Sec22 - Briddarri Military Intel Section

Section 22

Agency overview

Formed: 
1725 as ‘Secret Bureau.’

Headquarters: 
Corsa House, Lingen, Briddarri Kingdom

Motto:  
“Defend within”

Employees: 
4.53 billion  (circa 2666)

Annual budget: 
Single Intelligence Account (classified)

Minister responsible: 
Secretary of State for the Home Provinces 
Department

Agency executive: 
Director General

Section 22 Briddarri Military Intelligence Service

Corsa House

   The Security Service (Section 22 or Sec22) was the Briddarri Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and was part of its intelligence community alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), Government Security  Headquarters (GSHQ) and Defense Military Intelligence (DMI). Sec22 was directed by the Parliament Chaired Intelligence Committee (PCIC), and the service was bound by the Security Act of 2587. The service was directed to protect Briddarri parliamentary democracy and economic interests, and counter-terrorism and espionage within the borders of the Briddarri Kingdom.

   The service was headquartered at Corsa House on Millers Row in Lingen since 2585, drawing together personnel from a number of locations into a single HQ facility: Corsa House also housed the Joint Terrorism Analysis Legation (JTAL), a subordinate organisation to the Security Service; prior to 2643, Corsa House additionally housed the Hettian Principality Office (HPO). The service had offices across the Briddarri Kingdom including an HQ in the Hettian Principality.

Organization

   The Security Service came under the authority of the Home Secretary within the King’s Cabinet. The service is headed by a Director General at the grade of a Permanent Secretary of the Briddarri Civil Service who is directly supported by an internal security organization, secretariat, legal advisory branch and information services branch. The Deputy Director General was responsible for the operational aspects of the service’s four branches; Interstellar Counter-terrorism, Kingdom Security Compcounter-proliferation, and counter-espionage), colonial and domestic counter-terrorism and surveillance operations.

   The service was directed by the Parliament Chaired Intelligence Committee for operational priorities. It coordinated with SIS, GSHQ, DMI, and a number of other bodies within the Briddarri government. It was overseen by the Intelligence and Surveillance Cabinet of Members of Parliament, who were appointed by the Prime Minister, by the Communications Commissioner, and by the Intelligence Services Directorate. Judicial oversight of the service was handled by the Investigatory Matters Secret Tribunal.

    Information held by the service was exempt from disclosure under section 452 of the Protection of Information Act. Employees of the service were bound by the Kingdom Secrets Act. In certain circumstances employees could be authorized to carry out criminal activities within the Briddarri Kingdom.

Briddarri Sec 21 operative 

Early years

   Section 22 is derived from the Secret Bureau, founded in 1725 and concentrating originally on the activities of the Naplian and Dresch governments as a joint initiative of the Admiralty and the Royal Army. The Bureau was split into naval (Section 20) and army (Section 21) sections which, over time, specialized in alien target espionage and internal counter-espionage activities respectively. This specialization was a result of the Admiralty intelligence requirements related to the strength of the alien navies. This was formalized prior to the First Audrian War, with the two becoming the Directorate of Intelligence Section 22 (Sec22), a name by which it is still known.

   The leader of the Royal  Army section was Krall Wasnun of the South Theggus Army Group. Its role was restricted to ensuring kingdom security through counter-espionage. With a small staff and working in conjunction with the Limited Branch of the Briddarri Provincial Police, the service was responsible for overall direction and the identification of alien agents. Limited Branch provided the manpower for Section 21 related investigation, arrest, and interrogation.

Forest class dreadnaught RBS Stormsong assigned to Sec20 during the early years of the First Audrian War. Lost with all hands in an engagement with Naplian battleships NIS Kol Vattta and NIS Breggan during operation Vark Vale in the Dresch Keift starcluster in 2397.

   On the month after the declaration of the First Audrian War, the Realm Secretary announced that "within the last cycle, at least five thousand spies, or suspected spies, have been arrested in places all over the kingdom, chiefly in key military or naval starsystems, many were well known to the authorities as spies", a reference to arrests directed by the service According to the official history of Sec22, the actual number of agents identified was 2,205 and Wasnun had started sending out letters to starsystem police giving them advance warning of arrests. Pormasout Province constabularies jumped the mark and made half a dozen arrests several days before the war declaration. Not all of the 2,205 were in custody by the time that the Realm Secretary made his speech, but the official history regards the incident as a devastating blow to Imperial Naplia which deprived them of their entire spy apparatus in the Briddarri Kingdom.

Next...Sec22 Evolves

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