Has anyone ever run any games that revolve around the intelligence agencies of the sixth world, either as agents or protagonists? Wondering 'cause it just seemed an area of the world thats never been looked at, and I just finished a couple books by Robert Littell - The Company and Walking Back the Cat - that I really enjoyed and that are a dramatised/film version of intelligence operations that seem in setting with Shadowrun.

Edit: I know it was mentioned as a popssible ages back, but do we have any more idea if organisations like the CIA might be getting a mention in Loose Alliances? Hhmm, time to go bug Adam I think.

The whole spy genre and Cold War thing is very interesting to me. Back when I used to game a lot more often, espionage was often part of the plotline, be it national or corporate. I don't really know if the whole global intelligence community thing has been tapped into as far as canon material goes (that is, beyond Jon Szeto's "One Nation Under God" chapter in Threats 2, which I thought was a pretty cool idea [Thanks, P!]). Honestly, I haven't bought a Shadowrun book in many a moon.

I have been toying with the idea of putting some material together for another website along these lines and I'd be very interested in other people's ideas about this sort of thing. I certainly have my own. However, being that I really don't rely all that much on canon material for plotlines, I'm at a bit of a disadvantage as far as canon world politics go (except for the very broad strokes laid out in the main book), and that kind of thing is very necessary for coming up with the minutae involved with corporate/political espionage material.

Anyway, it's just my kind of thing. If there's work on this in progress, I'm very interested. If not, I'd like to be involved with getting it going.

I second that. Spy's and espionage are my thing. I came up with a story line I never got to run about an Elven Agency working out of the Tir. Basically they were Navy Seals but they worked for the civilian govt. I really wanted to run the team but alas, no one wanted to play. I would be very interested in putting together something like "Intelligence Agency's of the 6th world". The same as Raygun I don't get my stories from Canon, so anything we came up with would need to be based on real-world +60 years.

Any thoughts on how to put this together?

The very first adventure I wrote and played, to test Shadowrun rules, didn't involve any intelligence agency. That was the last to do so

For me, except when they hired for a very personal or local interest, shadowrunners are doing work, be it daa gathering or black ops, that should fall to intelligence services, which implies a relationship.

As for canon material, Shadown of North America has quite a few things concerning the CAS intelligence agencies and the Sioux OMI. There are passing mention of the UCAS agencies (implying that at least most of the acronyms, CIA, NSA, NRO, DIA, stayed around) and of the Tir Tainrgire Information Secretariat (but maybe that one was more developped in Tir Tainrgire SB). Target: Awakened Lands also spent some lines to describe the situation of its intelligence apparatus, the ASIO and the ASIS becoming the AISE. In Germany, there is the German BIS (a description a bit too munchkin if you ask me) and MET2000's Argus. I guess the London SB also have something about British services. The Mossad have been on the stage with Ibn Eisa and Aden in the recent book. A very long time ago, Seattle Guide indicated the CFS Intelligence Service was acting in Seattle under the guise of Dadson Entertainment, but that the IS was globally only a smokescreen for the Japanese (a thing that probably changed since...).

On the corporate side, there is Shiawase MIFD and CATCo's Seraphim for the big names. S-K Prime seems to be handling the intelligence duties for Saeder-Krupp IIRC Target: Matrix. Ares has Knight Errant "intelligence and recon batallions" (YotC) but also have AreSpace maintaining UCAS spysats, so I guess there must be a centralizing structure somewhere. Yamatetsu has the Yamatetsu Naval Intelligence, a name appearing in report in Target: Wastelands, probably depending from Yamatetsu Naval Technologies. With CD, it's not clear if Aztechnology Corporate Security maintain intelligence activities and which sort, and what is the role of the "Aztechnology Management Information System". Maybe the Aztlan SB says more. The Lone Star might also have interesting intelligence capacities since the privatization of the DEA.

I did write a bit about various intelligence agencies on my website, but never bothered to translate it into English (quite fortunately because at that time I was doing poor translation... not sure it changed still). Well, I realize most of what's on my website is related to intelligence activities anyway...

EDIT: concerning Loose Alliances, my understanding of its pitch is that it will only concerns 'independent' organizations, which, in theory, intelligence agencies are not.

