USS Eagle Intel Lab Crypto
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“Bring it on.” | |
Crypto is the name of the Intelligence Lab on the USS Eagle, located on deck one, behind the Bridge. Crypto is a high tech computer lab that is linked both to Star Fleet Intelligence Headquarters on Earth and the Fleet Intel Lead, at the Black Tower on Starbase 118.
At its core, Starfleet Intelligence is similar to the more famous intelligence agencies of the past such as the CIA, KGB and MI6 (or SIS). The role of Starfleet Intelligence (SFI) is to provide the Federation with a galactic covert capability to promote and defend the security and well-being of the Federation and its member worlds.
Hierarchically, Starfleet Intelligence maintains a central headquarters on Earth, where senior officers oversee the broad Intelligence mission. The vast majority of Intelligence work, however, is done by the field units, found throughout the Federation. Many field units may be grouped together into a taskforce.
Ultimately, an Intelligence unit is made up of a number of different sections, all with section leaders who report to their Unit Director, who in turn reports to any applicable Taskforce Head, who in turn reports to their designated contact at Intel HQ. A Director may also be required to pass on relevant mission related data to the ranking StarFleet Officer (who in turn reports to their Flag Officer) at their local site. While the work that SFI does is generally inclusive, the end result can have far reaching consequences.
The USS Eagle implores a top of the line Intel Lab called Crypto Lt. Commander Baylen Anders leads the Intel Unit on the Eagle. As the Eagle is not an instrument of the Intelligence division of Star Fleet in herself, then the Crypto lab is used more to receive information than to send it. How ever, Intel on Earth does track data coming from the Eagle. Also the computers in Crypto are tethered to the Science labs, collecting data from the ships sensors and using a buffering computer called Cipher to store any data that is seen as relevant. Cipher is a powerful database that has helped break down coded messages from the Cardassians, Romulans, Breen and Klingons. The Cipher Computer System is imbedded into a wall in Crypto, this behind a duel level one force field, Only the Commanding Office, First Officer and Chief of Intelligence on the Eagle can work directly with the Cipher interface. Only a Deputy Director can grant access to the computer to anyone other than the three primaries.
Crypto can also be used as a CIC - Combat Information Center in a battle, but due to the nature of information that is in the Lab, it is restricted to Command Level Officers and those that have been granted access. But all the computer displays can be blacked out with one command and the data can be destroyed with two commands. If the ship is at Red Alert the Lab is automatically sealed off, if the ship is boarded then a level one force field is erected around the lab, if the force field is destroyed by the invader, the computers will self destruct.
There are two doors in Crypto, one leads to the corridor behind the Bridge, the other leads in the Intel Officers Private Ready Room. The is the workstation of the Chief Intel Officer that is a little more private in the lab, behind that workstation is the door to the Chief Intel Officers Ready Room.
Lt. Commander Baylen Anders Office is behind the Crypto Lab, it also has the same protection that Crypto has. There are two doors, one into the lab and one into the corridor. Baylen has his office decorated with early Earth Nautical Sailing Tools, and books on the subject. His desk has a desktop viewer on it, a viewer in the wall, along with an never ending stack of PADDs on his desk.
There is a plant on a table in the Office that was a gift from his Grandmother, he has had it now for nine years. It has a very strong smell of something like Lavender and Eucalyptus so the office tends to retain that smell. Mixed with smell of fresh french pressed coffee that Baylen seem to keep going all day.
Organization
Whether on a starbase, a planet, or on a starship, the structure of an Intelligence Division remains the same.
- Intelligence Officer: at the bottom of the totem pole, is the Intelligence Officer. The Intelligence Officer is the bare-bones of any intelligence operation, specializing in either communications intelligence, human intelligence, or intelligence analysis.
- A Communications Intelligence Operator: (or COMINT for short) would be stationed at the operational command centre, receiving and interpreting intelligence and relaying it to his or her section leader.
