Aegis’ Internal Security Section (ISS) is responsible for monitoring information leaks, providing advice on Cell and Area 51 security, and performing spot checks across all of Aegis’ holdings. The men and women of ISS take their job incredibly seriously and are always vigilant. Realizing that their job as watchdog makes people nervous and defensive enough, ISS has recently started a public relations campaign aimed at Aegis Prime. They attempt to bill themselves as big friendly watchdogs, but many within Aegis do not have that perception. They plug leaks and eliminate security breaches at any cost, even if it means permanently removing compro- mised agents. No one in ISS takes that job lightly, and all other avenues are explored before deciding that an agent must be killed. Above all else, the security and safety of the Aegis directives are of prime importance.
HISTORY
Back in 1952, in response to the MJ-12 leak, Aegis Prime con- structed The Ranch to house operations under a secure cover that allowed for maximum mobility. In the early years, it was hoped that the remote location of The Ranch would provide sufficient protection from prying eyes, but these expectations were outstripped before too long. It was also assumed that agents would be personally loyal to their immediate superiors, but as the growth of Cells skyrocketed and Aegis Prime began to extend its reach across the country, the need for some kind of internal security force became readily apparent.
When first created in 1955, this security force was a subcom- mittee of DAS and was called “Safety and Defense.” Its original purpose was to survey standing protocols for their level of secu- rity risk and to issue a report to members of Aegis Prime. Once this report had been written and disseminated, Safety and Defense was reorganized to become a separate entity from DAS and was given a number of directives. It was exhorted to make changes in the patrols for The Ranch to tighten security, charged with the responsibility of exposing any leaks in infor- mation transfer, and asked to work with R&D to develop devices for purposes of both protection and surveillance.
At this early stage, S&D personnel were housed in a small wing of offices also occupied by DAS, only leaving The Ranch to check on potential leaks. Initially there was some expectation
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that S&D would have a new director appointed on an annual basis, much like the situation in DAS, to reduce security risks. After much deliberation and consideration, however, it was deemed more important for a director to be in a position to attend to long-term concerns and to identify security needs for the foreseeable future. To balance out this weak spot, S&D agreed to have only limited access to files, and only with the express permission of DAS.
Over the next five years, S&D began to develop protocols for routine security inspections, to train a well honed security force for The Ranch, and to experiment with cutting-edge surveillance devices and alarm systems. It also was given the dubious honor of contriving code words for use in HERMES transmissions. Up until this point, no division had information about the identity of S&D; it had been deemed best to keep this information a secret in the interest of security. After five years, however, when the same dour, cigar-puffing, balding man seemed to be in atten- dance at all major security functions, it became apparent who was in charge. Rather than try to keep it a secret any longer, Max Thibaut finally admitted he was the head of the division.
In the 1960s there were a number of advances in security, including electronic listening devices, wiretapping capability, and remote surveillance cameras. This led to a split in the department, with the older generation, headed by Thibaut, favoring more traditional methods of shadowing, secure drop locations, and verbal passwords, and the younger generation, headed by an agent named Jim Purcell. This friction was even- tually resolved by Thibaut’s retirement and Purcell’s ascension to power. Purcell placed strong emphasis on the need to be aware of all of Aegis’ ongoing projects and set aside personnel solely for purposes of reading HERMES reports from Cells, sift- ing through security patrols’ logs, and tracking movements of senior personnel in all departments.
Once other division heads found out they were constantly being shadowed, it led to a flare-up of tensions, until members of Aegis Prime took a hand and indicated their interest in con- tinuing this practice. To reinforce this need, S&D was renamed the Internal Security Section. Slowly, begrudgingly, most divi- sions came to understand the need for this kind of monitoring, especially when it was pointed out that the research division had recently uncovered proof of mental conditioning.
At this point, Purcell decided that some information should be kept secure, even from members of Aegis Prime. Working with a very small group of individuals who were personally loyal to him and rabidly loyal to “the cause,” he began careful- ly and slowly to stockpile records about suspicious activities of even the most senior operatives. These records were stored in and among other files in Purcell’s office, carefully coded to blend seamlessly with other, more mundane records, and only half a dozen men knew of their existence.
In 1965, ISS was given control over foreign intelligence oper- ations, which caused friction with OpTac. This was smoothed over by Purcell and General Price, and between the two of them
they ensured that Aegis’ handful of overseas operations ran efficiently. One area of foreign operations that was completely overlooked was the MKULTRA project and other psi projects involving remote viewing. MKULTRA had only recently gone underground, to continue its experimentation with mind con- trol techniques, and operated fairly independently.
