CLEA

The Combined Law Enforcement Agency or CLEA is an international agency tasked with investigating and apprehending the worlds most notorious criminals and global threats. Unlike agencies that are linked to specific countries which cannot operate outside their borders CLEA operates in over 85% of countries world wide thus they can track down and apprehend suspects who evade justice through border hopping.

Introduction

CLEA tends to deal with threats that would be considered to be of national and international level the organisation does not tend to come in conflict with local levels of law enforcement. For this reason they are granted complete autonomy in the European Alliance, China and North America which fund the organisation. However since there is always a possibility that CLEA might inadvertently interfere with existing investigations it is more usual for them to liaise with local and national law enforcement agencies. This is especially true during the intelligence gathering stages whereby co-operation benefits both CLEA and whomever they have “partnered” with.

Making use of full autonomy therefore only comes into play when a recognised threat is known and CLEA believes there is imminent danger to civilians. Quite often when those situations arise national/local authorities are aware of the problem and welcome the assistance meaning CLEA chiefs rarely have to forcibly take charge.

Sometimes a threat is more serious than CLEA agents are able to deal with. A good example of this are terrorist attacks. In the past the actions of such people would see CLEA having to take a step back and let a county/government deploy its own armed response units.

That often gave terrorist valuable time to secure their positions so in more recent times CLEA has acquired its own armed assets. Though they can deploy forces in the air or on land or at sea, since CLEA is NOT primarily a military organisation before weapons fire is used, whomever is supervising an operation has to obtain official authorisation from the country they are operating in.

In some instances though CLEA has deployed armed units into countries that do not recognise CLEA and are supporting criminal organisations. To avoid being seen as a rogue military unit before such an operation can take place authorisation is sought through the UN. Quite often the CLEA unit will then work with a UN team to carry out their objective.

Since formed CLEA has created it has developed training methods and technology equal to that employed by criminals and is now considered to the foremost agency in dealing with specialist “enhanced” criminal types. That changed when Alphas “appeared” and began using their gifts from criminal activities. CLEA therefore had to adapt itself and did this my employing Alpha’s to counteract these new threats. Despite the number of known Alphas few have joined CLEA’s ranks and this is believed to be due to distrust of law enforcement agencies in general or individual refusing to conform to the CLEA hierarchy. Rather than dismissing a valuable asset CLEA has allowed itself to work alongside famous individuals/groups” of “amateur heroes”, which are refereed to internally as “special” or “external” assets.

By working with Alphas, CLEA has been able to develop tech to deal with almost every type of major criminal. This in time led them to create their own science division. In many cases such tech goes beyond that used by some countries at the national level. Consequently as CLEA expanded across the world it found itself taking responsibility for detaining such individuals and building super max prisons at various locations scattered around the world.

In recent years the work of the agency has expanded to deal with threats that are not of a criminal origin but are threats to human life. The first of these non human threats arrived in the form of hostile extra terrestrials and the next expansion the agency began looking into was supernatural threats. Though both of these “threats” are usually thought to be hokum to most of the general public and even many in the agency, the threat still exists. Investigations and work in dealing with such threats is generally performed out of the public eye with only the personnel involved and on occasions the UN/specific governments being made aware (usually in the case of an alien threat). CLEA command believe that the general public are better off being shielded from the truth.

 Command Structure

CLEA’s work is divided into several specific branches and such work is performed by one of its departments. Depending on the type of facility where the work is based there can be several of the same departments performing work for different branches. CLEA’s main branches of investigation include:-

• Domestic Crime Branch
• International Crime Branch
• Criminal Intelligence Branch
• Hybrid Monitoring Branch
• Maritime Operations Branch
• Offworld Operations Branch
• Occult Branch
• Research and Development Branch
• Human Resources Branch

Each of the branches has one or more of these departments assigned to it

• Investigation
• Medical Support
• Engineering Support
• Science Support
• Armed Response
• Prison Facilities

 Operations

Typically in its simplest operational unit form a CLEA facility will be assigned to a single branch and consist of one or more departments, all of which fall under the leadership of a director. Larger CLEA facilities can house personnel belonging to one or more Branches. These will have their own departments but support departments can be shared between them rather than duplicating them. Different Branch Directors are then expected to work together with shared assets but have complete autonomy over departments that are uniquely assigned to them.

