Exactly how many intelligence agencies does the Empire have? It seems there are a lot of them. I wonder if each of those agencies has its own role and specializations in the grand scheme of things.
BTW, does the Empire has an agency specialized in codecracking?
Not all that many, actually. Strictly speaking, there’s just Admiralty Intelligence (the military intelligence function that benefits from having military minds doing the job; they know what to look for and what’s important in military terms) and Imperial State Security (whose five four directorates cover all other intelligence needs).
If one were to really stretch a point one might add the Office of Investigation and Pursuit to that, but that’s like calling the FBI[1], say, an intelligence agency because they perform infiltration and investigation of organized crime. It’s a very different sort of work.
As for specializations, Admiralty Intelligence aside, while the Directorates may all be part of the same organization, they do specialize. First Directorate is counterespionage and (post 1513) counterasymmetrism[2]. Second Directorate (“ExSec”) does forward intelligence: if agents are out there doing espionage, infiltration, reconnaissance, preemption, assassination, and sabotage, they’re probably from Two. Third Directorate (“IntSec”) is intelligence security, protecting the rest of ISS from infiltration and other threats. And Fourth Directorate is internal security and surveillance.
And then there’s the Fifth Directorate. Which doesn’t exist. If it did exist, it might be a special directorate which handles existential threats and lesser apocalypses under conditions of extreme secrecy and exigent ethics.
But it doesn’t. Of this we are assured.
Not a whole agency. They prefer to organize by function rather than by capability, and codebreaking is a function that every part of ISS is likely to need from time to time. There’s a cross-Directorate Cryptanalysis PWG[3] where most of the crypto boys are, but it’s all part of the same organization.
This isn’t the greatest example because the FBI do handle counterterrorism and counterespionage, which in the Empire aren’t OIP’s responsibility. They belong to First and Third Directorate. ↩︎
Counterterrorism, sort of. Their mandate goes beyond terrorism to include all forms of asymmetric warfare, even the ones no-one’s thought of yet. ↩︎
Primary working group. What the field agents call agent cells, the proxy adhoc calls working groups. ↩︎
Thank you kindly for a detailed and comprehensive answer 
Interesting. Wondering how the works and purview of the First Directorate differ from the Fourth.
The Fifth Directorate handles “lesser” apocalypses. It makes me wonder which agency is responsible for “greater” apocalypse. Perhaps it falls under ambit of the Black Fleet?
I suppose the Imperial intellignece agencies will handle signal intellignece in a similar fashion. Does the Empire have the NSA-equivalent?
Have thought the Black Chamber can be counted as one of agencies of the Empire. It seems I’ve been wrong.
How many “themes” the Repository of All Knowledge has under its remit?
has→have. It seems the message cannot be edited once it has been replied 
I think the proper parsing of the phrase
is that it handles existential threats (which are the largest possible apocalypses) and other apocalypses lesser than existential threats.
But there’s room for ambiguity.
It’s a question of focus. Fourth Directorate is mostly preventative, and inward-focused. They do a lot of routine but necessary work in areas like infrastructure security, for example, and preventing passive (such as SIGINT and IMINT) espionage, but they also keep an eye out for subversion and sedition, and other internal threats that have sneaked past the outer lines of defense. This makes them reactive, for the most part.
First Directorate, on the other hand, leans outward to intercept and deal with foreign active espionage (i.e., spies, saboteurs, assassins, etc.) and asymmetric threats (terrorism et. al.) well before they get that close.
It’s rolled into the Directorates: as I said, they prefer to organize by their role in the overall intelligence picture rather than by their methods, so it’s handled by more cross-Directorate PWGs like the Passive Observation PWG.
It’s a little confusing because there are two unrelated groups which both call themselves the Black Chamber. The senior existential threats people inside the Fifth Directorate, who are part of an agency if not one in their own right, and Special Acquisitions over at the Repository, who aren’t.
