Authentic Agencies Part 2

Written by Merle Rasmussen

This is the second in a series of articles presenting the TOP SECRET game world’s intelligence community. Last month, the American spy agencies were detailed. This month’s edition includes data on allied foreign intelligence-gathering agencies and important international organizations. Note that, though these agencies exist in the real world, they are given here only as constructs for the TOP SECRET game world. Some of the statistics given for these agencies are reasonably accurate and are taken from publicly available information, but some of the statistics were invented for the sake of completeness or were altered to conform to the specific background and nature of the TOP SECRET game world.

Information about these agencies, as with the previous articles in DRAGON issues 93 and 97, is presented in several categories defined below. It is assumed that this information is commonly available to player character agents and to the general public. Agents might be given additional information that isn’t public knowledge during the course of a game campaign.

Nature of agency: The basic nature of the organization.
Governing body: The governing body of most intelligence organizations are national governments. The control for government agencies is the government official to whom the chief of the agency reports. Non- government organizations may have a short description of their group listed here.
Personnel: The estimated size of agency staffs based on public sources. Comparisons show the relative size and activity of various agencies.
Annual budget: The US dollar figures shown are estimates based on public sources. Comparisons show the relative size and activity of various agencies.
HQ: The main headquarters for agency operations.
Established: The date the agency was founded.
Activities: Domestic counterintelligence means that the agency is responsible for counterespionage inside the borders of its own country. Foreign counterintelligence means that the agency has responsible for counterespionage outside the borders of its own country.
Policies: Several of the major laws and philosophies of the organization.
Objectives: The major goals of the organization.
Areas of involvement: The places in which the agency is known to operate or exercise jurisdiction.
Allies: Agencies often share intelligence data formally and informally with one another, when it suits them to do so. Associated agencies do not necessarily share intelligence because of publicly recognized treaties.
Additional data: More information on agency structure, operations, covers, and past history is given here.
Bureaus: If the word “All” is present in this category, the following TOP SECRET bureaus may be active within a particular agency: Administration, Investigation, Confiscation, Technical, Operations, and Assassination (see DRAGON issue 82, “New avenues for agents” for an explanation of the newest bureaus). The DIA serves as the Administration Bureau for Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps Intelligence. The KGB is the Administration Bureau for the intelligence agencies of the Warsaw Pact nations.
Alignment profile: An agent trained by a particular intelligence agency will very often develop political opinions that are shared by a majority of fellow agents in the organization. The range of personal opinions an agent has relating to political systems, political change, and economic systems are called his alignment profile. The TOP SECRET alignment system was detailed in DRAGON issue 93, in “Agencies and Alignments”.

Security Service (MI5)

Nature of agency: Security service of the United Kingdom
Governing body: Home Office, United Kingdom
Personnel: 2,800
Annual budget: $21 million
HQ: 21 Queen Anne’s Gate, London, England
Established: 1909
Activities: Domestic counterintelligence, including internal security and counter-espionage
Policies: Publication of staff size is not permitted. Britain controls wiretapping by requiring warrants from the Home Secretary or Foreign Secretary, depending upon whether British citizens or foreign diplomats are involved.
Objectives: To identify spies, keep records of their Activities, and decide when such spies should be exposed or arrested
Areas of involvement: Inside the UK
Allies: MI6 and FBI
Additional data: An organization analogous to the FBI, MI5 has no power to make arrests. Arrests are made by the Special Branch, a department of Scotland Yard. Special Branch also presents evidence in security cases, allowing MI5 agents to remain anonymous. MI5 conducts thorough background investigations of its prospective agents.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-94/20-94

Secret (Intelligence) Service (M16, SIS)

Nature of agency: “Grandfather” of most of the principal intelligence services outside of the Communist world
Governing body: Foreign Office, United Kingdom
Personnel: 2,500
Annual budget: $29.6 million
HQ: Leconfield House, Curzon St, Mayfair, London, England
Established: 1911
Activities: Military intelligence, strategic intelligence, foreign counterintelligence
Policies: Publication of staff size is not permitted
Objectives: To spy on enemies and potential enemies of the nation
Areas of involvement: Worldwide
Allies: MI5 and CIA
Additional data: This agency is known to foreigners as the British Secret Service. Captain Mansfield Cumming set up MI6 prior to World War I, and he used his initial “C” to identify himself to his subordinates. The heads of MI6 have called themselves “C” (not “M”) ever since.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-94/20-94

