Imperial Security Bureau The Imperial Security Bureau ( ISB ) , also referred to as the Security Bureau or Imperial Security , was a law enforcement and intelligence agency of the Galactic Empire that was charged with matters of state security and ensuring the loyalty of citizens to the Empire . Aside from that , it happened to be one of the many umbrella organizations under the greater Commission for the Preservation of the New Order , and was larger than its sister agency Imperial Intelligence . It was led by ISB high command . History . Early growth . The Imperial Security Bureau was formed by Galactic Emperor Palpatine himself as a secret police organization , dedicated to rooting out enemies of the New Order and maintaining stability throughout Imperial territories shortly after the proclamation of the New Order . Within fourteen years , the organization grew from a handful of agent s into an organization double the size of Imperial Intelligence . Following the Clone Wars , the agency helped oversee the dismantling of Confederate warship s and martial supplies . Concurrent loyalty purges would see vast amounts of Separatist propaganda destroyed , rescinded , and withheld . Only a handful of propaganda posters such as Ansibella Delu ' s " " escaped the purges . When Art Group agents discovered egregious violations of its artistic tenets , agents of the ISB were called in to make troublesome artist s disappear . Five years into the Emperor ' s reign , Imperial Intelligence agents found a cache of communications devices on the distant world of Murkhana and referred the case to the ISB who brought the matter to the Emperor and his Imperial Ruling Council , it was ultimately decided to send Wilhuff Tarkin and Darth Vader to investigate the cache , which was in reality set up by a small rebel cell , despite the ISB hoping to receive full oversight of the investigation from Imperial Intelligence and the Naval Intelligence Agency . Fighting the Rebellion . One of the ISB ' s top members was Agent Kallus , who worked in both the Investigation and Internal Affairs branches of the organization and searched for signs of disloyal activity or insurgency . His primary mission was to ensure it did not spread into a full - scale rebellion against the Empire . In the fifteenth year of the Empire , the Imperial Security Bureau took special interest in the Lothal - based Spectres rebel cell , whose attacks on Imperial outposts revealed risks of sedition and gave warning signs of rebellion . Kallus became a perennial foe of the Spectres before striking an unlikely friendship with the Lasat Spectre Garazeb Orrelios , which led to reconsider his allegiance to the Empire . Kallus subsequently became the rebel operative known as Fulcrum , who supplied the Phoenix Cell and Spectres with intelligence . During Nightswan ' s campaign , ISB Colonel and Clone Wars veteran Wullf Yularen took an interest in investigating the shadowy insurgent leader and pirate known as Nightswan . He was assisted by the Imperial Navy officers Thrawn and Eli Vanto , and future Lothalian Governor Arihnda Pryce . Together , they exposed Nightswan ' s Coruscant spy ring which included the Higher Skies Advocacy Group and members of the Yinchom Dojo . During the siege of the Creekpath Mining and Refining complex on Batonn , Pryce convinced Yularen to let her accompany Agent Gudry on a mission to disable the Batonn insurgents ' deflector shield generator . After Pryce killed Gudry for refusing to evacuate her parent s before Thrawn ' s assault , Pryce blew up the mine ' s explosive cache to cover up Gudry ' s murder . This led to many civilian casualties on Batonn , horrifying both Yularen and Thrawn . Later , Kallus helped the Spectres to steal Thrawn ' s TIE / D Defender blueprints from the Imperial Armory Complex on Lothal . This led Thrawn to realize that the rebels had a mole within the Imperial ranks . Thrawn began screening the local Imperial sector command for the spy with the help of Yularen . To avoid discovery , Kallus framed Lieutenant Yogar Lyste . Despite Kallus ' efforts , Thrawn realized that Kallus was the true spy but allowed him to continue operating in order to find Phoenix Squadron ' s rebel base . Thrawn subsequently tricked Kallus into exposing the location of Chopper Base by disclosing information about the Rebel Alliance ' s plans to attack the Imperial Armory Complex . However , Kallus managed to escape during the Battle of Atollon and officially joined the Alliance . After Senator Mon Mothma resigned from the Imperial Senate and condemned Palpatine for his actions during the Ghorman Massacre , the ISB issued an alert for Mothma in an attempt to capture her . ISB agents also visited Cantham House on Coruscant , the meeting place of the Cantham House meetings , based on suspicions they had , and questioned Leia Organa and several others there . Another ISB agent was loyalty officer Sinjir Rath Velus , who was recruited by ISB officer Sid Uddra . After a brutal period of training on the ocean world of Virkoi , Velus personally interrogated the traitorous Imperial Navy officer Lieutenant Alster Grove , who was part of a cabal that sought to assassinate Darth Vader . Velus interrogated Grove , who revealed his fellow conspirators . While Vader executed the other conspirators , Uddra threw Grove to his death in Virkoi ' s oceans . Galactic Civil War . Following the destruction of the first Death Star , the ISB engaged in an increasing number of operations to root out the growing rebellion , and became busier than at any previous time in its history . These operations included a plan to sway mathematical genius Drusil Bephorin to the Empire ' s cause by keeping her in a sort of luxurious imprisonment on Denon . Project Hidden Eye was aimed at seeding sleeper operative s across the galaxy to spread propaganda and secretly report on citizens . The project , however , was cut short due to the intervention of Commander Luke Skywalker , a hero of the Rebel Alliance . Post - Endor fragmentation . As with most other governmental agencies following the Empire ' s defeat at the Battle of Endor , the ISB was left scattered as the New Republic attacked distant ISB outposts and fermented dissent . Twenty days after the Battle of Endor , the ISB kept information on the Emperor ' s posthumous contingency plan on one of its Black Sites , the Wretch of Tayron . However , the base was taken by Rebel Alliance General Han Solo and his elite Pathfinders . The base commander was unable to initiate a data purge and the Alliance was able to attain information on , thwarting attempts at its