Imperial Security Bureau/Legends

"All suspects are guilty, otherwise they shouldn't be suspects."

- Imperial Security Bureau motto

The Imperial Security Bureau, also called Imperial Security, abbreviated ISB, was a key intelligence organization of the Galactic Empire under Emperor Palpatine. It was separate from, larger than, and often rival to Imperial Intelligence.

In addition to operating as a standard intelligence agency, the ISB was a part of the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order, or COMPNOR, charged with maintaining morale and loyalty among members of the Imperial military. Lord Crueya Vandron, one of Palpatine's closest advisors, was effectively the head of both COMPNOR and the ISB.

The ISB stationed moles among the officers of all capital ships in the Imperial Navy; their duty was to report on any possibly treasonous activities or sentiments present among others of the ship's crew (especially the commander), and to execute them if they acted upon them. The ISB served more of a police function than Imperial Intelligence, with a more public presence. ISB operatives were not afraid of identifying themselves as ISB agents.

The ISB Central Office was a mammoth complex in Imperial City. All communication and coordination was handled through the Central Office. The ISB also was responsible for wiping out any memories of the Jedi Order. They destroyed the collection of Jedi antiquities on Obroa-skai.

Even though several key ISB members died aboard the Death Star I when it was destroyed over Yavin, such as Colonel Wullf Yularen, the ISB continued to be a strong political faction within the Empire as evidenced by ISB Central Commander Sollaine making a bid to replace Darth Vader at the Emperor's side shortly after Executor was finished. Such was his power that he commandeered Vader's old flagship, Devastator, to track down an important Imperial turncoat.

Commission of Operations
The Commission of Operations was responsible for passing on the directions of the Central Office directly to the Sector Officer for each of the various ISB branches. All coordination between the different branches within a sector, or between Bureau resources in separate sectors, was dictated by the Commission of Operations.

Surveillance
Surveillance was the largest branch of the ISB, with nearly 35 percent of all personnel in the Bureau. The quality of agents in Surveillance, however, was not always great. A good portion of Surveillance agents were candidates straight from the Sub-Adult Group, but these were poorly trained, albeit eager and promising. The rest were made up of properly trained CompForce Observors, agents from Progress's Sector Monitor, Improvement's Sector Development, and local contacts aiming to subvert other local powers.

Surveillance was tasked with uncovering beings or activities helpful to the Rebel Alliance or that may obstruct the Empire's plans. Many of Surveillance's targets are later turned over to Investigations for more thorough action. Surveillance was also responsible for instilling fear of the Empire into its citizens, so that they would think twice before assisting the Rebellion.

Investigations
Investigations was the skillfully superior branch of the Imperial Security Bureau, when compared to Surveillance. Many Modification agents and proven agents from Surveillance made up Investigations. Agents of Investigations were always in direct communication with the Imperial Military, allowing them to call on a massive amount of firepower and resources should the situation require it, so they could take down Rebel threats with considerably faster response time and effectiveness.

Internal Affairs
The Internal Affairs branch was the group responsible for watching COMPNOR, another example of multiple layers of control and authority overlapping one another in the Galactic Empire. Science, Commerce and Justice groups within the Coalition for Progress, and the Enforcements branch of the ISB, were all key targets of Internal Affairs.

It is unknown whether or not the Internal Affairs division had the authority to monitor the Select Committee, though it is known that they did not consider the Select Committee to be above suspicion.

Due to COMPNOR's ambiguity in regards to rules and procedures for policing its own members, Internal Affairs was able to take advantage of the situation to expand their power. Affairs agents were isolated from the rest of COMPNOR and had thus developed their own jargon and their own interpretation of the New Order. Other branches of COMPNOR complained about the autonomy of Internal Affairs and their actions, but neither Crueya Vandron nor Palpatine ever made attempts to stop it, as they apparently supported the work of Internal Affairs.

Internal Affairs called their field agents "keyns," while they called their investigative staff "dirtbugs." The division also developed their own collection of terms to differentiate between the ways they conducted a specific investigation.

To "audit" was to conduct an investigation in which the target and everyone around him knew the investigation was being conducted.

"Finesse" was conducting an investigation by asking the target's help in rooting out other traitors in the hopes they would give away incriminating evidence in their eagerness to point the finger at others.

"Scattering" was the method of grabbing someone whom you have no evidence of foul play of, and then observing the behavior of the person's associates to see if any of these react in suspicious ways.

"Crustbusting" was the method of harassing a suspect in the hopes he would do something criminal.

"Cultivation" was the method of allowing a suspect with only minor wrongdoing to proceed unhindered so agents would catch the suspect and any associates in a larger crime, and "irrigation" was covertly staging events so a "cultivated" suspect would have a greater opportunity to commit a larger crime.

Finally, to "Jabba" was to set a suspect up in a no-win situation in which he must commit a crime. The Internal Affairs agent would then promise to forgive the crime if the suspect did a few favors; favors which inevitably caused the suspect to commit some other crime.

Interrogation
If a subject caught by Investigations was suspected of still hiding the information the ISB wanted to know, the subject was shipped off to the Interrogation branch. The information they uncovered was sent to Investigations. The subject, however, disappeared, and no one outside Interrogation was really willing to find out just what happened to them.

Re-Education
When a member of COMPNOR was convicted of a crime by Internal Affairs, the subject was transferred to Re-Education. The subject was usually always returned to COMPNOR, although in a position of lower importance. It was reported that these individuals acted strangely when returned, their conversation disjointed, and their emotions out of phase with the situation. They were called "Graduated of Re-Education" or "Re-education" officially, but amongst other members of COMPNOR, it was said they were "Re-brained."

Enforcement
The Enforcement branch provided specialized muscle for the ISB. They occasionally operated for Internal Affairs, but most often they were working for Investigations. Enforcement was the only division within all of COMPNOR that hired beings who were not members of COMPNOR, which earned the suspicion of the Internal Affairs division, who were worried the use of unindoctrinated personnel was too risky.

Nevertheless, Enforcement was thus able to increase the amount of available talent, and perform operations the Select Committee would rather not be performed by COMPNOR members. In addition, Enforcement did its best to protect its operatives from unwarranted interferences from the Internal Affairs division, though a permanent tension existed between the two groups that no one could avoid.

Appearances

 * Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:24 in Star Wars Insider 84
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Rookies: Rendezvous
 * Star Wars: Dark Forces
 * Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine
 * The Truce at Bakura