Defense Intelligence Service

Nature of agency: Military intelligence staff of the three armed services
Governing body: Ministry of Defense, United Kingdom
Personnel: 3,000
Annual budget: $190 million
HQ: Bolton, UK
Established: 1965
Activities: Military intelligence. The Defense Intelligence Service consolidates armed service units.
Policies: To combine intelligence at the ministerial level under a Director of Military Intelligence, whose staff also produce economic, scientific, and technical intelligence
Objectives: To collect and disseminate operational (tactical) intelligence
Areas of involvement: Worldwide, especially in Commonwealth member nations and previous colonies
Allies: NATO
Additional data: The Defense Intelligence Staff replaced the Joint Intelligence Bureau under the permanent undersecretary of the Foreign Office, which is under the Prime Minister.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/20-94/20-94

Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)

Nature of agency: Britain’s primary source of raw information for intelligence analysis
Governing body: Foreign Office, United Kingdom
Personnel: 6,000 to 10,000
Annual budget: $500 million
HQ: Cheltenham, UK
Established: 1954
Activities: Electronic intercept
Policies: To exchange information with allied nations
Objectives: To make and break all codes
Areas of involvement: Analysis of signals intercepted in Eastern Europe, the European part of the Soviet Union, the Middle East, Hong Kong, and Africa
Allies: NSA, Australia’s Defense Signals Division, Canada’s Communication Branch of the National Research Council
Additional data: The GCHQ has liaison officers stationed at NSA’s headquarters in Fort Meade, Md., and in Ottawa and Melbourne. The computers at GCHQ are tied to computers at NSA by a secret cable system. There are four divisions within the Directorate of Sigint Operations and Requirements. Division “J” is classified as “Special Sigint” and deals exclusively with the Soviet bloc. Division “K” handles all other geographical areas with considerable specialization. Division “H” deciphers codes. Division “Z” obtains orders for intelligence from NATO members and assigns monitoring stations and translators to listening tasks.
Bureaus: Administration, Technical, and Operations
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-94/20-94

Direction Générale de la Sécurité Exterieure (DGSE)

Nature of agency: Principal intelligence agency of France
Governing body: Prime Minister, France
Personnel: 2,650
Annual budget: $111 million
HQ: Paris, France
Established: 1981 (The SDECE was established in 1958.)
Activities: Military intelligence, strategic intelligence, electronic intercept, foreign counterintelligence
Policies: The DGSE is divided into three parts: espionage, counterespionage, and covert operations
Objectives: To understand Soviet military strength, and to cope with the problems of terrorism, drug trafficking, world energy, and world grain production
Areas of involvement: Former French colonies and worldwide
Allies: DST
Additional data: Nicknamed “The Pool”, this agency was formerly the Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-espionage (SDECE) — the Department of Foreign Information and Counterespionage. The action directorate of DGSE has paratroopers of the 11th Airborne Division assigned to it. The DGSE is one of the most successful agencies in fending off attempts to infiltrate its ranks. The French people do not discuss the DGSE publicly in the same manner that Americans discuss the activities of the CIA.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-94/07-94

Deuxième Bureau (Second Bureau)

Nature of agency: French military intelligence agency
Governing body: Minister of Defense, France
Personnel: 5,000
Annual budget: $200 million
HQ: Nice, France
Established: 1872
Activities: Interpreting military intelligence reports
Policies: The Second Bureau is responsible for interpreting intelligence reports; it then delivers the interpretations to the French general staff for use in making strategic and tactical decisions.
Objectives: The same as the DGSE’s objectives
Areas of involvement: Worldwide, especially former French colonies
Allies: The espionage and counterintelligence services of the Special Services (called the Fifth Bureau in wartime)
Additional data: The Second Bureau is currently quite involved in monitoring “minor wars” and terrorist activities in Africa.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/20-94/07-81