implementation for over three months . In the months following Endor , the ISB was given full oversight over the security of the Imperial throneworld , Coruscant , after the Imperial Navy refused to provide ships to defend the planet , with Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax viewing it as a symbol of indolence and torpidity . As such , control of Imperial forces was left to the Empire ' s chief administrator , Grand Vizier Mas Amedda . While the ISB lacked the ships to effectively withstand a New Republic naval assault , ISB - loyal stormtrooper s and personnel were deeply entrenched on the surface of the planet , which was already involved in a civil war between the ISB and New Republic - backed resistance movements . Velus joined a team of Imperial hunter s led by the New Republic starfighter pilot Norra Wexley after defecting to the New Republic . After losing his family during a New Republic attack on the Hyborean Moon , Romwell Krass Junior abandoned his post and traveled the galaxy to grieve the loss of his loved ones . During the Battle of Jakku , Commander Brisney served as the ISB officer aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer " Inflictor " . Legacy . By 28 ABY , the Imperial Security Bureau had ceased to exist along with the " Old Empire " . One former ISB officer was Arliz Hadrassian , a small - time businesswoman who was the leader of the Amaxine warriors ; a paramilitary faction that served as a front group for the First Order , a remnant of the Old Empire based in the Unknown Regions . During a meeting with the Centrist senator Ransolm Casterfo , Hadrassian spent hours regaling the young senator with stories about her career in the Imperial Military and the ISB ; unaware that he was part of Senator Leia Organa ' s investigation into the Amaxine warriors . Organization . Command hierarchy and administration . The Imperial Security Bureau was a sister agency and rival to Imperial Intelligence . The ISB worked closely with Emperor Palpatine , being led five years into his reign by a Bureau Chief under which served Deputy Director Harus Ison and Colonel Yularen , who often operated in conjunction with the Joint Chiefs . ISB was sometimes attached to various fleet s , sometimes falling under the command of the Navy and working alongside Naval intelligence . Members of the ISB worked from the ISB Central Office as part of the Federal District on Coruscant , while agents in the field would constantly provide intelligence updates to headquarters . The ISB high command governed the ISB . Many military officers feared the group and its power . Personnel . Prospective ISB personnel were drawn from the Imperial Academy system , and given training within the ISB Academy and Offices complex , located within the Verity District on Coruscant . Members went through a training regimen which included the learning of xenophobic propaganda , and were taught from the " ISB Loyalty Manual " . Members of the ISB were taught a specialized vocabulary to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations . The term " auditing " was used to signal that suspects knew they were being investigated . The practice of provoking a suspect to commit a crime was referred to as " crustbusting , " and interrogating a supposed innocent in hopes he or she would react suspiciously was known as " scattering . " Framing a wanted suspect for a crime to make sure he or she would be arrested was referred to as " Jabba . " Following completion of the Academy , recruits filed into one of several branches of the organization , such as Surveillance , Interrogation , and Re - Education . High - ranking ISB agents could command stormtrooper squad s , override orders of civilian and military authorities , replace questionable officers and commandeer Imperial military hardware , including Star Destroyer s . Loyalty officers of the ISB were tasked with ensuring that regular troop s and officers obeyed orders and conformed to Imperial ideology , and were regarded with great fear and respect . Impromptu inspections , undercover surveillance and seemingly limitless authority gave such officers unprecedented access to the lives of regular servicemen , creating a culture of fear to deter any tenuous links within the chain of command . Surveillance . Operatives in the Surveillance branch were by far the most numerous , with its members focused on deciphering encrypted information and analyzing data to screen for potential threats against the New Order . Interrogation . Interrogation was the second largest branch in the ISB , and was intent on extracting information from various lifeforms to obtain valuable information . It claimed to have a 95 percent success rate in recovering useful data from questioned subjects . To that end , the ISB notably used IT - O Interrogation Unit s developed by the Imperial Department of Military Research . Re - Education . The Re - Education division was focused on what some would call ' brain washing ' its subjects into supporting the Galactic Empire and its actions across the galaxy . Project Unity consisted of re - educating elements of society resistant to the New Order through a process of psychological manipulation and pharmaceutical conditioning . Enforcement . The Enforcement branch of the ISB served as backup for agents in the field , specially trained to provide support when necessary . Investigation . Those in Investigation used previously collected data to suppress rebel activity . Internal Affairs . The Internal Affairs division maintained order by investigating possible instances of insubordination within the Empire , with Yularen briefly heading a division dedicated to exposing sedition within the Imperial Senate before becoming Deputy Director of the Naval Intelligence Agency . In addition , a single Internal Affairs officer was stationed aboard all Star Destroyers to investigate any signs of sedition among the crew . Special Operations . The Special Operations division was responsible for varying tasks within the Bureau , such as establishing Project Hidden Eye during the Galactic Civil War . Behind the scenes . During the early development of what became " " , John Knoll ' s original story draft , which was planned to be an episode of the ultimately unproduced " " live - action TV show , depicted the character of Orson Callan Krennic as a double agent in Jyn Erso ' s Rogue One team reporting them to the Imperial Security Bureau , specifically to Willix Cree , his boss and an important member of the agency . The idea , however , was cut when writer Gary Whitta rewrote Knoll ' s treatment .