United States Terrorists Identification and Surveillance Network
Prelude
After we discovered the Dakotans were responsible for the Ruination of Lake Erie, intelligence agencies had a lot of egg on their face. These weren't just American citizens, they were legislators - congressmen. It's one thing for a group of fishing buddies shooting some AR-15s in the woods, but it's a whole other kettle of fish to have them working in the Capitol building and sitting on committees. These people knew classified information; secrets that could be devastating if it got out. We couldn't just collectively change our passwords and call it a day. We had a formal channel for intel sharing before, but it was a goddamn laughing stock. The government and the American people needed an answer and it was Deputy Director of the CIA, Terrence Huffman, who gave it to them.
Formation
Huffman had moved up fast in the CIA ranks, probably too fast for some. He was smart, efficient, and effective. And unlike a lot of his peers, he understood the technology and how it was evolving. He stayed up-to-date on everything because he understood the importance of communication and surveillance.
So when the FBI and CIA were running around in a panic, Deputy Director Huffman stepped forward and showed them the way. A new agency to survey and collect data in order to detect possible terrorist activity. But it wasn't just going to be boots on the ground, knocking on doors or infiltrating Klan meetings undercover. This new agency would focus on the digital world, specializing in cyber surveillance. And because the other agencies were severely lacking in cyber literacy, this new organization needed to be separate and free from their bureaucracy. It needed its own autonomy.
His detractors came out guns blazing. They felt like he was throwing everyone under the bus even though he was, in their eyes, just as responsible for the failure as everyone else.
Unfortunately for them he had receipts. Scores of emails of him calling for more resources in the cyber division being rebuffed or unanswered. Huffman's calm demeanor and frank language endeared him to a public who just needed someone, anyone, to be the responsible adult in the room.
And so the United States Terrorists Identification and Surveillance Network (TISN) was born and Terrence Huffman became its first Chief Controller.
Modus Operandi
Utilizing a mix of undercover agents, webcrawlers and monitor bots, TISN looks for digital hotspots where anti-government sentiments are likely to manifest. By carefully infiltrating these spaces, they can locate bad actors, and establish their real world identity and monitor their online behavior. TISN will sometimes engage the individual to determine just how far they're willing to go.Major Programs
PEEL
Peel is a data auditor box, that internet service providers can voluntarily install on their system to help TISN monitor user data. PEEL is able to quickly mine data users send through the ISP and correlate that data with other PEEL boxes, creating a better picture of the web as a whole and how users interact with it. Chief Controller Huffman described PEEL as a cartographer of the internet, remapping it in real time as users behavior changed. Detractors saw PEEL as an invasion of privacy, allowing TISN to monitor boundless data through our ISP, leaving us with little options for anonymity. Huffman countered this argument with claims that PEEL left user-metadata encrypted so that anonymity was maintained, but that encryption could be broken if it was deemed a matter of national security.STASY
Stasy (like stacey) is an AI program that can engage with users on any social platform, in a convincing, humanistic way. Stasy is supposedly a fork of the Lana chat bot programming from the 1990s. Stasy gains trust and confidence from users and then reports back to TISN any red flags. Stasy's logs can then be turned over to human handlers who can take over an necessary investigations.
Type
Governmental, Department
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