I believ the CyberPirates SB has some stuff on Interpol, and some stuff on how they still interact with government agencies. I believe Interpol is almost broke. So they spend most of their time and resource on smuggling, and try to stay in goo gfavor of the UCAS, CAS and a fe others in hopes to get some funding from them.

Since Corporate Download indicated that Saeder-Krupp was keeping Interpol alive and functionning, which remove much of the need for favor if the organization really need something. An interesting unanswered point is, how S-K control is achieved ? Maybe Interpol changed its status (it wouldn't be the first time) to accept extraterritorial corps. Or rather, extraterritorial corps changed Interpol status, since they have much to gain from access to criminals identification for their own security.

BTW the same part of CD says Lofwyr has connections inside most of the European states' intelligence agencies.

If rumours are right ans S-K has control of Europes Matrix network and "hears" all that is said, why not have members inside most governments in the world? It'd be quite easier to do it than to process and clean everything that is said through the Matrix (phone calls, faxes, mails, ...) in one whole continent.

Tzeentch has a couple of files on Intelligence in Shadowrun.

Aztlan describes Aztechnology intelligence briefly, describing its massive SIGINT capability (second only to the Vatican) and so forth. There's also a reference to a UCAS intelligence activity called Consular Operations (ConsOps) that I don't recall ever seeing after that book. But then again, Just Compensation had a reference to the "DSA," which in hindsight was probably just a typo (Yeah, how dare I).

Back in the old Seattle SB the FBI and NSA were referred to frequently as being not so much interested in doing their stated missions (i.e., foreign counterintelligence for the FBI, foreign SIGINT for the NSA) but keeping an eye on Seattle (along with the CIA, but it gets almost no reference compared to those two). Liekwise it also mentioned a very extensive Mitsuhama intelligence program in the Seattle region along with Aztechnology.

I've been intererested in intelligence for years, but I've never bothered doing anything with in for SR. Besides, after having a couple bosses, lecturers or acqauintance who worked in the Community, it kind of lost its glamour. That and the idea about writing about something where the vast majority of the employees sit in an office building sifting through raw information to write PDBs sounds boring as hell. Ooh, CIA Special Activities operatives... treat as shadowrunners or SpecFor. Oh, Clandestine Service... Johnsons, runners. NOCs... runners. Political intrigue and bureacratic turf wars would be one of the few things that would actually distinguish them from what SR is already all about IMO.

Well since this seems to be turning into something, I'll have a dig through the old London sourcebook and a couple real life resoucres for UK related intelligence agencies and the like.

Excellent! I think those are terrific guidelines. The next question is, should we stay in this thread or create on in projects? I think it would be easier to find in projects, then we can start posting what we know about what agencies.

For the UCAS, the NSA has had a couple brief mentions in the sourcebooks and one of the novels refers to them as well IIRC. The novel 'Just Compensation' also mentions a military agency called the DSA that sounded decidedly like the Defense Intelligence Agency.

It also mentions a CAS groups caled the SIA - no elaboration on what it means I could see from a quick scan - and a military group called the Ferrets that seem to be an upgunned version of Marine Recon for covert actions. Of course, since novels are only really canon storyline-wise how official the DSA/SIA/Ferrets are is up in the air.

From what I can recall without searching my books,

CIA: Seattle Guide, Target: UCAS, SoNA, Threats 2 and probably many other. Target: UCAS is interesting as it mentions in the profile of Gen. Steven Coe Bowling, a member of the Scott Commission and former DCI that the CIA conducted clandestine ops against the Sioux and the Pueblo without approval from the White House in the early 2040ies.
NSA: Seattle Guide, SoNA.
NRO: SoNA (the book only mentions UCAS agencies' acronyms in the CAS chapter to say they still exist while the CAS created a new organization)
DIA: SoNA (idem)
FBI: many references, from the top of my head Seattle Guide, Target: Matrix, ...

DSI: CAS' Department of Strategic Intelligence (CIA+NSA+DIA+NRO+...), introduced in SoNA. It get half a page of that book.
DDI: CAS' Department of Domestic Investigation (FBI+DEA+ATF+USSS+...), idem
ERLA: CAS' Extraterritoriality Registration & Liaison Agency. Depends from the CAS Bureau of Commerce and in charge of watching/spying megacorps.

