DESTROY IF COMPROMISED

EXECUTIVE DEFENSE DIRECTORATE

Sola veritas est scriptum per validus

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Threat Assessment
Every mission has been analyzed during the Intelligence Cycle and after an extensive review of departmental authorities has been undertaken, the mission is given a threat level. This threat level correlates to the importance and impact the success of the mission has to the agency, the Office, and to national security. Gear availability is also determined by the mission threat level.

Threat Level WHITE

Caliber I. The Home Office views the mission as a minor obligation or intriguing curiosity, without danger or potential fallout. WHITE missions often involve simple information-gathering or transport/escort of diplomatic elements or ACL-Y papers.

Supervision: None Hostiles: No contact expected Communication: None allowed unless Threat Level YELLOW escalation warranted Impact: No long- or short-term impact Mission Result: Mission noted in SRB; success/failure is not noted

Threat Level YELLOW

Caliber II. The Home Office considers the mission pressing, but not urgent. It expects few casualties and little chance of exposure. Supervision: Minimal Hostiles: Possible. Minimal, poorly trained or organized. Communication: Discouraged Impact: Little impact. No global impact anticipated. Mission Result: Mission noted in SRB. Success brings brief praise and footnotes in SRB. Failure causes brief chastisement, verbal reprimand.

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Threat Level BLUE

Caliber III. The Office is genuinely committed to the mission, but redirects resources as necessary to RED and BLACK operations. Casualties are a possibility, as is marginal exposure, and first-tier operatives and assets are sometimes withheld to prevent their loss.

Supervision: Hands-off unless field agent is in dire need. Hostiles: Expected. Moderate, field-level targets. Communication: As needed Impact: General or local impact. Usually short-term and not global.
Mission Result: Noted in SRB. Agency accolades, mission results relayed to authorized government officials, mention of the team's involvement is not. Failure often results in minor censure via written reprimand, as well as slightly demoted budgets and other allowances in upcoming missions. Agents can overcome this level of censure with future successful mission outcomes.

Threat Level RED

Caliber IV. The Home Office considers this RED missions a priority and dedicates substantial resources to its completion. Threats of casualty or exposure are taken at face value unless evidence contradicts them, and the most capable operatives are assigned unless they're needed elsewhere. Supervision: Handlers or Control is available to offer advice and direction. Hostiles: Assured. Well-trained and well-equipped enemies. Communication: Handlers or Control is in periodic contact Impact: Long-term regional or global impact. Mission Result: Noted in SRB. Success is relayed to the Directors of EDD, as well as the Directors and senior officials of the other national intelligence agencies, such as the CIA, NSA, DIA, NCS, etc. Agents are given a hero's welcome within the agency and particularly notable actions may warrant an award. Failure could be dangerous to the EDD, national security, or regional/global stability and prompts a long lasting censure that will likely impact missions the agent undertakes for months.

Threat Level BLACK

Caliber V. Few missions are dangerous enough to warrant a BLACK threat level. The Home Office views missions of this level as vital to the continued survival or progress of the Office of the President and his government, territory, or people. High casualties and exposure are an accepted necessity. Agents assigned to a BLACK mission are required to do everything in their power to resolve the mission AT ALL COSTS. Field agents who are not assigned a BLACK mission who come across a BLACK threat are required to stop any other activity, notify Control, and immediately pursue the BLACK level objective.
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Supervision: Control dictates agents actions when possible. Hostiles: Extreme. organizations National defenses, high-level agents, head of terrorist

Communication: Control and handler remains in constant contact with operatives. Impact: Long-lasting global impact to world stability or conspiracy of EDD. Mission Result: Noted in SRB with attached commendation. Success is relayed to the Office of the President, which may earn them a personal meeting (such as dinner) with the President or other head of state, such as the Queen of England, depending on the region of the mission. Failure may prompt permanent censure of a severe nature. NOTE: Once a mission has been assigned a threat code and undertaken by active agents, it may not necessarily remain the same. Should additional dangers be identified the threat level may be escalated depending on the danger and difficulty of the continuing mission.

Mission Areas
To carry out its mission, the Executive Defense Directorate operates in several distinct mission areas. A single mission may encompass numerous mission areas, the most illustrious follows. Assassination Killing is a dirty business, but intelligence agencies often find it a necessary evil. Opposing leaders become too strong or too loved to ignore. Enemy operatives become too effective. Allies and contracted employees betray the agency, prompting retaliation. Regardless of the reasoning, assassination is never taken lightly, and missions of murder are only sanctioned with great care. When assassination is conducted to weaken an enemy, or remove an impediment, the assassin's goal is misdirection. He is usually ordered to make the death look like suicide, an accident, or a disappearance, or to hint that someone else was responsible. This is a complex mission with great risk, both to the operative and his government. This is even more important as it relates to the Agency due to our special relationship to The Office and our unknowable nature to anyone outside The Office and its Directorate. When an assassination is carried out for its effect on others, the mission becomes far more perilous. Executing a beloved leader can cripple a nation -- or send it into a vindictive frenzy. Messy public assassinations tend to prompt more violent reactions than staged suicides, which are often accepted at face value (and can have great impact if the goal is to instill a sense of hopelessness). Collateral damage -- like that caused by concentrated explosives or chemical weapons -almost universally produces terror (and aftershocks that are difficult to gauge). Most of the time, the Agency will distance itself from assassinations, hiring Freelancers to undertake them. This prevents the loss of assets and reduces the risk of exposure. Assassinations also involve meticulous plans relying upon the
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target's schedule habits, friends, colleagues, weaknesses, and other factors. The chief concerns are getting close to the target and getting away without notice (or with whatever notice is allowed or demanded in the mission briefing). Few assassinations take on more risk by adding infiltration or invasion to the assignment; rather than trying to get to the target in his home or office, they wait until he's in the open. Only the most secure targets require assassins to infiltrate their personal circles, and only the brashest operatives comply without rock solid cover identities. Timing is key during an assassination. The target must not be able to call for help, or be killed where his body is likely to be found by passersby. The target must be at his most vulnerable and the assassin must be able to escape undetected, leaving room for error if at all possible. Problems always arise in time-sensitive killing missions, and leaving too much to chance can explode in the agent's face. Knowledge of forensics and the ability to quickly and competently go to ground are critical during an assassination's final stages. An operative must understand the methods investigators will use to determine the cause of death and track the killer. He must be able to eradicate evidence of his involvement, as well as that of his superiors, and thereafter vanish for as long as required to evade pursuers. Intelligence Intelligence is much of the Agency's mainstay. On a global scale, the basis for all educated agency decisions is a critical understanding of political, military, criminal, and other climates, as well as the backgrounds and means of all players involved. On a personal scale, intelligence is the means to most of a spy's ends. Field agents don't gather intelligence -- they conduct it and benefit from it. Information captured in the field but not yet vetted (that is, authenticated and confirmed) is merely "raw data." Only after the Agency's analysts have poured over data and added their perspective does it become true "intelligence." The mission types where agents are conducing intelligence espionage encompasses many different activities, including surveillance, infiltration, cryptography, interviewing, and more. Operatives assigned to intelligence missions may find themselves scouting military movements, fling spy planes over enemy lines, bugging and following important researchers, or even posing as a foreign general's newest aide, listening in on his conversations with visiting dignitaries. Surveillance includes activities such as watching one or more locations or people, taking pictures or videos. Monitoring electronic, radio, satellite, cellular, and other traffic. Even reading through publications in foreign countries, intelligence missions with the EDD will take you to far away places. Rescue From time to time, the interests of The Office require the operatives to find or free items, people, or even locations (of the last, usually accomplished by our S-2 MILOPS). A key piece of ear might be stolen from a scuttled destroyer or a downed spy plane, or a fellow operative might be captured during an op gone bad, or a

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hostage situation might erupt in a contained biohazard zone. Bringing a kidnap victim home, extracting a defector who's been caught trying to flee his allegiance, arranging the death of a master specialist the Agency wants to recruit -- all of these situations call for immediate decisive action. Rescue missions are straightforward when the target's location is known, but this is all too rare in our field. Generally, if operatives are being called in, the target has been lost. The bulk of such a rescue mission is the hunt, during which the operative and his associates must piece together the target's most recent movements, as well as those of the suspected (or known) instigators. In most cases, this plays out like a police procedural, with the team threading from witness to witness, clue to clue until the case breaks. Frequently, the agents are operating under a time limit. The EDD breaks rescue missions into two types: tactical and covert. The tactical rescues are conducted by S-2 Military Operations commandos, but their methods are usually very different from typical field agents. Where S-2 Commandos embrace violence to get the job done, the S-6 covert rescue operatives embrace stealth and guile. A successful S-2 MILOPS mission often leaves flames and wreckage in its wake, or at the very least bullet-ridden or stabbed corpses. The same success by S-6 operatives leaves no trace at all -- only an empty chair or bed, a pair of handcuffs lying on a stone floor, or a curtain billowing in an open window leading to freedom. Of course, with failure, S-2 Military Operations and S-6 Clandestine Services operatives are very similar. Both resort to improvisation and more often than not, many, many bullets. Whenever the public becomes aware of a rescue mission or its subsequent fallout, it's likely that federal or local law enforcement will become involved. This can be especially troublesome since these forces are unaware of our existence. In a tense situation, agents can use credentials from another agency, if their use has been authorized. If there are no Operating Conditions (OPCONs) underway, police and other opposition is likely to assume the operative is hostile, or at least an interloper. Hey may attempt to capture him, or even open fire on him if he doesn't surrender. They may setup blockades to try and intercept him as he escapes the area, especially if they think he's kidnapped or stolen the target of his rescue mission. When law enforcement capture seems imminent, it's best to allow capture and plan escape. If that fails, let your cover identity take the fall and skip on bail. Subversion

Transportation

Counter-espionage

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These mission areas are supported through a departmental structured organization and strategic use of custom teams designed for the mission. You can learn more about the Agency's Departments and team structures in the Departments document.

Mission Protocols
The pattern of the average mission is well known. It typically begins with a briefing, in which the operatives are gathered and all relevant facts and objectives are presented -- at least, all relevant facts and objectives the operatives have the clearance to know, followed by a gearing up phase, then field work. Unless the agency is caught unawares, it has probably devoted incredible resources to the mission briefing before the operatives are exposed to it. Every known variable has been accounted for, and every probable complication has been addressed. This doesn't count for human error, however; facts might be left out of provided documents or not fully explained in person. It also doesn't factor hindsight into the equation; the analysts or Control may not stress details that become important later. For these reasons, the operatives are expected to clear their minds and commit everything presented to memory. Operatives are also encouraged to ask questions to gain a clearer view of the situation before venturing into the field. The mission cycle is composed of three phases: The Intel Phase, Field Work, and Debriefing.

The Intel Phase

This is the beginning of a mission or serial mission campaign. It is composed of a mission briefing and gear selection phase.

The Mission Briefing

The mission briefing is a semi-formal gathering of agents, usually physically together, although in some cases of immediate importance agents may participate in the briefing from another location via the agency's secure intra-communication network. The mission briefing will always include: the threat assessment and the threat level of the mission the agent's objectives acceptable exposure levels mission or campaign quality [OOC] It may also include any, all, or none of the following: A mission plan, ranging from sketchy to elaborately detailed, depending on the needs of the operation, the Control, and the availability of information. Profiles of involved agencies and other organizations, potentially including their known goals, assets, operational theaters, front companies, and personnel.

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Dossiers of involved agents and other organizations, potentially including their known allegiances, aliases, preferred gear, contacts, proclivities, and personality quirks. NOTE: Dossiers usually require resource picks although some dossier information may be shared on a need-to-know basis without a resource pick. Blueprints of facilities the operatives are expected to infiltrate, potentially including security systems and occupant schedules. These may need to be requisitioned through contacts or reserve resource picks. Authorized code words and their meanings. Code words may be provided to identify operatives, locations, standard operating procedures, special objectives, and more. Further, code words may be used to give agents special access to secured information that they would not normally gain access to. Operatives may be allowed to designate their own code words. A method of contacting a disassociated agency asset for new gear or information. This may be an 800-number, discreet forwarding email address, a dead drop location, or secured satellite communication via laptop to the CS SMS intranet. These may also be acquired with resource picks. Emergency training that's available.

Estimates are often provided when the agency isn't sure of something. While all care is taken to ensure the accuracy and validity of these estimates, there is a margin of error. Operatives aren't always told when estimates are made, however, and so taking the briefing at face value is often a calculated risk. EDD agents are expected to pose questions to their handler or control to clear up anything about which they might have questions or concerns.

Gearing Up
Following the mission briefing, the operatives pick up their gear. This gear is usually assigned, rather than chosen, and operatives are only given what the agency believes they'll need in the field. Excess equipment slows an operative down and makes him vulnerable to suspicion. Personal gear is always available to the agent, if he or she has any. The agency puts great trust in the responsibility and fidelity of their field operatives and as such usually allow them some latitude in their gear selection, particularly when choosing a sidearm and small amounts of customization. Some missions will provide very specific gear that the Control believes is necessary to complete the mission as gear kits. However, sometimes missions go south and gear is needed for unanticipated events. An agent is expected to develop a network of his own resources and contacts, granted by his department and career, or even personal assets when the needs of the mission require so.

Field Work Phase

The Intel Phase has completed and now the agents are sent off to complete their mission objectives. Out in the field, the operatives are given considerable leeway when choosing how to tackle their assignment. They are expected to be inventive and independent, to adapt and improvise as needed.

