State Security Forces

The State Strategic Security Forces, sometimes called the Security Forces of the Republic, are an armed, uniformed civil-paramilitary service of the Galactic government, administered by the Strategic Security Department within the Ministry of State Security. While the Security Forces are technically an armed service under the administration of the SSD, the two are treated as synonymous as all employees of the SSD are conferred ranks as servicemembers of the Security Forces. The Security Forces are the chief armed paramilitary wing of the Ministry of State Security, and have been given responsibility over many areas of strategic and political interest. The forces are also referred to in popular media as the Storm Guard, referring to their motto and to a line in Maximilian's speech announcing the creation of the State Security centralized apparatus in 2670.
The Strategic Operations section of State Security can trace its lineage to a number of past organizations, amongst them the the government intelligence agencies responsible for field intelligence and special operations, particularly the Imperial Strategic Intelligence Agency, as well as the National Volunteer Force, the paramilitary wing of the National Humanist Imperial Labor Party. In the closing phases of the 2660s, during the pressures of the Great War, these government, political, and party organizations became unified under the new State Security apparatus. The Strategic Intelligence Agency was among the first sections, commanded by General William McGrady. The Security Forces continue to be under the command of McGrady, who is State Secretary for Strategic Operations. 
The Security Forces number around 34 billion service-members, of which 19 billion are combined-arms combat forces modeled in part after the Imperial Marines. The rest comprise intelligence units, support and service units, and political commissars which operate in the field. The SSF's field units operate outside of the chain of command of the astrographical combatant commanders, though they often perform joint operations with military special forces, and can go anywhere, at any time. They are a uniquely mobile combat force, primarily operating in the Occupied Territories, though every military district has at least one Security Forces army group capable of rapid reaction.
== History ==
The Strategic Security Forces and its administering department traces its origins to two main sources: the Terran Empire's foreign intelligence apparatus, and comparable and cooperating agencies in its allies; and the National Volunteer Force, the armed paramilitary wing of the National Humanist Imperial Labor Party. The main security agencies that were amalgamated to form the SSF include the Imperial Strategic Intelligence Agency, the Orion Military Intelligence Directorate, the Sagittarian State Security Service, and the Norman Imperial Directorate of Intelligence. These agencies were mainly concerned with foreign intelligence, counter-intelligence, covert operations, psychological warfare, and some direct action. They were subordinated to the new Imperial State Security Department upon its creation in November 2670, and were subsequently merged into the ISIA in 2671 as the ISSD took over all extraterritorial security matters. General William McGrady was given command over the expanded ISIA.
The NHILP commanded two security agencies: the Party Security Bureau, and the National Volunteer Force. The NVF were initially street combat associations, engaging in violent brawls and shootouts with communist "urban guerrillas" and insurrectionists, as well as breaking strikes and supporting police actions against protests and riots. The NVF expanded from a small paramilitary unit dedicated to defending the Party's headquarters offices to a large corps of over a billion street-fighters and agents organized into brigades and regiments. The NVF was composed largely of military veterans who flocked to the Nationalist program of aggressive expansion and human unification. After the 2650s, they were deputized by an imperial decree as an auxiliary militia in support of civil authorities. The NVF developed a system of ranks based on ancient Greek and Roman military titles, which was also adopted by the PSB, and later by the ISSD.
In 2670, with the creation of the consolidated State Security apparatus, the NVF was formally merged into the Imperial State Security Department as a paramilitary force subordinate to the ISIA. All NVF combatants were required to undergo military training, but received government funding, equipment, and weapons. The NVF was re-designated as the Strategic Security Force and tasked with supporting police and civil authorities, counterinsurgency operations, and supporting both military and intelligence ground operations. These supporting functions gave way to independent action late in the Great War, with General McGrady eager to prove his troops' capabilities. Starting in 2673, they undertook special operations, commando raids, and air assaults as part of joint assaults on shrike worlds; at the same time, they proved crucial in securing recently-conquered worlds so active Army and Marine divisions could be continuously redeployed on new worlds in "planet-hopping" campaigns. McGrady's chief of staff, Colonel Brian Kessar, was tasked with building up the SSF's special forces into a division-strength formation, drawing from military veterans and clandestine intelligence agents.