Mossad: YotC (Ibn Eisa), DSW (Aden)
OMI: Sioux Office of Military Intelligence, SoNA and a novel IIRC. Like the CAS' agencies, RTFSoNA.
Information Secretariat of the Tir. SoNA and probably Tir Tairngire SB. Note that Prince Jonathon Reed is "Director of Operations".
BIS: "Bundesamt für die Innere Sicherheit" (Federal Office for Home Security, right ?), in Germany SB

Yamatetsu Naval Intelligence: Target: Wastelands (riptides)
MIFD: Shiawase' Market Information and Forecast Department. Corporate Download and Target: Matrix gives enough.
Seraphim: Cross personal espionage network. PoaD, Blood in the Boardroom, Corporate Download, SoNA-Québec.
Argus: MET2000 intelligence apparatus, in Germany SB.

There's also a mention of the CFS' intelligence service in Seattle Guide (comments abpout Dadson Entertainment, in Everett IIRC) but I don't remember if it's the intelligence service or the Intelligence Service with a proper capitalization of an official name.

The only canon reference for the UK are the Field Operatives of the Lord Protector's Office, known as the Templars. The Lord Protector's Office basically regulates all official magicians and magic in the UK through their Licensing Bureau, and the Templars mandate is to take care of illegal magical acts that threaten the national security - a fairly wide remit at times. They're also the Lord Protector's black bag squad but that's the unofficial side of them.

I'll have a trawl through a few sources and put up some real life ones tomorrow night.

Awesome. Here's what I've got so far. This is just basic information tacking the agency name to its nation/corporation. If there's something you don't see listed, feel free to speak up. Again, this is just a compilation of agency names. We'll get around to adding more in time. For now, there are some blanks that need to be filled in. Considering that I run on a minimum of SR books, I can't look up this info myself, if it is available. So I either need the info from you guys or wee need to discuss things like HQ location and Area of Responsibility, what AISE stands for, etc...

Should novel material be considered canon? I say no, but I'm interested in the consensus on DSA and SIA, both UCAS agencies, correct?

I'll try to update every day. Hopefully I can keep up with you guys.

As far as I know, all novel material is considered canon with, I believe, one exception, but I can't recall which (Terminus Experiment?).

AISE stands for the Australian Intelligence and Security Enforcement, pronounced ace, agency. Was created in 2031 when the Federal Police and the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation merged together. Their job basically covers any and all issues affecting national security, so they can get around a bit. Also, since they're a federal agency that means they technically have jurisdiction over all city and state agencies. This means they can pull rank on Lone Star and Knight Errant if they want, so relations are fairly cool. Seem to recruit heavily from ex-military and ex-corporate security types, although ex-employees of the Big Ten or their subsidiaries are very rare for obvious reasons.

According to shadowtalk, around this time the Australian Secret Intelligence Service was disbanded for no real reason and no new agency was initiated to replace them. However, apparently most of their personnel transfered to AISE and were squirreled away so it's a bit of a mystery which departments they're on or what they're meant to be doing. Looks as though AISE either took over foreign intelligence gathering as well themselves or are being used as a smokescreen. Either way, there's nothing public or officialy acknowledged doing it.

Well for the UGB, I figure they'd still be in the old KGB digs at the Lubyanka. At any rate, I definately figure that they'd want their headquarters to be near the seat of power in Moscow.

The UGB is the Upravleniye Gosudarstevnnoy Bezopasnosti- Directorate of State Security. They're like the old KGB. Duties include foreign intelligence gathering, internal repression, counter-intelligence, providing security for government offices, holds the activation codes for the nuclear devices - like the old USSR, the Red Army controls the weapons and delivery systems whist the UGB turns them on and off, and spying on the other government inteligence agencies. The book basically says that all the seperate agencies that were split off from the KGB were rejoined so they'd also cover SIGINT, ELINT, COMINT and COMPINT that Fapsi now does.

They also control the Border Guards who're a mechanised semi-military force that, like the name suggest, guard the borders - and they've got some serious hardware in the form of APC's, scout cars, attack helicopters, some light tanks plus their own flotilla of coatal patrol vessels in their naval arm.