Direction de la Sécurité du Territoire (DST, Directorate for Surveillance of the Territory)

Nature of agency: Controlling service of French national surveillance
Governing body: Minister of the Interior, France
Personnel: 3,000
Annual budget: $22 million
HQ: Lyon, France
Established: 1958
Activities: Domestic counterintelligence
Policies: To expel foreign officials caught spying in France
Objectives: To maintain and preserve internal security
Areas of involvement: Inside France
Allies: The DGSE and the Surete (the French police system)
Additional data: Equivalent to MI5 or the FBI in nature
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-94/01-19

Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND, Federal Intelligence Service)

Nature of agency: Most truly centralized intelligence service of any NATO nation
Governing body: Chancellor, West Germany
Personnel: 6,000
Annual budget: $90 million
HQ: Pullach (near Munich), West Germany
Established: 1956
Activities: Military intelligence, strategic intelligence, electronic intercept, foreign counterintelligence, economic intelligence, political intelligence
Policies: The assessment of intelligence gathered is left entirely to political leadership.
Objectives: To gather order-of-battle information, using members of the military detailed to the BND for that purpose; to gather strategic electronic intelligence; and to interrogate prisoners in time of war
Areas of involvement: Worldwide, especially East Germany
Allies: MAD and Bfv (see below)
Additional data: BND has three divisions subversion, counterintelligence, and foreign intelligence
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-94/07-81

Militarischer Abschirmdienst (MAD, Military Intelligence Service)

Nature of agency: Military counterintelligence for West Germany
Governing body: Minister of Defense, West Germany
Personnel: 4,000
Annual budget: $100 million
HQ: Bonn, West Germany
Established: 1956
Activities: Military intelligence, electronic intercept
Policies: Prisoner interrogation in wartime is turned over to the BND; otherwise, interrogation is performed by MAD.
Objectives: To gain tactical intelligence from direct contact with the enemy
Areas of involvement: East and West Germany
Allies: BND and NATO
Additional data: Attempts are being made to avoid the World War II mistakes caused by rivalry between competing government bureaucracies.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/20-94/07-81

Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (Bfv, Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution)

Nature of agency: West German counter-intelligence agency
Governing body: Minister of the Interior, West Germany
Personnel: HQ has over 2,000
Annual budget: $87.5 million
HQ: Cologne, West Germany
Established: 1958
Activities: Domestic counterintelligence
Policies: To function as a decentralized system in which the German states retain significant responsibility for internal security. (This is done to avoid the hard-learned lessons of the 1930s and 1940s under the highly centralized Gestapo.)
Objectives: To maintain internal security
Areas of involvement: West Germany
Allies: BND
Additional data: Bfv has five divisions, dealing with administrative and legal matters, right-wing extremism, communist political activities, counterespionage, and security matters.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-81/07-81

Office of Intelligence and Special Missions (Mossad)

Nature of agency: Main department of Israeli intelligence
Governing body: Prime Minister, Israel
Personnel: 1,500 to 2,000
Annual budget: $85 million
HQ: Jerusalem, Israel
Established: 1951 (In 1937, a secret army was started which was later expanded to include espionage and procurement of arms.)
Activities: Strategic intelligence, foreign counterintelligence
Policies: Israeli intelligence gathering and counterintelligence operations are sometimes quite forceful.
Objectives: To collect foreign political, economic, scientific, and technological information. Secret agents of the Special Operations department have also conducted a fierce undercover campaign against enemies of Israel and fugitives who have committed crimes against the Jewish people, particularly war criminals from Nazi Germany who may be at large.
Areas of involvement: Worldwide
Allies: The intelligence services of the USA, France, Turkey, Ghana, Japan, Iran, Spain, Portugal, Austria, South Africa, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Kenya, Zaire, Liberia, and Christians in Lebanon.
Additional data: This agency is also known as the Central Institution for Intelligence and Special Services (mossad means “institution” in Hebrew). The Mossad often deals directly with other nations, especially those with which Israel has no diplomatic relations. The Mossad is ranked by espionage experts as being among the six best intelligence organizations in the world.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 20-81/07-81/20-81

