The Most Feared Unit in the Empire: The ISB [Legends]

The Galactic Empire controlled the galaxy through enormous Star Destroyers, stormtrooper legions and weapons capable of destroying entire planets. However, some Imperial officers feared a much smaller force even more.

The Imperial Security Bureau did not need to defeat an officer in battle. Its agents could investigate their loyalty, accuse them of treason and destroy their career before they ever understood why they had become a target.

Why did even those serving the Empire fear the ISB?

The ISB Was Palpatine’s Watchdog Inside the Empire

According to the Legends Imperial Sourcebook, the Imperial Security Bureau was created to increase Palpatine’s knowledge of political activity throughout his Empire. It was also deliberately established as a rival to Imperial Intelligence, preventing either intelligence organization from gaining complete control over the information reaching the Emperor.

Imperial Intelligence employed more experienced operatives, but the ISB eventually became the larger organization. Its personnel were selected for their loyalty to Palpatine’s New Order rather than their experience alone.

That political loyalty shaped the ISB’s purpose.

Imperial Intelligence concentrated on collecting secrets and conducting covert operations against the Empire’s enemies. The ISB operated more like a political police force. It searched for Rebel activity, but it also watched Imperial citizens, government officials and military personnel for any sign of disobedience.

Its agents did not always hide who they worked for. The Imperial Sourcebook explains that ISB operatives sometimes openly identified themselves because the intimidation created by the Bureau’s name was considered more valuable than secrecy.

People already understood what an ISB investigation could mean.

A civilian questioned by the Bureau could be accused of helping the Rebellion. An Imperial officer could be suspected of disloyalty after losing a battle, questioning an order or failing to display enough enthusiasm for the New Order. Even innocent behavior could appear suspicious once the ISB decided to investigate it.

The Bureau’s presence was itself a weapon.

Its Surveillance agents searched for people and activities that might benefit the Rebellion, but the Imperial Sourcebook states that they had a second purpose: frightening citizens so they would be too afraid to help the Rebels in the first place.

When the ISB discovered something serious, its agents could call upon nearby Imperial military forces. Investigators had pre-approved communication links allowing them to summon considerable firepower when a suspected Rebel threat became too large for them to handle alone.

On heavily populated worlds, an agent could operate quietly before sending troops to surround a Rebel base. On remote planets, the ISB’s reputation was often enough to make frightened locals cooperate without the agent needing a convincing disguise.

However, the Bureau’s authority did not stop with the Empire’s enemies.

Even Imperial Officers Could Not Refuse Them

The ISB was especially dangerous because it could turn its attention inward.

Imperial officers were accustomed to commanding soldiers and demanding obedience from civilians, but their authority offered little protection when the Bureau questioned their loyalty. An ISB agent could enter a military operation, inspect its personnel and treat resistance as further evidence that someone had something to hide.

The Bureau’s Internal Affairs personnel took advantage of every ambiguity within Imperial regulations to expand their authority. They could investigate other members of COMPNOR and did not consider even the organization’s ruling Select Committee completely beyond suspicion.

Their methods were designed to produce guilt.

An agent could openly investigate someone so that everyone around them knew they were under suspicion. They could arrest a person without evidence and watch how their associates reacted. They could harass a target until the target finally committed an offence or secretly create an opportunity for them to break the law.

One technique placed a suspect in a situation where every possible choice could technically be considered a crime.

Once the ISB decided that someone was guilty, the consequences could be much worse than imprisonment.

Suspects believed to possess hidden information were sent for interrogation. The Imperial Sourcebook states that nobody knew what happened to them afterward, and nobody wanted to know.

COMPNOR members convicted of crimes could be sent through Re-Education. Some eventually returned to work, but their colleagues described them as behaving strangely, speaking unnaturally and showing emotions that no longer matched their surroundings. They were officially called “Re-educated,” while other personnel privately referred to them as “re-brained.”

Timothy Zahn’s Legends novel Allegiance shows how this authority affected the Imperial military.

Major Drelfin, an ISB officer aboard the Star Destroyer Reprisal, helped order the execution of innocent civilians after Rebel agents had already escaped. When stormtrooper Daric LaRone challenged the Bureau’s authority to decide who could be killed, Drelfin answered:

“We’re the Imperial Security Bureau. What we say is principle; what we decide is regulation; what we do is law.”

Drelfin believed the ISB did not simply enforce Imperial law. Its decisions became the law. Anyone it declared guilty could be punished, and anyone who objected could immediately become another suspect.

That confrontation helped push LaRone and four other stormtroopers to abandon their unit. They had served the Empire faithfully, but the ISB showed them that loyalty offered no protection from officers who could murder civilians and call it lawful.

That was what made the Imperial Security Bureau one of the Empire’s most feared units.

Stormtroopers frightened civilians. Star Destroyers frightened entire planets. The ISB frightened the people wearing Imperial uniforms because any one of them could suddenly be identified as the next enemy of the New Order.