National Intelligence Agency

Seal of the National Intelligence Agency

NIA Director, Samuel "Security Sam" Censorton

The **National Intelligence Agency** (**NIA**), formerly known as the Nechano Infrastructure Agency, is a United Confederation Central Government agency responsible for the internal security, intelligence-gathering, and counter-intelligence operations of the United Confederation Armed Forces. Unofficially, it carries out many functions of a secret-police and has been responsible for both law enforcement activities and the suppression of political dissent within the United Confederation.

Domestically, the agency has become synonymous with unannounced raids of private residences and other buildings conducted by SWAT-like teams for the purposes of searching for contraband (such as books and media unapproved of by the Confederation government) or carrying out arrests of suspected criminals and "enemies of Confederation." Extrajudicial arrests and imprisonment conducted by the NIA, particularly of political dissidents associated with the Tigan Union or Rebel Factions, have been extensively documented. Often those arrested by the NIA are prosecuted in a separate court system from regular offenders (operated by the NIA itself) and granted fewer or different protections than those listed in the United Confederation Constitution. Many are given exorbitant fines for small offenses in defiance of the government, lengthy prison sentences for criminal activities, or are unwillingly sent to re-education and forced-labor camps for "seditious activities."

Abroad, the NIA is regarded with both respect and fear by many foreign powers as it conducts large scale espionage and intelligence-gathering activities, including the collection of both HUMINT and SIGINT. Additionally, the NIA has participated and interfered, both overtly and covertly, in the replacement of numerous foreign governments through funding and arming rebel factions or opposition groups and through rigging or influencing foreign elections.

## Organizational Structure

The NIA is classified as a branch of the military, and is under the authority of the Department of Security (DoS) along with other divisions of the armed forces such as the U.C. Army, Air Force, and Navy. However, despite this arrangement the NIA exercises significant independence from the Department of Security, and the DoS is often described as being subordinate to the NIA, rather than the other way around. The NIA is often considered to be outside the jurisdiction of the United Confederation Constitution, as it has often shown flagrant disregard for the separation of powers, constitutional rights, and (in some cases) democratic elections established and protected by the document.

The NIA is led by a Director appointed by the President, and is divided into numerous administrative subdivisions tasked with different aspects of its operations. Known subdivisions include:

### Directorate of Public Safety

The department responsible for law enforcement and policing operations, as well as operating re-education camps and prisons euphemistically referred to by the NIA as "Learning Centers" or "Joycamps."

### Directorate of Signals Intelligence (SIGINT)

The department responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for foreign and domestic intelligence and counterintelligence purposes. Characterized as conducting Mass Surveillance of the Confederate public.

### Directorate of Human Intelligence (HUMINT)

Responsible for collecting foreign intelligence, and for covert action.

## History

### **Nechano Infrastructure Agency** (1942–1955)

The NIA was originally founded in 1942 as the "Nechano Infrastructure Agency" in an attempt to disguise the intelligence agency as a State Government department tasked with managing the public roadways and infrastructure of Nechano. The agency frequently used this designation as cover when conducting espionage and counter-intelligence operations for the Central Government.

### **Confederation-Minebloxian War** (1955–1975)

At the onset of the Confederation-Minebloxian War, the Nechano Infrastructure Agency was exposed as a front for Confederation espionage and the agency was officially renamed to the National Intelligence Agency and made a Central agency under the authority of the Department of Security. Prior to the war, the NIA's intelligence predicted potential civil unrest in Minebloxia and successfully identified several rebel groups which would go on to organize against Confederate rule, such as the Minebloxian Liberation Army, the Socialist Party of Minebloxia (MineSoc), and the Ecological Freedom Front. However, entrenched business interests in Minebloxia slowed any action to crack down on Minebloxian dissident movements, something cited by Security Sam as an example of why a strong police state in the Confederation was needed to replace the current oligarchical quasi-democratic form of government.

During the Confederation-Minebloxian War, the NIA was very active in not only collecting intelligence on the insurrectionist factions which seized control of cities throughout Minebloxia, but also in conducting covert activities against rebels through teams of "Black Ops" who would sometimes utilize tactics too unsavory for public use by the Confederation military.

### **Cold War with the Tigan Union** (1975–2001)

During the Cold War, the NIA served as the main instrument of combating the Tigan Union geopolitically and suppressing perceived communist sentiments and actors domestically.

### **Security Sam Era** (2001–present)

During the 2001 Confederation Coup d'État, the NIA played a significant role in installing Security Sam as the President and Supreme Leader of the United Confederation.

## Controversies

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Main Article: List of NIA controversies

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Throughout its history, the NIA has been the subject of many controversies, both at home and abroad.