- The Human Intelligence Operator: (or HUMINT for short) is generally the person gathering intelligence in the field or providing overwatch for security and other intelligence operators; this position entails: the collection of intelligence from behind enemy lines through interpersonal contact, counter-intelligence, and infiltration and extraction
- An Intelligence Analyst: is an officer who receives intelligence from COMINT or HUMINT sources and extracts the information containing operational relevance in order to formulate a plan of action, or to predict future events. Intelligence analysts are the unit’s professionals whose research, analysis, and presentation of findings provide the most complete possible intelligence picture.
- Chief Intelligence Officer: The CIO is the officer in charge of all Intelligence personnel on board a ship. He or she oversees all Intelligence operations on board the ship and relays them to the CO and any other superiors. This position has less administrative work involved than a position such as Section Leader, as the CIO is commonly in direct oversight of shipboard Intelligence Operations.
- Section Leader: The senior most Intelligence Officers on board a ship or station and report according to the chain of command. Their job is to receive either raw information from COMINT or HUMINT sources, or to receive intelligence reports and analysis from analysts. The Section Leader then relays this information to the Commanding Officer, or Operation Commander, depending on the location and context, according to need and chain of command.
- Deputy Director: A Deputy Director can be assigned to a starship but is usually assigned to a major starbase or on a planet. The Deputy Director is responsible for all Intelligence Operations in an area of space, usually limited to one sector. The Deputy Director reports to the Director or the Commanding Officer of that installation.
- Director: A Director is a 'Chief' position aboard an installation or, in some cases, starship. All intelligence activities for that ship or sector are reported to the Director, who in turn, reports to the Executive Officer of the installation to which they are assigned.
- Deputy Chief of Intelligence: A Deputy Chief is the next in line to the Chief of Intelligence, and is usually in charge of all the administrative duties at Starfleet Headquarters. (Not a playable position).
- Chief of Intelligence: At the very top of the Intelligence totem pole is the Chief of Intelligence. He or she is ultimately in charge of Intelligence Operations throughout all of Federation space and beyond. The Chief of Intelligence reports directly to the Commander, Starfleet and the President of the UFoP. (Not a playable position).
Jurisdiction
The purpose of Starfleet Intelligence is to gather accurate and up-to-date information on threats both foreign and domestic, which can be turned into usable intelligence for all branches of Starfleet.
Divisions
While most Starfleet Intelligence operations occur under the normal chain of command, there are more specialized divisions for specific tasks.
- Organized Crime: Organized crime represents a menace to Federation society; it exploits the needs of the disadvantaged and provides illicit services and exorbitant cost. The most famous example of this, is the Orion Syndicate whose illegal operations include gambling, racketeering, smuggling, piracy, slave-trading, extortion, and assassination. The Organized Crime Division is comprised of dedicated Starfleet Intelligence Officers who are committed to the extermination of this menace from Federation society.
- Counterintelligence: While Starfleet Intelligence is a highly effective intelligence service, it should not be forgotten that many other nations have their own intelligence services. The Counterintelligence division's purpose is to prevent hostile intelligence organizations from gathering and collecting intelligence against the Federation.
- Internal Affairs: The Internal Affairs Division investigates incidents involving misconduct of Officers.
Coding Data
| Code | Source rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| A | Reliable | No doubt of authenticity, trustworthiness, or competency; has a history of complete reliability |
| B | Usually Reliable | Minor doubt about authenticity, trustworthiness, or competency; has a history of valid information most of the time |
| C | Fairly Reliable | Doubt of authenticity, trustworthiness, or competency but has provided valid information in the past |
| D | Not Usually Reliable | Significant doubt about authenticity, trustworthiness, or competency but has provided valid information in the past |
| E | Unreliable | Lacking in authenticity, trustworthiness, and competency; history of invalid information |
| F | Cannot Be Judged | No basis exists |
| Code | Rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Confirmed | Confirmed by other independent sources; logical in itself; consistent with other information on the subject |
| 2 | Probably True | Not confirmed; logical in itself; consistent with other information on the subject |
| 3 | Possibly True | Not confirmed; reasonably logical in itself; agrees with some other information on the subject |
| 4 | Doubtfully True | Not confirmed; possible but not logical; no other information on the subject |
| 5 | Improbable | Not confirmed; not logical in itself; contradicted by other information on the subject |
| 6 | Cannot Be Judged | No basis exists |
An "A" rating, for example, might mean a thoroughly trusted source, such as your own communications intelligence operation. That source might be completely reliable, but, if it intercepted a message that other intelligence proved was sent for deceptive purposes, the report reliability might be rated 5, for "known false". The report, therefore, would be A-5. It may also be appropriate to reduce the reliability of a human source if the source is reporting on a technical subject, and the expertise of the subject is unknown.