Another real life Russian agencies that I'll look up is the GRU - Russian military intelligence, and some say even more sucessful at foreign ops than the KGB was. They also have a better general reputation, and tend to feel themselves superior to, than the KGB since they never had to get mixed up with spying on their own citizens. They're currently headquartered at the Khodinka airfield near Moscow in a place called the Aquarium 'cause their main offices are a nine storey glass encased affair - I can definately see that getting polarised by the 2060's.

Edit: And I think it was Shadowboxer that isn't canon storyline-wise, although the Terminus Experiment definately gives it a run for its money.

I would say use the novels here, just because we'll never get near enough information/agencies otherwise.

The DSA was UCAS, but the SIA was CAS. I firmly believe that "DSA" was a typo, especially since AFAIK it was mentioned maybe once or twice. However, since SONA is more recent, I'm even more willing to disregard the SIA for what SONA says. Intelligence agencies don't change names or jurisdictions with much frequency, although I can't say what has happened in CAS since 2056 that might have precipitated such a change. The last changes in the U.S. where the merging of a couple of offices and agencies into NIMA in the early 1990s for efficiency purposes, and the creation of the DHS and FBI Office of Intelligence in 2003.

I think there's a general flexibility inherent in the novels (I know a guy who went nuts over a section in Run Hard, Die Fast where Argent did something with an Osprey he swore up and down was a violation of the laws of physics), and I have a general aversion to them. YMMV. The same thing to an extent goes with ConsOps from Aztlan unless they're l33t secret.

I checked the Seattle Sourcebook, and in the Dadson entry (In Everett, p. 89) SPD says it is supposed to be a front for the CFS Intelligence Service, which itself is supposed to be a front for the Japanese Intelligence Agency.

Raygun, a few things re: your page:

1. Since when has the USSS been an intelligence agency?
2. Interpol was mentioned in Cyberpirates! and CD.
3. MIFD was mentioned in CD.
4. Seraphim is all CATCo, presumably HQ'd in Quebec with CATCo.

While I respect the initial need for canon references, I find it hard to be that Army and Naval Intelligence would go away anytime soon, especially since they both predate every other existing agency in the U.S.

Supercool. Thanks, Flak.

CATco

Cross Applied Technologies, now part of the big 10 mega's. A quebecian(sp?) company formed by Lucien Cross, apparently one of the people that helped Knight do the nanosecond buyout. Greatly strengthened by the arrival of Leonard Aurelius after he sold his stock in Ares and bought into Cross. Divisions have formed between the old Cross assets and those brought in by Aurelius. Cross specialise in high end computer hardware, software and biotechnology IIRC.

The Seraphim are Cross' elite, somewhat mysterious intelligence agency. Individually, their agents are probably the best in the world and are completely loyal to cross. The agents often take on biblical names and do things that are in the corps best interest, often at the expense of the board. It is rumored they pulled a string of hits that landed them a seat on the corporate court.

Cross! I just didn't catch onto that one. Makes sense now. Thanks.

Please, for the love of all that is holy give page references when possible. Tracking down single mentions of an agency in 160 page sourcebooks is nontrivial.

Tir Tairngire
Information Secretariat
SONA p. 146 "Currently [Prince Jonathan] Reed is "Operations Director" of the shadowy Information Secretariat and reports directly to the High Prince on all internal security matters."

SONA p. 150 "Oh yeah, the Information Secretariat - the Tir secret police - is separate from the Peace Force, though they both share info and answer to the High Prince."

Oh yeah, sorry, I was throwing some info without bothering moving my book rom my bedroom to the computer. To list what I consider to be the best source for each:
In Shadows of North America, ERLA, DSI, DIA and NRO are page 65 (CIA and NSA too, but there's only one occurence listed, there are other one, like Coe Bowling profile for the CIA, that are more informative), DDI is page 66, Sioux OMI is page 129. The AISE is pages 25-26 of Target: Awakened Lands. Yamatetsu Naval Intelligence's name appears page 92 of Target: Wastelands. Mossad is page 38 of Dragons of the Sixth World. Seraphim are page 57 of Corporate Download, Interpol page 98, MIFD page 101. I don't have the Germany SB but IIRC I can tell you both BIS and Argus are on the left page at the beginning of a chapter.