Israeli Military Intelligence (Aman)

Nature of agency: A branch of the Israeli Defense Forces
Governing body: Chief of Staff, Defense Forces, Israel
Personnel: 7,000
Annual budget: $375 million
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel
Established: 1952-53 (reorganized)
Activities: Military intelligence, strategic intelligence, electronic intercept
Policies: To break all Arab spy rings encircling Israel
Objectives: To collect and analyze material dealing with Arab military and political developments
Areas of involvement: The Middle East
Allies: Aman shares, the same allies as the Mossad.
Additional data: Aman is a subdivision of the Mossad.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 20-81/20-94/20-81

Sherut Bitachon Kali (Shin Beth, SHABAK)

Nature of agency: Israeli internal security service
Governing body: Prime Minister, Israel
Personnel: 1,000
Annual budget: $75 million
HQ: Jaffa, Israel
Established: 1951 (with roots back to 1948)
Activities: Domestic counterintelligence and some military intelligence
Policies: Immigrants coming to Israel are monitored by the anti-terrorist section of Shin Beth.
Objectives: To maintain the internal security of Israel
Areas of involvement: Within Israel
Allies: The intelligence services of the USA, France, Turkey, Ghana, Japan, Iran, Spain, Portugal, Austria, South Africa, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Kenya, Zaire, Liberia, and the Christians in Lebanon.
Additional data: All telephone communication in Israel can be monitored from a switchboard in Shin Beth headquarters. Shin Beth is analogous to the FBI and MI5. It has three sections: Arab, Eastern European, and Anti-Terrorist.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 20-81/20-81/20-81

Koan Choa Cho (Public Security Investigation Agency, PSIA)

Nature of agency: Japanese secret service
Governing body: Prime Minister of Japan
Personnel: 2,600
Annual budget: $76.4 million
HQ: Tokyo, Honshu, Japan
Established: 1952
Activities: To collect political and economic intelligence.
Policies: To work closely with the Keisatsu Cho (Police Guard Division), which was established to monitor left- and right-wing subversive groups
Objectives: To work with the Police Guard Division in investigating subversive movements wherever and whenever they should appear. Both of these agencies possess the powers of arrest and raiding.
Areas of involvement: Within Japan, although much information is collected from outside the country
Allies: Intelligence services of South Korea, Taiwan, and the USA
Additional data: The Japanese desire knowledge for its own sake, whether for peaceful or wartime purposes
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-94/01-81

Japanese Military Intelligence

Nature of agency: Offices for specific geographic areas in the civilian bureau of the Defense Agency, in the J-2 (Intelligence) section of the Joint Staff, and in the intelligence sections of the Ground, Air, and Maritime Self-Defense Forces
Governing body: Prime Minister of Japan
Personnel: 100
Annual budget: $10 million
HQ: Yokohama, Honshu, Japan
Established: 1954
Activities: Military intelligence, electronic intercept
Policies: The Japanese have no laws for securing classified documents, limiting US/Japanese intelligence exchanges.
Objectives: To accurately keep track of Soviet air and naval operations in the vicinity of Japan, and of Soviet and Chinese ground forces on the Sino-Soviet border
Areas of involvement: Japanese territory, airspace, and surrounding waters
Allies: The CIA assists with mutual security in Japan only.
Additional data: The Japanese military intelligence system consists of a small group of highly trained and multilingual intelligence officers within several military and civilian organizations. The Japanese are experts at electronic intercept.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/20-94/07-81

Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO)

Nature of agency: Australian internal security system
Governing body: Prime Minister of Australia
Personnel: 2,200
Annual budget: $51.5 million
HQ: City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Established: 1957
Activities: Domestic counterintelligence
Policies: To monitor the activities of civilians or domestic organizations that seek to prejudice internal security
Objectives: To keep subversive elements from undermining the government
Areas of involvement: Within Australia
Allies: Intelligence services of the British Commonwealth and the USA
Additional data: Australia, at present, is not particularly threatened by any major internal problems.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-94/07-81

Office of National Assessments (ONA)

