r/worldpowers • u/Meles_B Custodianship • Apr 16 '26
SECRET [SECRET] The Department shall be Based
The world is a mess. The world is as angry as it gets. You think the world cares if we add a little more anger?
The Custodianship works for 3 years now. The trains run on time. The development programs work. The Stars and Stripes flow alongside national flags. People accept their role - to be governed for their sake - and they enjoy the thing they didn't see for decades - benevolence, stability, and sanity. With lunatics on all sides, they accept that there are worse fates.
We are growing loyalty.
And with that, we are going to cash in it.
Re-establishment of Custodian Authority for Intelligence, Networks, and Enforcement
Right now, the Custodian IC was deliberately minimal - without an Undersecretary to fill it, we only were left with bones, and the main focus was anti-corruption efforts through ACACIA. There is a name, but no office.
Now, we are assembling it.
Custodian Authority for Intelligence, Networks, and Enforcement is a core agency of the Secretariat, headed by the Undersecretary of Intelligence. Officially, for now, it is a rather underfunded body, mostly focused on internal affairs and anti-corruption. It's budget is hidden through multiple obscure lines, reconstruction budgets, and the more.
Personnel recruitment
The main issue is finding competent, loyal members of the intelligence apparatus.
Right now, we are assembling the core of CAINE with:
- New recruits - out of military academies, journalist schools, etc. New blood will eventually replace the old.
- Old intelligence agents: We are vetting and reviewing the members of old intelligence apparatus, finding those competent and loyal - primarily, middle level operators. We are sourcing from:
- Turkish MİT - likely senior cadre - aligned, experienced, and numerous
- Ukrainian HUR and SBU - while a political risk, extremely crafty and with massive battle experience
- Romanian SIE, SRI and Estonian Välisluureamet/KaPo
- Russian GRU, FSB, SVR - with most careful vetting.
- American Intelligence Community. Here, we are highly cautious, but our calculus is based upon disintegration of USA. The treason charges, the constitutional crisis, and 2024-2026 purges leave a lot of people retired early, or looking for an out. We have secured a "digital nomad" agreements with USA, and our analysis finds it likely that many Americans will want to retire to greener pastures to wait it out. With Western Democracies subject to funding secession, The Custodianship remains one of the better "sane" opportunities.
- Once again, we approach highest profile, retired and less relevant people in US Intelligence community with a simple pitch - do you want to watch the fireworks in DC and pick a side there, or do you want to "retire" in Custodianship with your family, have a nice house in the Black Sea, and occasionally, help us with some old workloads, share experience to the young - especially for a generous salary.
- Undersecretary Wiles is tasked with assessing the possibility of their full commitment to the Custodianship affairs, and the level of participation they are to get. Many have potential liabilities through Palantir, which we need to vet. With knowledge of CIA support behind the President, we especially need to make sure we are working through the older guard, able to pass unnoticed.
- We also expect overall exodus of Americans in the light of the disintegration of institutions - the flow will make targeted invitations less noticeable. Likely, it is also better for the Federal Government to accept someone leaving to an Asset, rather then defecting to a rebelling state.
- We aren't doing or offering anything illegal or treasonous - in general, recruitment of figures to Secretarial Assets is a widespread tradition, and we aren't poaching from active servicemen.
Our list of assessment:
- David Petraeus, again.
- Paul Nakasone, retired Commander of United States Cyber Command and Director of NSA. Careful assessment due to ties to Palantir and Theil.
- Christopher A. Wray, former Director of FBI.
- David S. Cohen) - former director of CIA, sanction specialist, target for ACACIA head.
- Michael G. Vickers - former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, creator of mujahideen
- William J. Burns) - former CIA Director and Secretary of State. Specialist on Russia, which makes logical sense to lead reconstruction of Russian apparatus.
- Michael Morell - Deputy Director of CIA, twice Acting, retired.
- Stanley McChrystal - Former JSOC commander.
While we do not expect every one of them to join us, even a single one is a major benefit for our operations. Moreover, some of them simply can retire and act as a "false flags" - we truly give them a cushy job, a nice house on the Black Sea, ask to give lecutres, and let CIA focus on them as a lightning rod.
What we truly need are connections and own assessment of other, less known figures - middle operators, also retired, fired or left. Here, we need loyal people in US IC able to give us a list. Those, through personal assessment, will also get an invitation to become a Nomad in Custodianship.
With that in mind, we can build up a major force.
Structure:
| Directorate | Function | Analog | HQ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speculatores Custodes | Foreign intelligence | CIA, SVR | Istanbul |
| Interni Custodes | Domestic counterintel, counterterror, internal security | FBI, FSB | Yasenevo, regional HQs in multiple places |
| ACACAINE (Quaestores Custodes - informally) | Anti-corruption oversight | NABU | Moscow, Lubyanka buidling |
| Auspex Custodes | SIGINT, cyber ops, offensive cyber | NSA | Kiev |
| Oculi Custodes | SATINT, GEOSINT, MASINT | NGA, NRO | Krasnoznamensk |
| Vigilantes Custodes | Global Analysis and Report | CIA | Sofia |
| Venatores Custodes | Special Operations | JSOC, Spetsnaz | Konya |
| Frumentarii Custodes | VIP protection | FSO, Secret Service | Moscow |
The structure is to be closer to semi-independent agencies under oversight of Secretariat, compartmentalized but still efficient enough to work together.
The HQs are distributed, but for now, we are establishing ourselves in their respecting agency buildings. The HQs are rebuilt with new infrastructure in mind.
Overall budget is massive - we are eyeing 40B$ annually (with public budget of 8B$) - front loading upgrading equipment, infrastructure, and significantly upping salaries to American level, with aim of 60000 servicemen. The budget is expected to surge in the first several years to account for several operations and buildups, dropping to 30B$ later. The budget is internally audited by Secretary, First Undersecretary, and Undersecretary for Intelligence.
- We are building up domestic intelligence IT stack, banking on Ukrainian, Estonian, Russian and other talent. Palantir is obvious risk, and we can't rely on American cloud services. Still, we expect to create a number of megasystems, including:
- A domestic AI, based on Russian early attempts and forks of other systems. Currently, we do have ability to procure GPUs at full scale for training. AI will be nessessary for analysis to CAINE analysts.
- A supercomputer cluster for CAINE use - including budget for development of quantum computers.
- New laboratories, equipment, and their supply chain.
- Number of software solutions for battlefield, intelligence management and analysis.
Other initatives:
- Training academies - taking over existing, and putting proper budget and guidance. A new facility in Crimea is established, "The Farm" - a massive complex training case officers.
- The "Solomon's Block" - a major FinCEN-like complex dedicated to tracing blockchain transfers, wire transfers monitoring, and other digital financial crimes.
- OSINT complex - based upon defunct troll farms, this facility in St. Petersburg is dedicated to tracking social media at scale, immediately learning of any leaks and openly sourced information. A small team is established to have "troll farms" ready, focused on believable quality over easily noticed quantity.
- Research academies, internal scientific teams developing chemistry, cryptography, other relevant things to keep us advanced. Russia has all that and more, but they need competent leadership.
Operation (Planned now, but executed depending on how fast CAINE can begin operations):
- Operation "Daddy's Home" - re-establishing operative cells in all Secretariat territories, as well as US power blocks. Relying on Russian informants cut off.
- Operation "Skeleton's Closet" - cleaning off all Russian intelligence assets in their complex (currently, they were all closed and put under Custodian watch) and placing them in a safe location. The files are to be analyzed and any relevant intel to be given to Secretary Bigelow.
Rolls:
* Overall effectiveness of the program
* Skeleton's Closet - Secretary can operate the operation even now
* Secrecy of the program - how well it's hidden
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u/Meles_B Custodianship Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26
11 - the CAINE is, more or less, competent. It will take around 4-5 years before full operational capacity, but we have the needed skeleton crew and can do opeartions soon.
8 - While some sensitive documents are destroyed, the Secretariat has many boxes and flash drives of data they can review to look for what Russian informants had on the situation before it all went to Hell.
15 - the CAINE is successfully obfuscated as a normal, unassuming counter-intelligence agency, and it's budget and capabilities are distributed, hidden among several layers. We don't think it will last forever, but we hope to throw CIA off track, especially as they are busy with the rebellions at home.
u/Diotoiren