Globally directors belonging to different facilities but having the same investigative branch are expected to share information

In the above diagram the Armed Response Department  is unusual because CLEA can set a unit up to work at the international level and fall under the command of a global chief. Since such a unit would often require support the armed response unit would be given necessary departments to function as a standalone operation. Their global work would entail temporary use of an operational base. Such a base could be a local CLEA facility or loaned from a local government.

The specialist strike teams are a good example of this. Though standalone they can be request to work with other CLEA assets with ultimate command given to whomever is running the joint operation. In all other cases, armed response units are just a departmental asset assigned to CLEA facility and are not under the command of a Captain but the facility’s Director.

Ranking System

As with every law enforcement organisation CLEA has had to create a hierarchy in order to provide a command structure based on seniority. Where  CLEA differs from other agencies is down to the fact that the same levels of seniority may be given different titles due to the department a person works for.

For instance a Technician in the Engineering rank is at an equal “rank” to a Junior Agent in the Investigation department. Calling a Technician and “Junior Agent” would not work and vice versa hence the different job titles.

In some departments titles may not actually be used formally as they are more civilian/office related in the work they do. Outside of CLEA such people would not use the titles in everyday use, hence the reason why CLEA has both formal and informal titles. Typically Investigation and Armed Response departments will use titles while Support departments will not. A good example of this is when a support department is assigned to a standalone Armed Response unit. Since the latter use titles formally then the people working in the support department will also use formal titles.

A comparable ranking system across the entire agency comes into play when departments work together as part of a joint operation. Ranking also helps when CLEA employees wish to transfer across different departments. However they can only keep the same level if they have the correct skills in order to make the move without having to end up starting at the bottom.

Working in the same type of department but transferring between branches does not result in such problems and a person can even go for a promotion in this manner, again if they are at the recognised skill level.

Global Regional Chiefs/Special Operations Chiefs

This is the top position in CLEA’s command structure. Rather than using the full title most CLEA staff simply call them the Chiefs. There are no higher ranks and such people have ultimate authority. Originally CLEA had divided the world into several global territories and each one was governed by a single Chief.

As the people who run CLEA they tend to be fully autonomous in their region but when there is a need to share assets from other regions, they would converse with fellow Chiefs.  Being responsible for CLEA means that they also have to report to the UN. Normally Chiefs “meet” on a regular basis and the outcomes of such meetings are witnessed by a chairman assigned by the UN who reports back.

In recent years the original Regional Chiefs whose branches and departments cover all aspects of CLEA’s work, have  been joined by several others whose sole task is to co-ordinate and deal with singular types of specialist threats that exist at an international level. These are  the Special Operations Chiefs and since their work is global rather than regional, they work  more closely with regional Chiefs

Assistant Chiefs

These form the next level of command and help reduce the workload for the Chiefs. Often a Regional Chief may have several assistant Chiefs who out of a regional HQ and in turn are responsible for several CLEA operational facilities. Special Operations Chiefs may or may not have  Assistants depending on the scale of their Branch.

Directors

Directors are in charge of several department working for the same Branch. They are stationed at a single facility.

Captain

Captain is a unique CLEA rank equal to a director and used by CLEA’s strike teams. The departments under their command are operated in a military convention with formal titles. Their bases of operations are often considered to be mobile.

Handlers

Handlers are responsible for supervising groups of under cover agents and intelligence gathering units at a “local” level.

Agents

Agents usually work alone or in pairs. Their primary duties involve intelligence gathering in the field and arresting suspects. When working for CLEA each agent reports back to a Senior Agent.

White Guardians when using their abilities to solve crimes (as opposed to directly fight it) are considered as “Agents” but their special gifts will see them more frequently between branches and facities.