Nature of agency: Principal Australian intelligence service
Governing body: Cabinet and Prime Minister of Australia
Personnel: 2,850.
Annual budget: $76.5 million
HQ: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Established: 1977
Activities: Foreign counterintelligence
Policies: To avoid comment or advice regarding government policy, not to use clandestine means to gather information, to avoid duplicating Activities of other departments, and to accept control and overseeing by a committee of ministers on intelligence and security
Objectives: ONA is responsible for national intelligence assessments and current intelligence reporting.
Areas of involvement: Worldwide, but especially in the South Pacific and South-east Asia
Allies: Intelligence services of the British Commonwealth and the USA
Additional data: Responsibility for national intelligence assessment was shifted from the military to the separate civilian agency after World War II.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/20-94/07-81

Royal Canadian Mounted Police — Security Systems (RCMP-SS)

Nature of agency: Administrative department
Governing body: Prime Minister of Canada
Personnel: 1,600
Annual budget: $50 million
HQ: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Established: 1873 (present title adopted in 1920)
Activities: Internal security and counter-espionage duties were transferred to SIS in 1981.
Policies: To use any technical equipment handy, from dog sleds to computers
Objectives: To enforce provincial laws and the criminal code. The mounties “always get their man”.
Areas of involvement: Within Canada
Allies: Intelligence services of the British Commonwealth and the USA
Additional data: The RCMP is one of the world’s most notable crime-fighting organizations. It has laboratories for scientific analysis of evidence, large fingerprinting and identification files, and an academy for training police officers. A commissioner runs the organization from Ottawa and has liaison officers in London and Washington, DC The RCMP is the only police force operating in the Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/20-94/07-81

Security Intelligence Service (SIS)

Nature of agency: Canadian internal security service
Governing body: Prime Minister of Canada
Personnel: 1,000
Annual budget: $21 million
HQ: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Established: 1981
Activities: Domestic counterintelligence
Policies: The SIS works within the law in order not to violate any civil liberties. If necessary, laws are changed so that the agency can work effectively within the law.
Objectives: To maintain the internal security of Canada
Areas of involvement: Within Canada
Allies: Intelligence services of the British Commonwealth and the USA
Additional data: This new civilian agency was formed with staff from the RCMP-SS, but it works independently from the RCMP and other police agencies.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-94/07-81

Department of National Security (DONS)

Nature of agency: Semi-secret government agency
Governing body: Prime Minister of Republic of South Africa
Personnel: 1,700
Annual budget: $56 million
HQ: Capetown, South Africa
Established: 1978
Activities: Responsible for enforcing rules and laws. Anyone doing anything that could endanger society can be investigated.
Policies: DONS has the power to arrest and detain without warrants of any kind. Members of DONS do not plan murders; they seek to intimidate potential troublemakers, hence the organization’s reputation for violence in the extreme.
Objectives: To maintain the government’s apartheid (racial separation) policies
Areas of involvement: Within the Republic, the Homelands, the Independent Homeland States, and outside the country.
Allies: CID and the intelligence services of Israel and Taiwan.
Additional data: DONS maintains a strongly guarded prison for political dissidents on Robbin Island, in Table Bay near Capetown. DONS was created from an older service, BOSS (Bureau of State Security), which was established in 1969, but is not appreciably different from BOSS.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 07-94/07-00/20-81

Civil Intelligence Department (CID)

Nature of agency: Secret investigative department
Governing body: Prime Minister of Republic of South Africa
Personnel: 1,600
Annual budget: $54.5 million
HQ: Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa
Established: 1974
Activities: Foreign counterintelligence
Policies: To investigate plots to overthrow or control the government of South Africa
Objectives: To prevent sabotage and the loss of national secrets
Areas of involvement: Outside the Republic of South Africa
Allies: DONS
Additional data: The CID is analogous to a secret FBI.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 07-94/07-94/20-81

International Reporting and Information Service (IRIS)

