The Agency

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Revision as of 22:02, 14 December 2006

The Agency is a government subunit responsible for some of the most secret technologies, capabilities and investigations of the U.S. government. Its activities are too secret to be categorized under any classification scheme; too dangerous to be part of any conventional bureaucracy (although The Agency usually operates under several layers of "cover" bureaucracy, and has been part of many major or minor agencies of the Executive Branch). Its activities are coordinate by a supreme bureaucrat known as The Official, who usually reports directly to the President (though there have been significant stretches of American history during which the President was unaware of The Agency and when The Official reported to no one at all).

History

The first incarnation of The Agency was established in late 1893 under Socrates Poole, after the crisis involving John Bly and the Orbs. Secret Service Agents under Agent Brown betrayed the United States and tried to take control of an Orb for their own purposes. After this incident, President Garfield realized that an "even more secret service" was required, and directed the recruitment of the people responsible for stopping Agent Brown and his men into federal service. The first two Agents were bounty hunters Brisco County, Jr. and Lord Bowler.

Bowler, County and Poole continued to serve the general cause of law and justice, in addition to their federal assignments, for some time. Conflicts arising from County's marriage to Dixie County (née Cousins) led to him leaving federal service and settling somewhere in Oregon. Bowler served a very long time in federal service, being an active Agent well into the 1930s. He also trained the next generation of Agency Agents, and in general established much of the no-nonsense, results-over-procedure culture that would mark the Agency.

World War II

The Agency was created to deal with small-scale, high-powered exotic threats. The World War was effectively prosecuted by other capabilities within the government while The Agency pursued its own prosecution of domestic and external threats. This period also brought the worst crisis in The Agency's history, when it was infiltrated by an esper in Soviet employ named Priscilla Baxter (codenamed Rasputin). The Official was killed, and one of The Agency's senior agents, Nate Reynolds, briefly served in that capacity while tracking Baxter down and neutralizing her. He was also responsible for taking The Agency into its deepest cover, severing contact with the White House (Harry S. Truman, and indeed no President until Nixon, was aware of it).