Armand Isard

### Occupation

• Director of Republic Intelligence• Director of the Senate Bureau of Intelligence

## Summary

As both the Director of Republic Intelligence and the Director of the Senate Bureau of Intelligence, Armand Isard served the Galactic Republic, and he later served as the Director of Imperial Intelligence for the Galactic Empire, the successor regime to the Republic. As an agent within the Senate Bureau of Intelligence, Isard worked his way up the ranks, doing sterling work for the Republic, and eventually becoming a close ally of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Isard served as a member of Palpatine's Security and Intelligence Council during the Clone Wars, a conflict between the Republic and the breakaway Confederacy of Independent Systems.

## History

**Intelligence reforms and the Separatist Crisis**

Armand Isard was born during the late years of the Galactic Republic, and rose through the ranks of the Republic's Office of Analysis. Isard also had a brother, but he was killed in 44 BBY during the Star Hyperspace War. As an associate of Senator Palpatine of Naboo, Isard worked behind the scenes with Palpatine's aides Kinman Doriana, Janus Greejatus, and Sate Pestage to plant incriminating evidence against Palpatine's rivals shortly before Palpatine was elected Supreme Chancellor 32 BBY. Around 30 BBY, ISard became the father of Ysanne isard. Isard held the positions of Director-General of the Senate Bureau of Intelligence and Director of Republic Intelligence by the time of the Separatist Crisis. In the months leading up to the Clone Wars, he created a Crisis Branch for the SBI, an act that had not been seen in 60 years. Isard fired the 32 Mid Rim subdirectors of SBI during this reform, claiming they were corrupt. According to Isard's detractors, these reforms would only give more power to Palpatine, an assumption that would later prove accurate. In response to the rallies in the area in support of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a separatist coalition of worlds seeking to secede from the Republic, Isard shut down the Sluis sector HoloNet node. As Isard told HoloNet Regional, "This is not about freedom of speech. HoloNet is a Republic asset, and Sluis has left the Republic. We have the right to shut down their network in times of crisis."

**Clone wars**

As a result of the Battle of Geonosis, open war broke out between the Republic and the Confederacy, and Isard became a member of Palpatine's most trusted advisors, the Security and Intelligence Council. When the Confederates began transmitting propaganda along conventional Republic communications lines, Isard decided it was time to act. A new Intelligence Committee was created, called the Cryptanalysis Department, which was responsible for protecting the Republic HoloNet channels. As a result of the Committee's efforts, the Republic's media will be free of CIS propaganda and viruses. For the new Committee, Isard employed unusual recruiting methods: heads of departments would be drawn from the ranks of the SBI, and slicers would be recruited from the general population. A unique encrypted recruitment guide was transmitted to applicants, which they decrypted to pursue the job further. As the war raged, Isard devised the shadow trooper, a new type of clone commando that would be used in covert operations. As ARC troopers became fewer and fewer, they were used to replace them. In addition to wearing Phase II armor, these troopers would operate in a solitary manner, paving the way for later storm commandos and shadow stormtroopers. order to compete with the Techno Union in the arms race, Isard appointed Baron Orman Tagge, head of TaggeCo, to a position at the SBI Analysis Bureau in order to counter Dooku's technological advantages. As a result of their lack of political rights, unrest developed among the JanFathal population. Nevertheless, Isard believed that democratic change would not begin until the end of the war, because the Republic needed JanFathal. In response, Palpatine told Isard that the codes should be changed more frequently after the Confederacy broke Republic communications codes around JanFathal. In 20 BBY, the planet Duro fell to the forces of the Kaleesh General Grievous. As Duro was relatively close to the Republic capital, this caused widespread panic. A press conference was held by Isard to reassure citizens that there was nothing to worry about, and that core world security would be enhanced. Isard insisted that this had nothing to do with any tip-offs SBI may have hypothetically received about an attack on Coruscant. Isard assigned Terrinald Screed direct control of Coruscant's garrison. Isard had to collect information from unorthodox sources when the Muun Pors Tonith attacked Praesitlyn, home to the Intergalactic Communications Center. Isard gained intelligence on the attack from Captain Zozridor Slayke, a former pirate, much to the chagrin of his colleagues. Isard planned to resolve the Praesitlyn crisis with Palpatine, Shayla Paige-Tarkin, Mas Amedda, Jannie Ha'Nook, Sly Moore and Sate Pestage. Nejaa Halcyon and Anakin Skywalker received all the necessary information from the SBI, resulting in a successful operation. During 19.5 BBY, Kishi, in the Westport district of Coruscant, was the victim of what Isard perceived to be a terrorist attack. Stone mites controlled by the Separatists overran the locale, which had been transported to the capital on the freighter Spinner. Isard created mutant stone mites in response to the supposed Confederate attack, while his agents discovered Orleon was the Spinner's last port of call. Believing Orleon to be the location of the Confederate bio-labs in which Doctor Jenna Zan Arbor was breeding the stone mites, he had his own batch of the creatures deployed on the planet. Palpatine often invited Isard to his conferences, even those with the Jedi Council. Despite strict instructions from Palpatine, Isard was always under strict orders not to reveal everything to others in the room. During the coming Imperialization of the galaxy, Isard received some respect from Palpatine as a result of his loyalty. At the end of the Clone Wars, Isard began to view the Jedi Order with suspicion. When a team of Jedi investigated Senate sessions and explored sub-levels around 500 Republica, the home of most of the Senate, Isard resented the intrusion and began to see the Order with suspicion. As the Jedi conducted their investigation, the cyborg General Grievous, the Confederacy's Supreme Commander, suddenly attacked Coruscant. Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi rescued Chancellor Palpatine from Grievous' flagship during the chaos. As Grievous' forces retreated shortly after Palpatine's capture, Isard was irritated by Palpatine's apparent lack of concern for his safety, as the elderly Human arrived at the Senate Annex in a speeder bus accompanied by only two guards. In agreement with the Chancellor, Isard personally monitored the actions of the senators who welcomed Palpatine when he disembarked the speeder bus. As soon as the assistant director of the SBI informed Isard, several senators associated with the Delegation of 2000, an opposition movement to Palpatine's executive power, were meeting clandestinely in a berth below where Palpatine had disembarked, with two pilots from a YT-1300 light freighter. J'oopi Shé, a Jedi Master from the Order's Technical division, was present with the senators, which raised Isard's suspicions, especially in light of the Jedi activities prior to the Battle of Coruscant, as the group accepted a carry case from the two pilots. As it turned out, the YT-1300 had entered Coruscant airspace as an emergency vehicle and had obtained a stolen authorization code to reach the Senate Annex. The meeting was already being monitored, so Isard ordered shock troopers to disrupt it under pretexts of arrests or dispersals. As soon as the troopers had done that, however, all three senators had absented themselves, including Largetto, Fang Zar, and Des'sein. Isard attempted to coordinate a pursuit, but the freighter escaped despite Isard's efforts.