Nature of agency: Privately owned international business
Governing body: Large European financial institutions, organized by a US publisher and a former British Prime Minister
Personnel: 96 correspondents, 33 analysists, plus a varying number of others
Annual budget: $15 million
HQ: New York City, New York, USA
Established: 1982
Activities: IRIS stores business data which can be retrieved by analysists studying specific trends in the international business community. Meaningful data for a client is sifted from the mass of information that becomes available daily.
Policies: To make all information obtained by this worldwide computerized organization available to the public for a price
Objectives: To serve as an intermediary organization between busy executives in the commercial world and the flood of information around them
Areas of involvement: Worldwide
Allies: None
Additional data: IRIS is comparable to, but excels, the CIA in computer capacity.
Bureaus: Administration, Investigation, Technical, Operations
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-94/01-81

International organizations

United Nations Security Council

Nature of agency: Primary instrument for establishing and maintaining international peace
Governing body: Five permanent member nations (USA, USSR, United Kingdom, France, and the People’s Republic of China) and 10 temporary member nations.
Personnel: Varies
Annual budget: Varies
HQ: United Nations Building, New York City, New York, USA
Established: 1945
Activities: The Security Council may dispatch an armed UN force to stop aggression.
Policies: To prevent war by settling disputes between nations
Objectives: To establish and maintain international peace
Areas of involvement: The planet Earth, the Moon, and the space between them.
Allies: UN member nations
Additional data: Dispatched forces may be from any member nation. All member nations undertake to make available armed forces, assistance, and facilities to maintain international peace and security.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 20-81/20-81/20-81

Australia, New Zealand, and United States Alliance (ANZUS)

Nature of agency: Regional defensive alliance
Governing body: Member nations
Personnel: Varies
Annual budget: Varies
HQ: None
Established: 1952
Activities: Military alliance
Policies: Each member nation may choose not to share documents with its allies.
Objectives: To take any necessary joint counteraction under UN charter, including the use of armed force
Areas of involvement: Indian Ocean Arabian Sea, and Persian Gulf
Allies: Australia, New Zealand, and USA
Additional data: New Zealand recently forbade US ships which were probably carrying nuclear weapons from docking at New Zealand’s ports, an action which has called the existence of ANZUS into question.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/20-94/07-81

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Nature of agency: Non-military economic alliance
Governing body: Member nations
Personnel: Varies
Annual budget: Varies
HQ: Bangkok, Thailand
Established: 1967
Activities: ASEAN members regularly exchange political, economic, and military intelligence with each other.
Policies: To cooperate on international, political, and economic issues
Objectives: To promote regional economic integration, like the European Economic Community
Areas of involvement: Southeast Asia
Allies: Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore are members, with Papua New Guinea having observer status
Additional data: ASEAN was organized at first as an economic grouping.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-94/01-81

Kilowatt

Nature of agency: Anti-terrorist organization
Governing body: Member nations
Personnel: None of its own
Annual budget: None of its own
HQ: None
Established: 1978
Activities: Organization concerned with Arab terrorism
Policies: National units are trained in the commando techniques of West Germany’s Leatherheads (GSG9), Britain’s legendary SAS, and the French Gendarmerie’s Intervention Group (GIGN).
Objectives: To communicate with member nations in an effort to reduce and control terrorist activities
Areas of involvement: Within member nations
Allies: West Germany, Belgium, Italy, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, and Israel
Additional data: This counter terrorist organization was established to trade information and to act as a center for information on terrorist organizations, operatives, methods, and links.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 07-19/07-94/07-81

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Nature of agency: Regional defensive alliance
Governing body: NATO council of top foreign, economic, defense, and financial ministers
Personnel: Varies
Annual budget: Varies
HQ: Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers, Europe (SHAPE) is located at “Camp Casteau” near the Mons area in Belgium, about 30 miles southwest of Brussels.
Established: 1949
Activities: Military and naval defensive alliance
Policies: Each member nation may chose not to share information produced by its own intelligence services.
Objectives: To take necessary joint counteraction under the UN charter, including the use of armed force
Areas of involvement: Member countries on or near the North Atlantic Ocean.
Allies: Belgium, United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, West Germany, and the USA are members.
Additional data: NATO protects an area of 8 million square miles, containing 500 million people.
Bureaus: All
Alignment profile: 01-19/07-94/07-81