Considering the nature of the Aleph Society chapter in Threats 2 (pages 37 and following), the Awakened Control Center can probably qualify as a specialized intelligence services. Back on Corporate Download, I reread the description of the ACS (Aztechnology Corporate Security) page 48 to 50. It says on page 50 under the black ops entry that the ACS conduct some with an offensive aim (helping takeover and acquisitions), not just corporate security. It's not clearly said that the internal security/counter-intelligence work is the duty of the ACS, but globally it makes me say the ACS is an intelligence service (a profile similar to the KGB, guards as well as spies rolled in a single organization).

Consular operations might just be a term to talk about operations conduced under the cover of the UCAS embassy (nothing really new). That's a possible interpretation.

The US Secret Service is considered IRL as an intelligence service as it is a member of the "Intelligence Community" (I guess the IC, headed by the DCI, is a bit less relevant since the creation of the Dpt of Home Security). The FBI and DEA are in too (but not the ATF), as well as a some analysis services attached to the State Department and the Departments of Transport and Energy.

The Tir Na Nog sourcebook had lots of info on the security apparatus for that country, and may have mentioned those from other nearby nations.

Don't have the book anymore though and I can't remember much of it.

Two police organizations and a secret police type one called the "reac fulliach"... or something like that.

I stand corrected, the DEA is not part of the Intelligence Community. For the USSS I checked and it's a bit more complicated: point 1.10(d) Executive Order 12333 establish as a duty of the Dpt of Treasury duty for the IC to "conduct, through the United States Secret Service, activities to determine the existence and capability of surveillance equipment being used against" the people under its protection. So it put the USSS in charge of counter-intelligence when somebody taps the President phone line or something alike, but not when a mole infiltrates the staff... However "No information shall be acquired intentionally through such activities except to protect against such surveillance" which finally disqualify the USSS for the title of "intelligence agency".

BTW, wasn't Espectro, the supposed narrator of the Aztlan SB connected through hearsay and conjecture to Aztechnology Intelligence as a possible survivor of a major purge at the top that occured just before the time Aztlan is set in?

Alright. Making progress. Thanks guys.

Okay. I need page references and HQ locations for the CFS Intelligence Service, HQ locations for all CAS intel services (speculation if that info isn't available), page references and HQ location for BIS, page references and HQ location for the Japanese Intelligence Agency (is that the actual name of the agency, or just a general acknowledgement of a Japanese intel service?)

I need page references and a name for Mitsuhama's intel agency, page references and HQ location for Argus (MET2000).

Can someone with a copy of Tir Na Nog verify what Rev is talking about?

Considering that just about every bit of information we get from the books comes through Shadowland (within plotline), can we consider Shadowland a free market intel agency?

Note that this is a completely non-canon agency but that I think we've just about covered the canon ones so I'll throw it up. Plus I just enjoyed using it.

Directorate General of Intelligence, DGI
Headquarters: Havana, Cuba

Provides both internal surveillance and counter-intelligence and handles foreign intelligence gathering as well. Rather oddly, seems they also deal with military intelligence as well, although whether this is instead of/as well as a military agency I'm not sure. Also has the duties to help maintain capabilities for covert operations.

They are also heavily involved in the drugs war. They'll happily assist groups with the importation of drugs into the US whilst cracking down harshly on drugs internally. Has strong ties with the KGB/current day incarnations due to past governmental ties and that IIRC, the KGB shipped out some members to help set up and train the first core members.

They used to be considered a very good agency, and were well respected by the rest of what I'd consider to be the first-tier agencies. During the 60's and 70's they apparently managed to uncover and turn every single agent the US had in the country. About five-six years ago though there was some sort of major drugs scandal and several very senior people were shuffled out and the place reorganised. During the reorganisation though things went to pot a little and a number of operations tanked. It's currently being run by a military officials.

And now a few 2060's musings. Since Cuba is basically a dictatorship with the trappings of Communism, I figure these guys will still be around. Although their main enemy is Aztlan now since they'd like to knock over the Carib League that Cuba is one of the major members of. Cuba also has its own navy that butts heads with the Azzies.

So I figure they'd be running cash, munitions and material to the Yucatan rebels and anyone else that makes big problems for Aztlan. Wouldn't be surprised at them sending military training teams either. Or their helping run chips and drugs into north Aztlan-proper just to screw with them.

