Foreign Dopers, does your country have a version of the FBI or CIA? If it does what are the names?
U.S.A.
Central Intelligence Agency
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Foreign Dopers, does your country have a version of the FBI or CIA? If it does what are the names?
U.S.A.
Central Intelligence Agency
Federal Bureau of Investigation
In Canada, the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) does much the same stuff as the FBI, plus regular police work as well in all provinces & territories except Ontario and Quebec.
We also have CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) which does secret stuff like the CIA.
The Australian security organisations are:
ASIS, ASIO and the Australian Federal Police
Wouldn’t class them as CIA equivalents though.
Here in the UK, we have the Official Secrets Act, which is incredibly draconian. However recent court cases have made it look silly, so now there is some official information:
http://www.five.org.uk/security/security
and from that site:
‘Internal security is the province of the Security Service (MI5), while espionage against overseas targets is undertaken by MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service. In recent years MI5 has sought to expand its role to include areas traditionally dealt with by the police, while MI6 has seen its activities reduced with the end of the state of enmity with the former Communist bloc.’
The Special Branch (part of the Police) don’t seem to be on the Web. They used to guard foreign dignitaries / embassies (remember that most policemen here are not armed), deal with anti-terrorism (particularly N. Ireland) etc.
The clause above about MI5 expanding its role means taking responsibilities away from Special Branch.
What about your NSA? Where does that fit in?
oh, glee, you don’t know the half of it…
The Americans have a LOT of money and they have no qualms about spending it. The US has 13(!) agencies in the intelligence community, giving us the ingredients for an entire bowl of alphabet soup: in addition to the known CIA, FBI, NSA, there’s DIA, NRO, NIMA, Army, Navy, Air Force, & Marine Intelligence, Depts of Treasury, Energy & State.
This does not include the many sub-agencies and facilities that route down from these guys. So you can just say that pretty much everything falls under the big 13.
Here’s the link
As for what I can find… (sit down, people, we’re gonna be here for a while)
Israel has the Mossad (mostly external and nasty deceptive stuff usually set for Hollywood flicks), the Shin Bet, Aman (Military), and Lekem (Scientific).
Russia has the Community for State Security (KGB), Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Central Intelligence Service (CSR), add an FSB, an FSK, an MVD, a little FAPSI, a dash of FSO, simmer with GUO, GRU, PSB, let sit, then toss in a good old helping of FPS. (12. 1 less than our American comrades)
Japan has the Boeicho (Self Defense Force), National Police Agency (Keisatsucho), Intelligence and Analysis Bureau (couldn’t find a name), --I’m sure a Japanese-placed doper will correct me on these (that’s a request, actually)
The UK also has the NCIS (National Criminal Intel Svc), and (get this) BBC Monitoring Service (when you think about it, that counts, actually!), and Defense Intel
On top of what Piper said, the Canucks also have a few not-so public divisions: CSIC, SIRC, and CSE (falling under Defense)
Let’s see…
wooly’s got the big three from our Aussie friends. Then there’s ONA, Defense (the Army has 4 Intel divisions!), APS, ASVS, PSCC, NCA, and OSCA
The Kiwis have SIS, GCSB, and CIB & FIU (the last 2 fall under the Police Governance)
…alright, I’m done showing off GO HERE for the answer to your question and you’ll see what all these letters stand for and what they cover jurisdiction-wise.
Germany, where similar to the US the police are not federal but state organizations, has its Bundeskriminalamt (Federal Criminal Office, BKA) which AFAIK actually took the American FBI as a model. But the BKA has no own officers authorized to arrest people; it has scientific departments and databases and co-ordinates the work of the 16 state police organizations.
The German secret service is the Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service, BND) which does counterespionage and stuff but also has limited rights to eavesdrop the phone of a person suspected to be engaged in criminal activities under certain circumstances (judge gave order to do so, the person under surveillance gets informed about it afterwards and so on).
Besides, the Army operates its own agency called the Militärischer Abschirmdienst (Military Shielding Service, bearing the unfortunate abbreviation MAD).
The organization that resembles the NSA most is the Verfassungsschutz (Protection of the Constitution). There is one federal Verfassungsschutz and 16 state agencies that observe anticonstitutional organizations and stuff, but AFAIK they are not authorized to eavesdrop.
Have a look: