Office of Public Safety and National Security

The Office of Public Safety and National Security (OPSNS), known informally as the Office and abroad as Bureau, is a civilian and paramilitary foreign and domestic intelligence service of the federal government of Arcerion, officially tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world. The primary means for this intelligence gathering comes through a mixture of human intelligence (HUMINT) and signals intelligence (SIGINT) and performing covert or clandestine actions. As the foremost member of the Arcerion Intelligence Community (AIC), the OPSNS reports to the Minister of Public Safety, currently the 1st Deputy Minister - Rt Hon Elliot Gill, AS. Its primary focus is on providing intelligence for the Prime Minister and Confederate Parliament. The OPSNS was created by the Surveillance Act (1950).

Unlike many other nations that have a segregated domestic and foreign intelligence agencies, the OPSNS focuses on a full spectrum of national security issues, although domestically it works closely with the Ministry of Public Safety and the Emergency Response Group (ERG). A specific note is that while the OPSNS may conduct intelligence collection activities within Arcerion, any actions against Arcer citizens or that may reasonably be expected to involve Arcer citizens must involve Special Constables from the Ministry of Public Safety's ERG. This is to avoid overreach and provide a check and balance to the OPSNS' domestic activities.

The OPSNS is the only civilian agency that is mandated and directed to carry out intelligence collection and covert action at the behest of the Prime Minister's Office. It exerts political or tactical influence through its Operations Teams (usually colour and number-coded). It is a critical piece of Arcerion's security infrastructure in its sphere of influence, helping to detect, deter, and prevent acts of terror or violence against Arcer citizens. Its operations teams have also regularly participated in the political movements and revolutions of Cronan nations, including the planning, coordination, training, supply, and execution of several technical political operations outside of Arcerion. While there has been no formal admittance by the Confederate Parliament or Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the OPSNS has been accused historically of regime change, coup d'etat, and assassinations of foreign leaders or political officials.

The OPSNS has significantly expanded its role and organizational size since the initial complement of 115 personnel in a rented commercial building near the Parliamentary Offices. It regularly explores new options and operational spaces, and as of late has made inroads into Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Information Operations (IO) to help extend Arcerion's political messaging.

Organization, Directorates, and Offices
The OPSNS is subdivided into three major sections, Operations, Intelligence, and Support. The first two work together closely, and as defined by their mandates are separated by the difference in intelligence "generation" versus "collection." The Operations Directorate focuses on using covert and clandestine methods to generate intelligence, be it photography, listening devices, or other means as directed by the Director, Operations based off of requirements from the Headquarters. The Intelligence Directorate is focused on the "collection" of intelligence, and this often manifests in the recruitment and use of human sources or human intelligence. Finally, the Support and Logistics Division provides the support logistically, training, and administration to run the OPSNS' day-to-day activities. The final element is a small team at the Coordination and Liaison Office (CLO). The purpose of the CLO is to work with Special Constables, the ERG, and other Federal or Governorate agencies to ensure the OPSNS satisfies their requirements or identifies areas where problems may occur due to jurisdiction or legal issues. THis also is the nexus for how the OPSNS links into the government's Ministerial Coordination Element (MCE).

Operations Directorate
The Operations Directorate's focus is to generate Operations Teams, of which they are deployed to a foreign country or domestically for the purposes of generating intelligence or providing the Confederate Parliament and Prime Minister's Office with a means for deniable, covert and clandestine influence. Although very little is known about the Operations Directorate, aside from the fact that they work in small teams and use a variety of methods to generate intelligence. A news leak by the Capetian newspaper, Cape Town Free Press, in 2014 revealed that the Operations Directorate had a pair of teams deployed in Washakara, named 1-Green and 3-Green, both of which were deployed to surveil President Breua Lunaesa's Economic Summit with TRIAD. The Arcer government denied these allegations and demanded an official retraction from the Cape Town Free Press, which after much pressure by the Arco government, was granted. The Operations Directorate is known to be organized by nations, geographic areas, and continents, and often political/national security issues, but its precise organization has never been disclosed despite requests from international watchdogs and jounralists.

Training
The OPSNS established its first training site not long after the initial establishment in 1951. The facility, run by the Training and Administration division, was initially comprised of four agents and a police liaison, and operated out of a quartet of rented rooms at the Carnish Anglican University's Arts and Science Building in Kurst, Arcerion.

Since then, recruiting and training of new employees, agents, and operatives occurs annually within Kurst, at a variety of locations, but the Carnish Anglican University still maintains a close relationship with the OPSNS, who went on to fund in part the Hopkins Centre for International Relations Studies, of which the top 3 floors ae used by the OPSNS for training.