Special Agents

These work in a similar fashion to Agents but have a specific skills and generally operate with more autonomy. Often Special agents are often used to perform undercover or deep cover duties. Since these agents work alone and are often given assignments that place them in great danger they often receive specialist weapons and combat training. White Guardians can also choose to become Special Agents where their enhanced superhuman abilities is an advantage in covert type work.

Armed Response (local level – Commander and below)

When an armed response unit is permanently assigned to a facility it falls under the command of the director. Commander is thus the highest rank

White Guardians that use their gifts for combat are assigned to Armed Response Departments as they “are” the weapon. Individuals will often use an “agent” designation rather than the military ranking normally associated with the department and this is the only exception when a title is substituted for the equivalent rank.

Curiously some Armed Response Departments consist only of White Guardians and/or enhanced humans. The Department still uses the CLEA official name simply because it refers to all individuals using an offensive capability.

Special Teams

Specialist teams all belong to Armed Response Departments and are standalone units. They can be permanent or temporary depending on the mission profile (i.e. Cyberfight which was established to counter the threat posed by the Raiders and disbanded after the threat status posed by the mercenary group dropped). The creation of a special team is often done at the instigation of a global regional chief but once active they are considered to be global assets and so can be assigned duties anywhere afterwards making them mobile rather that working from a fixed location.

The “head” teams are CLEA’s fast response units. On call permanently they can be deployed at a moments notice with the purpose of dealing with a criminal threat before it has a chance to get properly organised. By arriving quickly and striking with precision the “head” teams usually perform one of two roles;
Fast Attack – Neutralise a threat before the criminals are aware of what is going on
Rescue/Extractions – Protect and recover civilians/CLEA personnel before they can be killed or used as bargaining pieces.
If the armed situation is due to a political conflict the UN has to authorise deployment first. In all other cases CLEA can deploy the teams with permission from local/national agencies.
Like all the other teams “Head” teams can also be deployed in a secondary support role to assist in an ongoing crisis.

• “Spearhead” – Fast land based attack and extraction.
• “Thunderhead” – Land based heavy armour support and defence.
• “Beach Head” – Marine/ amphibious extraction.
• “Arrowhead” – Air support and extraction

“Weather” teams are strike teams called upon to neutralise hostile criminal forces when collateral damage to civilian populations is considered negligable. They perform the roles military forces are often called upon to deal with of a criminal nature. Of these, the original “Tornado” team was killed in a failed raid on the Mechaniac.

• “Monsoon” – marine anti-piracy strike team
• “Hurricane” – air/land/sea attack force dedicated to elimination of drug cartels.
• “Tornado” – dedicated to neutralising mercenary units (land based)

“Round table” teams are small soldier units that specialise in hostage rescue.
Arthur – White Guardian unit (can be deployed in a support role with other Round Table Teams)
Lancelot – high rise building specialist

• Tristan – air drop infiltration specialist
• Galahad – maritime/air hijack specialists
• Percival – engineering specialists (support team, work alongside other Round Table teams when entry by any “ordinary” method is impossible)

“Metal units” consist of operatives whose main duties involve capturing and containing known dangerous individuals. Each team is comprised of people with “specialist” skills that are suited to mission they are selected for.

• Platinum – White Guardian Unit (thought ARD they retain Agent Ranking titles)
• Gold
• Silver
• Copper

Lastly CLEA operates a team which consists partly of extra terrestrials, the purpose of which is to deal with hostile alien incursions and criminals and the retrieval of alien tech. This group is known as:-

• Menagerie

External Assets

Special assets are personnel that are not official part of the CLEA chain of command but can be called upon to perform duties similar to agents or strike teams. The usage of special assets initially came about following the formation of Zodiac. Essentially a group of Alpha vigilantes, CLEA chief Naylor saw possibilities in using the group to resolve problems where their unique abilities give them the edge. When other so called “hero” groups began appearing (non Alpha and Alpha) a number of these offered their services to CLEA and so the Special Assets division was added to the command structure.