Another source might be a habitual liar, but gives just enough accurate information to be kept in use. Her trust rating would be "E", but if the report was independently confirmed, it would be rated "E-1".
Most intelligence reports are somewhere in the middle; a "B-2" is taken seriously. Sometimes, it is impossible to rate the reliability of source, most commonly from lack of experience with him, so an F-3 could be a reasonably probable report from an unknown source. An extremely trusted source might submit a report that cannot be confirmed or denied, so it would get an "A-6" rating.
Processing
Refining and analyzing the information.
Characteristics of Effective Intelligence
- Relevance: Do the intelligence products pertain to your mission and support your concept of the operation?
- Usability: Are the intelligence products in a format you can easily use? Can they pass the "so what?" test? Do they clearly tell you their significance to your concept of the operation?
- Timeliness: Are you getting the intelligence, targets, electronic warfare (EW) support, and BDA when you ask for them?
- Accuracy: Are the intelligence products and targets correct? Are targets given with locations sufficiently accurate to attack them?
- Completeness: Are you getting the whole story or are the portions that are known versus those that are analytical estimates made clear to you?
- Objectivity: Is the intelligence unbiased, undistorted, and free from political influence or constraint?
- Predictive: Do the intelligence estimates of enemy capabilities give a set of possible enemy COAs which are prioritized in order of likelihood of occurrence
Analysis and production
The data that has been processed is translated into a finished intelligence product, which includes integrating, collating, evaluating, and analyzing all the data.
Organizing What You Have
Collection processes provide analysts with assorted kinds of information, some important and some irrelevant, some true and some false (with many shades in between), and some requiring further preprocessing before they can be used in analysis. Raw information reports use a standard code for the presumed reliability of the source and of the information.
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Fact | Verified information; something known to exist or to have happened. | A confirmed inventory of a resource of one's own service |
| Direct Information | The content of reports, research, and analytic reflection on an intelligence issue that helps analysts and their consumers evaluate the likelihood that something is factual and thereby reduces uncertainty, Information relating to an intelligence issue under scrutiny the details of which can, as a rule, be considered factual, because of the nature of the source, the source's direct access to the information, and the concrete and readily verifiable character of the contents | COMINT or OSINT quoting what a foreign official said; IMINT providing a count of the number of starships at a starbase. HUMINT from a Federation diplomatic officer who directly observed an event. |
| Indirect Information | Information relating to an intelligence issue the details of which may or may not be factual, the doubt reflecting some combination of the source's questionable reliability, the source's lack of direct access, and the complex character of the contents | HUMINT from a reliable agent, citing secondhand what an informant said that a government official said. OSINT providing a foreign government document that gives the number of starships at a starbase. Indirect OSINT from a Federation embassy officer. COMINT that contains a report by a foreign official to his government, about what something he cannot confirm, but states with a probability. |
| Direct Data | Organized information that provides context for evaluating the likelihood that a matter under scrutiny is factual. | A chronology of events based on observations by Federation officers |
| Indirect Data | Organized information that provides context for evaluating the likelihood that a matter under scrutiny is factual. | A chronology based on reports from a liaison intelligence service |
Collation describes the process of organizing raw data, interpolating known data, evaluating the value of data, putting in working hypotheses. The simplest approaches often are an excellent start. With due regard for protecting documents and information, a great deal can be done with a few pads, a viewscreen, and a table.
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