(Since neither Fifth Directorate nor Special Acquisitions likes to be examined too closely, they’re both quite comfortable with the confusion this causes. )
The big themata are Acquisitions (collecting new information and artifacts), Aesthetic (specializing in art), Archivist (collation and preservation of the collection), Athenaeum (responsible for their facilities), Censorious (protectors of intrinsically dangerous informationÂą), Curatorial (librarians, curators - basically the people who run all the libraries, museums, and galleries under their aegis), and Decryptic (responsible for research and theory).
Smaller ones come and go over the ages, but these are the ones that stuck around.
This doesn’t mean censorship as we know it, to be clear. It means imprisoning hideously dangerous information-life that will pwn your brain and wear you around like a finger-puppet if you accidentally comprehend it.
The closest to censorship as practiced on Earth is done by the Archivists, who decide what gets placed in the Library of Lies, which placement doesn’t stop anyone from reading it. It just slaps a big label on it to the effect of “this is both STUPID and DANGEROUSLY WRONG, and if you believe it, YOU WILL BE TOO”.
I think the proper parsing of the phrase is that it handles existential threats (which are the largest possible apocalypses) and other apocalypses lesser than existential threats.
But there’s room for ambiguity.
Thank you for correction! Had thought existential threats include all types and degrees of possible apocalypses, but I think your parsing is the correct one.
It’s a question of focus. Fourth Directorate is mostly preventative, and inward-focused. They do a lot of routine but necessary work in areas like infrastructure security, for example, and preventing passive (such as SIGINT and IMINT) espionage, but they also keep an eye out for subversion and sedition, and other internal threats that have sneaked past the outer lines of defense. This makes them reactive, for the most part.
First Directorate, on the other hand, leans outward to intercept and deal with foreign active espionage (i.e., spies, saboteurs, assassins, etc.) and asymmetric threats (terrorism et. al.) well before they get that close.
Thank you so much for satisfying my curiosity. Your polity is so fascinating and well-structured.
Wondering if there’s any standard equipment used by the Fifth Directorate. To face existential threats, they must be well-armed and well-prepared. Could they call upon the Black Fleet in a pinch? Though it will probably be an overkill. May you please explain relationship between the Fifth Directorate and the Black Fleet?
Are there any organizations that ISS considers competitors? OPSEC, perhaps?
How the Admiralty Intelligence relates with the Startarchy? There might be some overlaps with their portfolios.
It’s rolled into the Directorates: as I said, they prefer to organize by their role in the overall intelligence picture rather than by their methods, so it’s handled by more cross-Directorate PWGs like the Passive Observation PWG.
Thank you for clarification!
It’s a little confusing because there are two unrelated groups which both call themselves the Black Chamber. The senior existential threats people inside the Fifth Directorate, who are part of an agency if not one in their own right, and Special Acquisitions over at the Repository, who aren’t.
(Since neither Fifth Directorate nor Special Acquisitions likes to be examined too closely, they’re both quite comfortable with the confusion this causes.
How lovely. Are the Acqusitions and Special Aquisitions distinct agencies? Or is the latter under the jurisdiction of the former?
What exactly is the Imperial Hand, if they aren’t included in the Imperial agency apparatus?
The big themata are Acquisitions (collecting new information and artifacts), Aesthetic (specializing in art), Archivist (collation and preservation of the collection), Athenaeum (responsible for their facilities), Censorious (protectors of intrinsically dangerous informationÂą), Curatorial (librarians, curators - basically the people who run all the libraries, museums, and galleries under their aegis), and Decryptic (responsible for research and theory).
Smaller ones come and go over the ages, but these are the ones that stuck around.
That is truly awesome! Curious to know how the Censorious performs their jobs if their “games” are so dangerous. Don’t they need military-grade equipment and training at the bare minimum?
Are all themata and their agents unarmed?
If you don’t mind, may you please provide some examples of research and theories of the Decryptic? What is their role in the grand scheme of things?