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Home Office Communication

Though they're usually provided ways to contact the Home Office, they are prompted not to use them except as scheduled (if scheduled) -- unless one of two things occurs: The conditions of the mission change so drastically that the operatives believe a new Threat Level is warranted. The team can only proceed with assistance from the home office. This is a security issue. Under most circumstances, intelligence agencies must keep a respectable distance from their operations to maintain plausible deniability. Even missions that seem wholly noble can rapidly degenerate, requiring the use of questionable "black" tactics. Also, by restricting communication between agency resources, the chance of enemy interception and infiltration is greatly reduced. Agency assets must keep a low profile, even with each other. All communications with the Home Office must be justified to Control. Using the standard dead drop procedure to request diving gear in order to investigate a missing shipwreck is perfectly reasonable, for instance. The same for using your secure satellite laptop connection to the EDD CS SMS mainframe to pull missionspecific information. Making a non-secure phone call to demand interrogation tools to frighten the locals, however, is grounds for censure. When a mission inevitably takes a turn, whether for the worse or just in an unexpected direction, the operatives are expected to contain and resolve the situation in the agency's best interests. Much of the agent's formative training with the organization and familiarity with the classified introductory documentation and EDD employee manual/packet will help the agent define the "best interests" and how to achieve them, although an agent is within their rights to contact Control to get clarification or define them in a given situation.

Debriefing
Every mission ends with a debriefing where each operative gives an individual accounting of mission events, sometimes in writing or in a verbal statement or Q&A session. All mission objectives are discussed with Control, as are organizations, individuals, events, and other things encountered in the field. These debriefing statements are taken by Control and recorded in the agent's Service Record Book (SRB) as well as being forward to the agency analysts for information analysis. If Control detects stress, he may order a period of relaxation, possibly at an agency-sponsored facility. If Control detects falsehood or inconsistencies in an agent's report it may warrant an internal investigation, likely resulting in some form of censure.

Censure
From time to time, the agency is compelled to reprimand an operative, or a team of operatives, for their actions. There are many reasons censure may be leveled:

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Allowing innocents to die Deceiving the agency or its assets Insubordination Botching a mission Exceeding mission exposure levels

No operative lives in a vacuum, and if his superiors perceive a lack of discretion or professionalism, he may be disciplined. Some leeway is given for certain career paths as their eccentric behaviors assort together with their needed talents or specialties.

Reprimand
This is the mildest form of censure. This can take the form of a verbal censure, where the Control speaks privately with the agent regarding the reason for reprimand. Usually other teammates know of the reprimand, although they are not directly privy to the content of the reprimand. Alternately, a written reprimand may be leveled against an agent, which contains the content of the event for reprimand, and is placed in the agent's SRB. While this has a slight effect on mission gear or budgeting of future missions, it may affect the agent's career chances if competition is tight.

Administrative Leave
This form of censure is common when the operative's judgment is being called into question. Accidental civilian death or property destruction may trigger this punishment. No disciplinary stigma is associated with administrative leave, but recurring incidents may raise red flags. When on administrative leave, an operative may only participate in missions if an agency superior feels he is necessary to the success of a mission, or the survival of a VIP.

Suspension
An operative is suspended when he directly violates agency policy. Deliberate, unsanctioned murder or massive property destruction may trigger this censure, as might suspicion of deceit or mental instability. The operative's SRB is flagged and he is banned from participating in missions, regardless of circumstances.

Forced Retirement
When an operative proves to his agency that he can no longer serve his function, there is no recourse but to permanently relieve him of duty. Forced retirement is generally reserved for operatives who have been censured several times before and show no signs of improvement. Certain major offenses, such as a public scandal and losing or destroying major agency assets, may immediately result in forced retirement.

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Few operatives leave the service with blemishes on their records, as it attracts foreign powers hungry to recruit seasoned professionals. Instead, all but the worst offenders are "honorably" squirreled away in some comfortable, easily observed location and left to rot. The worst quietly leave the Home Office on a slab, severely mutilated and marked "John Doe" in a local morgue. Forcibly retired operatives are watched around the clock, just in case they decide to re-enter the game, in which case they are either reminded of their status (if they still have friends in high places), or neutralized.

Severance
Sometimes an agent's actions or circumstances jeopardize the entire agency, the Office, or a large portion of it, and all ties with him must be severed, known as being "burned." Any disgrace that demands outside punishment, such as the death of a beloved public figure may prompt this response, as well as proof of disloyalty or betrayal. An operative rarely knows when he has been burned. Instead, his agency channels suddenly dry up, his requests go unanswered, and in the worst cases -when the Office feels he is a liability -- other operatives are assigned to neutralize the threat he poses, usually by removing him from this world.

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