Xiomera overhauls security services in wake of Cauhloc raid
In the aftermath of the recent raid of the Xiomeran Ministry of Security headquarters, the Cauhloc, the Xiomeran government has announced a major overhaul of that nation's security services.
The top three leaders of Xiomera's Agency for Security and Intelligence - ASI Director Tlihue, Deputy Director Xochicueyetl and Deputy Director Tōpillnao - have all been relieved of their duties. In addition, Loyalty Minister Tzinaca has been asked to resign by the Empress, and has done so, to make way for the sweeping changes.
ASI - the mammoth Xiomeran intelligence service and secret police, which has existed virtually unchanged since its creation in 1919 - will be broken up into two separate agencies. One of them, the Imperial Intelligence Agency, will take over the foreign intelligence, counter-intelligence, cyber-intelligence and counter-terrorism functions of ASI. According to a government press release, this will allow the newly created IIA to more sharply focus on Xiomera's foreign intelligence needs and goals without having to also deal with domestic matters. This agency will remain under the Ministry of Security.
A second new agency will be formed to handle all domestic intelligence and security matters for Xiomera. This new agency, the Imperial Security Agency or ISA, will be tasked with "investigation of all incidents and matters deemed harmful or threatening to the public order of the Empire," the government press release said. The ISA will also take over control of Xiomera's "social credit" program, as well as its Tilmahcoatl (Cloaked Serpent) domestic censorship and surveillance program. The new ISA intends to use Xiomera's extensive security network to "implement an intelligence-led policing and security program that utilizes domestic intelligence gathering and advanced threat and risk assessment to prevent and/or counter any domestic or internal threats to our government, our citizens, our business or industry, and our nation as a whole," the press release indicated.
Imperial officials also indicated that the new ISA will be part of the Ministry of Loyalty, rather than the Ministry of Security as ASI previously was. This has raised concerns among foreign observers that the ISA will prove to be even more aggressive with a mission of weeding out domestic dissent within the Xiomeran Empire than ASI was. "The fact that this new ISA is assigned to a ministry whose expressed purpose is to ensure loyalty to the government, rather than domestic security, means that the Xiomeran government has dispensed with any pretense that their goal is just to protect their people. This is about ensuring absolute obedience to the government," Axayacac, a Xiomeran democracy activist currently in exile in Milintica, said.
Xiomeran officials have dismissed such accusations, with Empress Calhualyana saying that the new division of duties "shows that no matter what threats or attacks we face, Xiomera will always adapt and overcome them."
"With its new focus on foreign intelligence, the IIA will help shield us from foreign threats. And with its narrowed and sharpened focus on domestic threats, the ISA will ensure that public order, stability, harmony and prosperity are maintained in Xiomera for the benefit of its people. While the attack on the Cauhloc was a shock, it was the wake-up call we needed. The Xiomeran Empire will not be caught sleeping again. That is my promise to the people of Xiomera as their Empress," Calhualyana said.
To further "protect" the new agencies, two new headquarters complexes for each agency are planned to be built in the foothills north of the Xiomeran capital Tlālacuetztla. Their respective Ministries will also relocate to these new headquarters complexes.
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