with employment benefits including a specialized health insurance plan for government employees and a federally-backed pension system.
Training
RIA candidates and trainees undergo a rigorous 3-month training period at the John C. Frémont Center in Conception County, Kings, following a stringent screening process. RIA employees and staff also must do continuing education and training every 2-3 years in order to remain employed. There is at least one undisclosed, classified location where RIA student officers receive further training. Courses offered at the center include weapons training, communications, foreign language, information technology, geography, martial arts, money laundering, chemical weapons manufacturing, and intercultural studies.
Relationship with other K.S. intelligence agencies
The Royal Intelligence Agency is one of the leading intelligence agencies within the Sierran Intelligence Community. It routinely shares and receives information from other domestic intelligence agencies, as well as commercial sources, and foreign intelligence agencies. It has engaged in joint intelligence operations with various other agencies, especially with the Royal Bureau of Investigation on matters where their interests and responsibilities overlap. While each intelligence agency including the RIA maintain a significant degree of discretion and autonomy from one another, the RIA is distinguished with being the only independent intelligence agency as it is not part of any Cabinet-level ministry.
Controversies
Project JUVIA
Operation POSTAL
Operation POSTAL (Persisting Observation, Surveillance, Tracking And Logging) was a proposed RIA-led program in conjunction with the RBI and the Royal Postal Service during The Disturbances to use RIA and RBI agents disguised as post office workers to assassinate and eliminate political targets, mainly dissident republicans. Although the operation was officially cancelled, the information was declassified in 2009 by the Styxie Conflict Investigation Board, a K.S. federal agency established to investigate and oversee government documents and records related to the war.
Manitoban black sites
In fiction
See also
- B-class articles
- Altverse II
- Royal Intelligence Agency
- 1921 establishments in the Gold Coast
- Anti-communist organizations in the Kingdom of Sierra
- Government agencies established in 1921
- Independent agencies of the government of the Kingdom of Sierra
- Intelligence analysis agencies
- Kingdom of Sierra intelligence agencies