In 1968, the progress of the MKULTRA project came under fire as OpTac and Analysis vied for control, and ISS was able to siphon off a number of MKULTRA agents for its own purposes. The ISS-MKULTRA connection was never publicized, and it devel- oped into a very symbiotic relationship. ISS helped MKULTRA keep its secrets by assisting with diligent security measures, and MKULTRA gave ISS an edge in areas of gathering information.
Slowly but surely, in the early 1970’s, ISS worked with agents familiar with MKULTRA to investigate remote viewing and other psychic techniques both to ensure the security of Aegis and to develop new ways of gathering information about enemy tar- gets. Purcell carefully and quietly marshaled his resources and saw to it that ISS developed its own corps of psi-talented agents, and saw no need to broadcast this information.
While conducting increased shadow operations, ISS had the opportunity to have direct contact with Cell agents, and what they discovered shocked them. Although these agents regular- ly reported in by HERMES and seemed to be operating with reasonable safety precautions, many of them were becoming increasingly paranoid and shaky. One ISS agent who had some training in psychology during his career with the FBI, David Haskell, extrapolated some long-term consequences and reported his concerns to Purcell, who was entirely nonrespon- sive to the issue. Given the dangerous possibility of systematic mental conditioning, Haskell was shocked at the lack of interest. Meanwhile, back at Area 51, a colleague of Haskell’s, Angela Bishop, noted Purcell’s lack of interest in the mental stability of agents and started doing some checking of her own. She found similar trends to those reported by Haskell occurring with Aegis Prime support staff and departmental personnel.
Bishop sat on the information for a few months, waiting for the optimal opportunity to share her findings with a representative from Psi-Div, whom she thought might have inroads to one of the members of Aegis Prime. Once the information found its way to the right ears, there was a swift response. A new division was to be created to deal with agents’ mental health, headed by one representative from ISS and one from Psi-Div. Bishop was so wrapped up in her disappointment in not being asked to join in on the effort that she was oblivious to the animosity building up in ISS. A great deal of the anger was directed at Purcell. Once it became general knowledge that he had been aware of these con- cerns for months and had ignored them, he was suddenly the subject of great dislike. Some anger was directed at Bishop for having “snitched,” too, and she was shuffled back into a boring desk job, compiling information on enemy organizations, and forgotten. This tension and resentment simmered on the back burner while ISS dealt with more pressing issues.
When an alien craft retrieved in 1977 represented a design and origination unknown to Aegis, ISS moved rapidly to forbid the relocation of this craft to Area 51 without further study for security reasons. Working with R&D, ISS scrambled to find some remote facilities where research could take place without jeopardizing the security of Area 51. Immediately following this event, the relationship between Purcell and Price became cold and distant, and the friction between OpTac and ISS resulted in more of a split. OpTac squealed loudly over ISS’s intervention in Area 51 affairs and resented the implication that personnel were not “sufficiently stable.”
Perhaps triggered by a sudden need to be present at the crash site, or maybe due to increasing numbers of Cells across the country, ISS soon discovered that operating from Area 51 was a logistical nightmare. Not only did the location make it dif- ficult for personnel to personally investigate Cell operations and remote leaks, but an increase in air traffic was certain to draw unwanted attention. ISS began looking into developing satellite offices—one on each coast—to decentralize its non-Area 51-spe- cific operations and to alleviate mobility concerns. OpTac was more than willing to help ISS find other facilities, so eager was it to have ISS out of its “territory.”
In December 1978, Purcell fell out of favor and was replaced by Zachary Baxter, one of his division heads. Purcell’s secret files were carefully secured by the few he trusted, and these records quietly disappeared without anyone else in ISS know- ing about their existence. Baxter was eager to give the new mental health division support, in hopes that prevention and treatment of the anxieties of an agent’s life would reduce secu- rity risks as well as excessive “necessary terminations.” He placed an increased emphasis on monitoring agent stability, especially after particularly harrowing missions. This led to an increase in the monitoring of HERMES traffic, with specialists attempting to read between the lines of transmitted reports. Baxter made the decision to relocate some ISS staff to two new facilities, one in Seattle and the other in Atlanta.
