STARFLEET Intelligence (SFIN) is a service focused on getting information to fellow members, which would further enable their enjoyment of STARFLEET, Star Trek, or fandom in general, OR enable STARFLEET Operational/Business needs. It is NOT a spy organization, nor secretive in any way (despite some fictional themes and word choices to enable the ‘Intel’ flavor). It will not ever spy on members or other fan organizations, nor tolerate anyone who does. Any such offenses will be reported up the chain for administrative action.
The provisional motto is “Research, Report and Record” – which states the main activities of the SFIN. Taking Intel requests, researching them, reporting on the findings to the requesting party, and recording those findings for others.
STARFLEET Intelligence will focus on these major areas:
Operational Intelligence – Real world items such as:
- Events in a given area
- Organizations/points of contact in a Given area (or at large)
In-universe Intelligence (fiction)
- Star Trek knowledge as needed (experimental)
- Species Specific knowledge
But how do we ‘collect’ this ‘intelligence’ ?
- Open Source Intelligence gathering (OSINT) – Online and/or library research
- Humanoid Intelligence gathering (HUMINT) – Live person to person interactions; such as networking at events or reaching out to identified points of contact
How does this all work?
We will start with a INTEL Request form, where members may ask for information. SFIN Agents will be able to see these requests and take them for action. If your request is ‘assigned’ to an agent, you will be notified. If we do not have any agents available for that request, we will also notify you.
If assigned, the agent will do the research and prepare an INTEL Report (simply a means to get the information back to you), and archive that report.
As these reports pile up, we should be able to develop a repository of information that can be searched by members (or with SFIN agent assistance if required).