Republic Strategic Information Service

"I'm with the Republic Strategic Information Service. Key word is information&mdash;if you talk, I let you go."

- Theron Shan, SIS agent.

The Republic Strategic Information Service (RSIS), also known as Republic Strategic Information Systems but more commonly known as the Strategic Information Service (SIS), was a division of the Galactic Republic's military intelligence during the Great Galactic War and the following period of political unrest. Although the agency existed prior to the Great War's initiation in 3,681 BBY, as the Strategic Information Service of the Senate Library, the rapid expansion of the conflict prompted the Republic to shift the group from a small-scale decryption agency to a full-fledged information and espionage bureau. Although much younger, smaller, and stretched thinner than its counterpart in the Sith Empire, the SIS served efficiently during the Great War and the subsequent Cold War.

Overview
"But the galaxy has changed, and someone with flexibility has to protect the Republic."

- SIS Director.

The Republic Strategic Information Service was an espionage agency of the Galactic Republic. Though it was smaller and younger and managed a smaller network of spies and informants than its counter-part in the Sith Empire it was still deemed to be an effective intelligence service. Serving as an intelligence agency for the Republic in peace time, the SIS was charged with monitoring and decryption duties. Later during the Great Galactic War, the agency was responsible for providing intelligence to the Republic Military and the Jedi Order. By the end of the war, its duties included the management of networks, counter-intelligence, foreign intelligence, and military intelligence. Desperate for information on the Sith Empire during the Cold War, the agency expanded its operations into fighting criminal organizations like Black Sun in the hopes it would produce a lead.

The SIS was headquartered in the Heorem Complex on Coruscant and was led by a Director who was protected by two bodyguards.

History
"I was there when the war started, back when the Strategic Information Service was a monitoring and decryption arm of the Senate Library. Now we're, what&mdash;the thirtieth, fortieth attempt at a Republic espionage agency?''" "''Depends whose conspiracy theories you believe."

- SIS Director and Theron Shan

The SIS was founded prior to the start of the Great Galactic War as an intelligence agency with monitoring and decryption duties for the Senate Library.

Years before the war, Republic scientists discovered an ancient Rakatan prison complex on the planet Belsavis and, during several secret sessions, the Strategic Information Service decided to convert the complex into a new detention facility, to be used to house dangerous prisoners whose execution was not possible or simply impractical.

With the emergence of the Sith Empire and the outbreak of war, the Republic reformed the SIS as part of the Republic's military intelligence. Due to its small size and relative newness, the SIS lacked the large network or bureaucracy that its Sith counterpart possessed. This became both an advantage and a disadvantage. The SIS had little red tape to worry about yet it remained within its legal and ethical boundaries. However, the agency had a hard time penetrating the Sith Empire. Following its emergence as an intelligence bureau, conspiracy theorists claimed the SIS was the Republic's thirtieth or fortieth attempt at an espionage agency, a theory not far from the truth.

During Hylo Visz's attack on the Mandalorian blockade of the Hydian Way, SIS was informed of the battle and scrambled starfighters to aid the smuggler in her mission to break the blockade. The battle was a victory for Visz and the Republic, and the Rimma Trade Route was once again open for the transportation of goods and military wares.

Despite the agency's relative efficiency during the war, it held little knowledge of the inner workings of Imperial Intelligence. Consequently every lead was vital. When Ngani Zho, a great Jedi warrior who had disappeared after the war, was spotted near the Imperial border, SIS took immediate interest. Discovering that Zho had claimed to have returned from Vesla system, a "Black Sector" ceded to the Empire as part of the treaty, SIS sent several agents to investigate hoping to gain knowledge from Zho's time behind enemy lines. However, none of the SIS agents returned. Several years later in the aftermath of the Treaty of Coruscant, the agency was spread thin. The Director was also placed under pressure because of a bounty placed on his head and with his ex-wife under investigation by the Galactic Senate. Needing new leads into the Imperial Intelligence, the SIS director decided to send Theron Shan to find Zho and discover his knowledge.

In this time, notable events included the Sith Empire shuttind won a S.I.S. station on Nar Shaddaa with the agency hearing rumors that the Imperial Guard being mobilized. Feeling the need to press their advantage, the RSIS Director authorized agent Shan to investigate the activity within the Vesla system after Jedi Master Zho was rescued from an assassination attempt by Darth Mekhis's Sith Knights.

The Director
"I've got an agency stretched thin, a bounty on my head, and an ex-wife under Senate investigation&mdash;I don't need more worries."

- The Director

The Director had served in the SIS since its early years when it was a branch of the Senate Library. By the time the war ended, he had climbed through the ranks and attained the position of Director. Along the way he made sacrifices in his personal life when his marriage fell apart, and in public where he had to contend with a thinly stretched agency and bounty that had been placed on his head. However, he realized his role to be vital. To him the Senate and the Jedi Order were age old institutions that hated change and so a flexible organization was needed to protect the Republic, a role the Director felt the SIS filled and so deserved his loyalty.

Theron Shan
"I have a standing invitation to spend time with the skyraiders of Thonboka. I may take them up on it&mdash;I've never flown in a saddle, and Coruscant is getting stale...''" "Dont give me that leave of absence'' garbage."

- Theron Shan and the Director

Theron Shan was an agent for the SIS during the Cold War in the years following the Treaty of Coruscant. Shan was good at his work, though his attitude was one of both sarcasm and, to a certain degree, resentfulness of his abilities as a spy and the life he led. Shan was also the secret son of Grand Master Satele Shan and was raised by Jedi Master Ngani Zho. Shan continued in some of the Jedi traditions by meditating and fasting in the morning before he gave up the latter habit. While investigating the Black Sun crime syndicate for possibly selling slaves to the Sith Empire, Shan captured a female Twi'lek named Teff'ith who was involved in the deal. In a move that expressed his own brand of humor, Shan did not turn her over to Coruscant Security instead opting to take her, bound and chained, on his newly assigned mission to find Ngani Zho. Shan was also accompanied on his mission by his droid, M-6.

Behind the scenes
The SIS was created for the Star Wars: The Old Republic video game. The organization will not be playable, but is featured heavily in various class stories. It will also be featured prominently in the Star Wars: The Old Republic, The Lost Suns comic book, which will star a Republic spy.

Though the Timeline 2 video refers to it as Republic Strategic Information Systems, more recently the Lost Suns comic and The Old Republic developer Alexander Freed confirmed its official name as the Republic Strategic Information Service.

Appearances

 * Timeline 2: The Mandalorian Blockade is Broken
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic, Blood of the Empire Act 1: Shades of the Sith
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic 7: The Lost Suns, Part 1
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance