What is Imperial Intelligence?

[jscott991]

Hi,

I've been buying Traveller books for several years now (mostly GURPS, which I think are better written, but also some Mongoose as well) and I have been slowly constructing my own Traveller universe and storyline. This is mostly for my own amusement. I just like a few aspects of the setting.

I do have a question.

Many books refer frequently to Imperial Intelligence. When that term is thrown around, what is it referring to? Is it part of the IISS? Or the Ministry of State?

The only thing I'm sure of is that it is separate from Naval Intelligence.

Thank you again.

 

[GypsyComet]

I would take that particular term in the same way we use our modern national terms. "Imperial Intelligence" is like "American Intelligence", instead of mapping to a specific agency.

Imperial intel agencies include parts of the IISS, parts of the Navy, parts of the Ministry of Justice (don't mess with the Special Branch), and other smaller or less obvious groups.

 

[aramis]

Many books refer frequently to Imperial Intelligence. When that term is thrown around, what is it referring to? Is it part of the IISS? Or the Ministry of State?

The only thing I'm sure of is that it is separate from Naval Intelligence.

Thank you again.

A lot depends which timeframe.

From Milieu Zero, we have the following agencies having some intelligence assets:

• Imperial Naval Intelligence
• Imperial Interstellar Scout Service — officially, the Intelligence Branch thereof; unofficially, also Recon Branch and Contact Branch [later Survey and Census], often by debriefs done by IISSIB.
• Ministry of Justice: Some internal and counter-intelligence assets.
• Each Vilani Bureaux. (Their pre-unification with the 3I intelligence arms are coordinating with other agencies)
• Imperial University †
• The Loyal Association of Pages ‡
• Bureau of Interstellar Affairs (BIA) - aka "Imperial Propaganda Agency"
• Office of Calendar Compliance - In M0, it's the only agency with Imperial Law Enforcement Authority on all member worlds; they often do unofficial work in Internal Intelligence, and in counter-intelligence. They also sometimes cover other agencies' agents. Whole freaking huge 3/8 page sidebar on M0 p51.

‡ This one is kinda bizarre, IMO, so I quote the whole entry, so you can read it:

The Loyal Association of Pages: This unusual but
highly effective source of intelligence is drawn entirely from the boy and girl pages that run minor errands for Moot nobles, senior Imperial bureaucrats and military officers. Ranging from fourteen to seventeen years old, pages are drawn from high-status (SOC 10) commoner families. Most nobles consider pages to be invisible, and frequently reveal information in their presence that is of interest to the Emperor. A number of pages from particularly loyal families report directly through the intelligence apparatus of Djugashvili Lentuli of the BIA. The other pages have no suspicion of their colleagues’ activities.

In the M1116 (rebellion) to M1120 (hard times) eras, the "Imperial Research Intelligence Service" arises. Strephon did not know who they were, canonically.

Survival Margin notes the following:

However, Admiral Herzoch Stearns, Chief of Combined Imperial Intelligence from 1 097 to 11 08, ordered the exploitation of a newly discovered "wild strain" of Cymbeline chip.

It later notes that INI dominated "The Imperial intelligence apparatus..."

Dulinor's faction also adds the Imperial History Department as an analysis arm during the rebellion.

Note that in M1100, DA3: The Argon Gambit has an "Imperial Intelligence" office which has a duty desk that the public can get to. It speaks of Imperial Intelligence as if an agency all its own.

GT (M1116A) has "Imperial intelligence services" throughout.

M1000 (T20) has a reference to "Imperial Intelligence"

We get IMOJ:Special Branch as a dedicated part of Ministry of Justice in the M650 era onward. Officially, it's a "security force" for the Imperial courts. Unofficially, it's way more diverse in missions.
Bureau of Interstellar Affairs is the "official" government intelligence arm all the way through, but it's only part of BIA.
OCC, IISS:IB, IN:INI, and IMOJ:SB all have additional roles.

So, yes, there's probably a Bureau of Imperial Intelligence. It's probably got offices in every subsector. And it's probably answerable to the Director of Combined Intelligence, who, in M1100, is an Admiral, from INI.

That was a fun romp through my Traveller folder.

 

[mike wightman]

And the one Aramis omitted:

Imperial Army Intelligence, mentioned in CT Adventure 13 Signal GK.

 

[aramis]

And the one Aramis omitted:

Imperial Army Intelligence, mentioned in CT Adventure 13 Signal GK.

Yeah, missed that. More correctly, didn't think to search that term.

 

[jscott991]

Army Intelligence is also specifically mentioned in the GURPS Ground Forces book.

This is a lot of great information. It doesn't seem though that there is a consensus from the material whether an agency called "Imperial Intelligence" exists or it is just a term for a lot of different agencies.

I should have been very specific on the era. I'm mostly working with the GURPS / 1115 universe (although with a year of 1117 instead of 1120 or 1115).

 

[mike wightman]

There is one 'intelligence' agency that never gets a mention but must surely exist.

Subsector dukes - and the first among equals sector duke - must maintain some sort of intelligence gathering operation within their subsectors in order to keep tabs on the worlds under their authority, and possibly keep tabs on what their neighbouring dukes are doing. You don't get to be sector duke without being the strongest and being able to find the skeletons in your rival's closets.

It may be that Imperial Intelligence agencies report to the dukes, but I have my doubts about that.

There are also the covert agencies operated by the megacorporations...

 

[GypsyComet]

It may be that Imperial Intelligence agencies report to the dukes, but I have my doubts about that.