In April 2675, the ISSD and its component agencies dropped the "imperial" moniker from their official names, and in February 2676 the new Public Security Act hived the State Security Department off from the provisional Ministry of the Interior to form its own Ministry of State Security. The Strategic Intelligence Agency was reorganized as the Department of Strategic Security, still under the command of General McGrady. Kessar was made a Quaestor, and appointed chief of the Special Operations Directorate. Meanwhile, the Strategic Security Forces were greatly expanded to include armored warfare and airborne infantry units, organized into corps-sized task forces. These corps were modeled on the Imperial Marines as self-sufficient combined-arms formations with organic logistical support, intelligence, aviation, and command elements.
== Organization ==
The operational organization of the Security Forces is, much like the Army, built around Army Groups composed of a variable number of Comitatenses (field armies) and corps-level formations to support them. At the level of a Sector, several Army Groups are subordinated to a Consul (OF-13) for operations within that Sector, in consultation with the military commander of the region. An Army Group is commanded by a general officer of Praetor rank (OF-12), or occasionally a Legate (OF-11), containing 2 to 5 million troopers, and is responsible for an astrographical military district coincident with the Defense Forces districts. Each Comitatus is a combined arms field force led by a Legate or Prefect (OF-10), and like their field army equivalents in the Army or the Marine Field Forces are variable in size based on operational needs, though they usually are composed of two to five Corps, and typically number at half a million soldiers.
Each Corps is led by a Vice Prefect (OF-9), equivalent to a Lieutenant General, and are composed of three to five Legions as well as divisional commands for logistics and aviation, and brigade-level commands for coordinating intelligence and corps artillery. The most common kind of Corps is the Armored Strategic Security Corps, a combined-arms formation capable of independent planetary operations, usually with four maneuver legions, and can have up to 160,000 soldiers.
The tactical basis of the Security Forces is the Legion, a division-sized unit usually commanded by a Quaestor (OF-8) or occasionally a Brigadier (OF-7). Each Legion is based around a particular function, with most being of mixed air assault infantry and armored regiments, with organic artillery, logistics, and combat engineer elements. The typical size of a Combined Arms Legion is 20,000 soldiers, smaller than Army divisions but larger than Marine divisions. They are designed to be highly deployable light infantry and fast-moving light armored formations. Relatively smaller size means more legions can be brought to bear in a military operation, and deployed as a whole more rapidly; at the same time, elements from its subordinate units can be detached and used flexibly in battlegroups or task forces. This contrasts with the Army doctrine of divisions being broken up into semi-independent Brigade Combat Teams, but can be compared with the Marine combat doctrine of modular task forces.
Legions are subdivided into regiment-sized units called a Cohort. Many Security Forces cohorts continue the unit heritage of NVF paramilitary regiments, previously called a Standard in reference to the regimental standard unique to each unit. Cohorts serve specialized functions, and are commanded by a Standardier (OF-6), equivalent to a Colonel. Cohorts that are subordinated to the Corps command, separate from a Legion, or augmented to an enhanced size, might be designated as a Brigade, and are commanded by a Brigadier. Legions may have between 3,000 and 5,000 soldiers, depending on its composition.
Cohorts are composed of battalion-sized Maniples, each with between 400 and 800 soldiers depending on its mission and function, which are commanded by a Vexillarius or a Major, which are themselves made up of Centuries of 120 to 250 soldiers led by a Centurion. These have highly specialized functions within a regiment, and Centuries are composed of three to five platoons.
The smallest tactical unit commanded by an officer is the platoon, led by an Optio or a Aquilifer. Just as in the Army or Marines, platoon numbers may vary widely depending on their type. Infantry platoons, which are the most numerous, consist of fifty to sixty soldiers divided into 13-person squads plus an HQ section. Armored vehicle platoons have typically fewer soldiers, but are built around teams of armored vehicles with considerable firepower. Tank platoons comprise six tanks divided between the Platoon HQ and its four Tank squads, for instance.