The Russians used to/still do but are closing a SIGINT/ELINT base at Lourdes in Cuba. Since they're still a dictatorship/Communist in the '60s I can't see them closing down a base situated where they can spy on the CAS, UCAS, some of the NAN, rest of the League and Aztlan. Just too handy to give up so I could see them continue to pay the rent and/or help subsidise Cuba's sugar sales.

Fairly recently I was looking over Shadows of North America, and I happened to notice the (previously unmentioned), UCAS paranoia about magic and magical threats in general. This got me thinking.... theres the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), both of which address specific threats of the American/UCAS public, and both of which apparently still exist in 2063. If they've addressed this threat with specific intelligence/enforcement agencies, why not magic?

Now, a little backstory: My campaign revolves around a large group of shadowrunners, a sort of Runner Organization, who have had favorable relationships with the UCAS government. They've also had extensive contact/conflict with the various threats presented in both Threats sourcebooks (Winternight, the Black Lodge, and the conspiracy presented in "One Nation Under God", most notably), not to mention many of my own devising. As such, I decided that when the UCAS decided to create this Awakened World Task Force, designed to investigate and eliminate the various threats unique to the Sixth World, they tapped my players for their extensive knowledge of these threats.

So, about a half year later, we've crafted what amounts to practically a new campaign, blending The X-Files and The Ultimates. The players are advisors and sometimes operatives for the AWTF, and though they don't know it, will soon be asked to become perminant members of the force. And man oh man... it's a blast.

Just my two cents on an intelligence/government campaign

Yeah, like I said... They are both clearly in FDC. North Virginia has received virtually no references and I know of no map, even 3d ed. that actually has it on the map. SONA might have addressed it, but the last reference before that was Just Compensation. The CAS was trying to annex it, and N.Va. didn't seem too keen to stay with the UCAS. Of course, the governor's plane crashed at the end of the novel.

Seeing as though Cuba is basically run by the corps, I would asume any intelligence agency is basically an extension of the corps. With S-K basically owning their military (specifically, the Navy) I would assume S-K's running most Intel ops, although it's assured that Ares (which controls Gitmo in all but name) is running its own intelligence operations on the island as well.

The book says "Japanese Intelligence Agency." Make of it as you will.

The MCT reference is most clear in the Maximillion's entry, but it doesn't explain what it is other than Mitsuhama intelligence.

Komuso: Well, like I (think I) said earlier... The ATF had "& Magic" (As opposed to the IRL "& Explosives" that was added in May) added to it, and the FBI has an entire Division of Paranormal Investigations. The ATF&M would investigate the more economic aspects of the magic industry, and is probably the de facto federal licensing agency for Talismongers (Which reminds me of a friend's experience with ATF agents "inspecting" the winery he works at. They hate doing it more than you can imagine. But now that the ATF has been split in two, Special Agents no longer, AFAIK, get the pleasure). The FBI... Well, the FBI is probably just like the FBI today... Only more arrogant. But these are FLEAs, and thus unimportant here.

In the notes I supplied for the map for SoNA, this is what I suggested for the North Virginia border:

The Virginia-North Virginia (UCAS) border runs from Harrisonburg (Rockingham County), down through Lake Anna (halfway between Fredricksburg and Richmond), and then shoots east until it hits the Rappahannock River, which it follows down to the Atlantic. If possible, follow the contours of the county borders; the counties on the UCAS (north) side of the border are, from west to east, Rockingham, Greene, Orange, Spotsylvania, Caroline, Essex, Richmond County (not the city!), and Lancaster.

Fredericksburg is the state capital of North Virginia. Also note that Quantico USMC Reservation (halfway between Fredericksburg and DC) also lies in N. Virginia.

IMO, of course.

Sweet.

Jon, are there any other facts or considerations that you would like to mention re: this project?

Another hi-jack, but only peripherally....

Raygun, the link to Shadowrun & Firearms in Dumpshock Matrix ( http://matrix.dumpshock.com/raygun/ ) goes to the Intelligencer, and there's no apparant link to the intended site (which I did find at http://matrix.dumpshock.com/raygun/firearms/. )

I wasn't sure where to post this, but figured you'd definitely see it here....

There are a couple of independent intelligence agencies (meaning they provide Intelligence services for third parties who can't afford their own intel divisions) around in the SR universe aside from MET2000's Argus, at least a couple are mentioned in DotSW.