ISS became so engrossed in these matters that it failed to notice a development regarding overseas deployment, an over- sight the Foreign Affairs Division would continue to exploit. In 1985, after a security breach at the Foreign Affairs Division, ISS found itself scrambling to clean up a rogue operation in Kingston, Jamaica, where it had absolutely no resources or con- tacts. Baxter’s temper flared, and he marched directly to a member of Aegis Prime, demanding that FAD be closed down. When Aegis Prime suspended FAD activities, Baxter began to calm down, but within a short period of time FAD was back in business. Baxter turned in his resignation, stating it was impos- sible for him to perform his duties to keep Aegis secure under these conditions.
His resignation was deemed unacceptable, and he was strongly encouraged to restructure ISS in order to delegate responsibilities among the three ISS offices. Thwarted in his attempts to abandon ISS for greener pastures, he set to work
creating a new divisional structure. He convened three groups of individuals and set them three separate tasks: monitor Aegis- controlled agencies, observe Cells, and watch movements of the Black Book. He divided up these groups, with one leader to each office, and redistributed the bulk of remaining personnel to the Atlanta and Seattle facilities. With the activities of FAD and Aegis Prime’s tolerance for such dangerous actions, he opted to decentralize ISS in hopes of saving Aegis from itself. Over the next five years, he worked himself into two ulcers and a heart attack before it was seen fit to replace him.
His replacement, Jonathan Russell, firmly took the helm in 1991. Russell was rumored to have been an operative in Russia during the Cold War. He immediately immersed himself in developing an awareness of activities both inside ISS and across all of Aegis. Very little seemed to escape his notice, and over the next four years he streamlined operations within ISS and caught a number of very subtle security leaks on the part of Aegis-controlled agencies. On the whole, Russell was an open and friendly individual, quite disarming with his magnetic per- sonality, and under his leadership, ISS began to pull together and to work more efficiently.
One of his biggest triumphs was to provide additional pres- sure on Aegis Prime for expensive security checks on the new HERMES links, despite OpTac’s insistence that the expenditure was wasteful and unnecessary. Armed with the knowledge of how quickly even teenagers were bypassing standard security measures, he not only recommended additional funding for the HERMES MKIIa, he also stated he felt research and develop- ment for the MKIII should begin without hesitation.
The next hurdle that Russell was to encounter was every security agent’s nightmare: the danger of psychic powers to extract information from unwitting agents. Russell contacted psychics in Psi-Div, asking for their recommendations, and after a nerve-wracking six months of discussions and testing, a new segment of ISS was created. Upon inception, the agents joking- ly called themselves the “Thought Police” and set out on “patrol.” Russell, after much deliberation, handed control of this division over to Psi-Div.
On the horizon for ISS is another fearful issue, that of nan- otechnology. If it were not frightening enough that this science can change a person’s appearance, fingerprints, and DNA, other issues are also coming to the forefront. Through discus- sions with some staff from R&D, Russell has been informed that a number of scientists postulate that Aegis has not been mere- ly “lucky” with nanotechnology, but that it may be an issue of having it systematically supplied by an unknown benefactor. Russell worries that if some person (or persons) has the tech- nological advances to create and use nanotechnology, and to slip in and out of Area 51 without being noticed, this constitutes a gaping hole in his security net. The question, however, is how to contain or reduce this threat in the face of incomprehensible technological abilities. At the moment, he has pulled together a small team at the Seattle office to determine ways to examine
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Area 51 personnel to see if these benefactors, most likely alien, have infiltrated Aegis at the core. The thought that these indi- viduals might even be masquerading as members of Aegis Prime makes him shudder.
CURRENT STATUS
ISS’s mission is to watch and review the workings of Aegis, from Aegis Prime down to individual Cells, in order to protect Aegis. ISS is currently separated into three recognized divisions, each one working closely with the others but each under a sep- arate director. The directors of each ISS division are not publi- cized outside of ISS, and each director reports to Russell. At present, each director also oversees a specific office, and Russell floats between Atlanta and Seattle, only traveling to Area 51 when absolutely necessary. Communication between offices is conducted through a modified set of HERMES links, but the most sensitive of materials is handled in the old fash- ioned way—encoded and carried by hand by a combat-trained ISS courier. For the most part, ISS operations are conducted independently from the two coast offices, and contact with Area 51 is infrequent. Area 51-based agents, however, do travel to other locations to investigate Aegis-controlled operations not based on The Ranch.