Don't. The reality will vary with the Duke, of course, but in most cases they are the Emperor's Hand in a region. A subsector or sector where the various Imperial Intel assets aren't reporting to the Dukes is arguably dysfunctional as an Imperial territory. Canonically Deneb has had this problem, to the point where the Navy's Noble Liaisons in Deneb are an incredibly important position.

Norris had Naval Intel contacts from his days in that field, just as one example, while the Delphine probably has the Imperial Sector Bureaucacy, which runs from Mora, shot through with "agents".

In addition, most High Nobles own or operate businesses on multiple worlds, so they are in good positions to have economic data and dirt from those worlds just as a matter of course.

 

[Timerover51]

Rule Number One: Do not assume that the various intelligence organizations talk to each other. They probably do not.

Rule Number Two: Do not assume that the accurate information is making it to the top. It probably isn't.

Rule Number Three: The boss' view is always right and accurate, even when it is not.

Rule Number Four: If you disagree with Rule Number Three, you will find yourself auditing the expenditures for the sanitary supply accounts.

 

[Condottiere]

Empire building exists in every bureaucracy, and institutions tend to compete against each other.

Considering the size of the Imperium, and communications lag, coordination would at a minimum happen at the sector level, and for internal issues, at the subsector level.

 

[Garnfellow]

CT Supplement 11, Library Data tells us that in "the latter half of the 700's high Imperial figures (the Office of the Emperor and the Intelligence Agency) became convinced that the approximately 60% of the psionics institutes within the region spinward of the Corridor sector were being financed, at least in part, by Zhodani money" (15).

In the Golden Era period, the Argon Gambit adventure specifically mentions an "Imperial Intelligence" on pages 14-18, but provides very little information about the organization. One hook in 76 Patrons states that the patron 'is an agent of the Imperial secret service' (36).

I should have been very specific on the era. I'm mostly working with the GURPS / 1115 universe (although with a year of 1117 instead of 1120 or 1115).

GURPS Traveller: Nobles describes an Intelligence division within the Ministry of State (p 65), which is probably what most people are thinking when they hear "Imperial Intelligence," that is, an Imperial-scope agency with focus on foreign intelligence. (There's also a nice write-up on the Office of Calendar Compliance on the same page.) GURPS Traveller: Rim of Fire has several references to Imperial Intelligence activities in the Solomani Rim.

GURPS Traveller: First In details the Scout Services's Intelligence Branch.

I'm pretty sure the Ministry of Justice has an investigative arm focused on domestic intelligence, but I can't find the specific reference I'm thinking of. GURPS Traveller: Far Trader mentions that the MoJ "is responsible for enforcing Imperial laws and capturing their violators – including pirates and hijackers. The MoJ collects and analyzes intelligence and conducts undercover operations to identify pirate havens, strongholds, markets and patterns of operation. Individual agents sometimes travel aboard ships they believe are vulnerable to piracy or hijacking" (123).

Far Trader also mentions that the Ministry of Commerce "enforces any trade restrictions placed on a world by the Scout Service in the interest of local culture. It also shares responsibility with both the Ministry of Justice and Naval Intelligence for preventing trade in slaves, weapons of mass destruction and certain kinds of psionic equipment" (5).

 

[Garnfellow]

Rule Number One: Do not assume that the various intelligence organizations talk to each other. They probably do not.

This is spot on. The Imperium is probably like a Le Carré fever dream of different agencies competing against each other. And the exact composition will be different in every sector. There are probably areas within the Imperium where Naval Intelligence is dominant (maybe the Marches?) and others where it is almost nonexistent or overshadowed by the Ministry of State intelligence service. The Ministry of Justice might have extensive anti-terrorism operations in the Solomani Rim, trying to hunt down SolSec-backed operations. The MegaCorps will have their own intelligence agencies like Tukera Vermene spying on other MegaCorps and Imperial research facilities, and all trying to evade Ministry of Commerce agents. Most high population worlds probably have intelligence services with at least subsector scope, and in some regions like Daibei noble families might maintain their own house service.

In my own version of 1105 Magyar, both the Imperial Ministry of State's intelligence division and Naval Intelligence are largely ineffective due to a disastrous combination of complacency -- and possibly, SolSec infiltration. Despite pleas from the subsector governments, both agencies have largely ignored reports of Confederation naval build-ups across the border. The Scout Service's Intelligence Branch has largely moved into this vacuum. The Ministry of Justice maintains active counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, and anti-corruption programs with support from Army Intelligence.

In addition to the Imperial and Solomani agencies there's a formidable Pinkerton-like private security agency that specializes in anti-labor intelligence and dirty tricks. The Dootchen Estates has a brutal secret police force that enforces the caste system.

 

[LeperColony]

Don't forget IRIS. I don't know exactly what the canonical status of it is (hopefully none), but it's at least a concept that exists.

 

[Enoki]

Rule Number One: Do not assume that the various intelligence organizations talk to each other. They probably do not.

Rule Number Two: Do not assume that the accurate information is making it to the top. It probably isn't.

Rule Number Three: The boss' view is always right and accurate, even when it is not.

Rule Number Four: If you disagree with Rule Number Three, you will find yourself auditing the expenditures for the sanitary supply accounts.

Rule Number Five: Each agency will gather information and intelligence only on those things that are important to them. Anything they come across that isn't important to them gets the "circular file."

Rule Number Six: Promotion and retirement are more important than the mission. So, never accept mission creep.

 

[aramis]

Don't forget IRIS. I don't know exactly what the canonical status of it is (hopefully none), but it's at least a concept that exists.

IRIS exists in canon. What it isn't is a legit Imperial agency. They are essentially a scam that Lucan fell for.