| CRS Report on Investigation into Belschaft & Neo Kervoskia |
Council on Regional Security
Investigation into communications between Belschaft and Empire co-founder Neo Kervoskia Final Report
April 24, 2017
1. Background 1.a. Empire involvement in The South Pacific The group known as “Empire” or “The Empire” is a legally prohibited group in The South Pacific (TSP), currently the only group listed under the Prohibited Regions and Organizations (PRO) law within the Criminal Code. Empire earned this status through their long history of perpetrating or supporting coups d’etat in several Game Created Regions. Among their list of success stories: The East Pacific, Osiris, The North Pacific, The West Pacific, and The Rejected Realms. Currently, Empire members are active in the governments of Osiris, The West Pacific, and The Pacific. In our own region, several members were accomplices in the infamous Devonitians coup. On May 5, 2015, the Committee for State Security (the CRS’s predecessor) officially requested prohibited status for the group, citing that “[they] believe it is their right to manipulate a region into giving them power and overthrowing the legal government regime.” Furthermore, that “they justify their actions by claiming that the targeted region is inactive and they are doing a favor by creating activity through a coup.” (See: http://tspforums.xyz/thread-2267.html) TSP had several run-ins with Empire prior, during, and after that declaration. The general pattern prior to the declaration was that Empire members would arrive in the region around election times, securing citizenship for the purposes of voting. Empire members becoming active in regional chats around election time has been correlated with significant election-related crises, particularly the March 2015 Minister of Foreign Affairs election, which preceded the CSS declaration by a mere two months. Since the May 2015 declaration, however, Empire members have been restricted from political involvement in TSP’s Assembly and elections. Assembly votes to overturn these restrictions have failed every time they’ve been attempted. 1.b. Empire Family Tree Discussion of Empire members should account for who, exactly, is in Empire’s ranks. The difficulty with making this assessment is that Empire is a loose coalitions of underlings surrounding a close-knit group of long-time friends. It’s public knowledge that Neenee, Dalimbar, Biyah, and Neo Kervoskia are the founders of the group. Over time, lesser members have come and gone. The current incarnation of Empire is the “House of Rahl”, a roleplay facade that organizes the group along the lines of a family with various “clans.” The clans are split up by duties—foreign relations, intelligence, “domestic affairs”, and “social” affairs. Members of this family, based on a Google Docs document shared on Discord, are: Neo Kervoskia Biyah Dalimbar Neenee Syberis Adytus Cain Badger Halo Some names are crossed out, indicating that the members have been “disowned.” Others are redacted, presumably because they are on active “missions” and it would be a security risk to list their names publicly. It should be noted that the roster is not all-encompassing of who works with or is a member of Empire. 1.c. NK/Adytus Leaks In early December of 2016, high-ranking members of various GCRs and Gameplay groups were sent a series of Discord chat logs. Among one of these logs is a conversation between Neo Kervoskia (who goes by “Griffin” on Discord) and Adytus. At the time, Adytus was interviewing for Chief Vizier, the highest ranking executive position in Osiris aside from the monarchy itself. Adytus was officially named Chief Vizier on December 30, 2016. The logs are dated September 21, 2016. In the leaks, Adytus and Neo Kervoskia discuss Osiris foreign policy, particularly plans to meddle in the foreign affairs of other GCRs, spoil relationships among alliances Osiris doesn’t favor, and “dominate foreign affairs” in the game. To achieve this objective, Adytus proposed that Osiris would need to be “politically aggressive” and “[make] sure that there are at least a couple friendly citizens [in important regions], so keep (sic) those regions from outright nonsense.” Particularly, Adytus proposed that, in lieu of outright invading regions, that Osiris would “make sure we work with competing factions in government, or outright encourage some of our own citizens to get duel citizenship (sic) in regions that could be a threat, like TSP for example.” He went on to note that Osiris had already begun their covert infiltration of The Rejected Realms, saying that “there is somewhere close to 6 of us in the RR now.” The Council has taken this information very seriously, and we have been monitoring Osiris movement and communications since the leaks occurred. We will not mince words: Osiris has likely been engaging in an active covert operation to infiltrate GCRs, including TSP, with the intent to foment internal divisions and manipulate legislative and electoral votes. Our investigation into Belschaft has been conducted with this in mind. 2. Belschaft/NK Discord conversation leak 2.a. In early February of 2017, the CRS became aware, through classified means, of the leaked Discord chat between Belschaft and Neo Kervoskia. Our initial investigation began shortly thereafter. In our investigation, we confirmed the authenticity of the logs and began connecting the dots between this and the December NK/Adytus leaks. We believe it is highly likely that both logs were leaked unintentionally by Neo Kervoskia, who accidentally failed to enable privacy settings on the sharing platform he used. These logs are dated November 25, 2016. In the Discord log, Belschaft and Neo Kervoskia exchanged pleasantries and discussed Neo Kervoskia’s rise to the throne. On a separate day, Neo Kervoskia messaged Belschaft to alert him that Cormac had rejoined the World Assembly and stationed in WA nation in Osiris. The CRS doesn’t know why this would be relevant information for Belschaft, given that he held no positions of authority or responsibility in TSP at the time. Despite this, Belschaft asked, “Anything you want to do in TSP? I’m not actually in government these days, so if you want me to act as back channel you’ve got to let me know.” Neo Kervoskia requested that Belschaft “keep an eye on things” and notify him of any rumors that would be detrimental to Osiris, or any threats to Osiris. To this, Belschaft responded, “Coolio. I can work to discourage any ‘Osiris bad, Empire bad’ thinking.” 2.b. There are quite a few oddities in the logs that raise questions. Why did Neo Kervoskia feel the need to alert Belschaft about Cormac’s WA status? Why did Belschaft immediately respond asking what he could do for Neo Kervoskia? Why does Neo Kervoskia expect Belschaft to keep an eye on things that would threaten Osiris, and for Belschaft to keep him updated? The relationship has all the marking of a pre-existing understanding that Belschaft would work on behalf of Neo Kervoskia. Whether this is because of a long-time friendship or a direct involvement with Empire, the CRS cannot say. But we can say that Belschaft did indeed keep his promises. In a lengthier log provided by Belschaft himself, the two discuss the Coalition Against the Ideology of Nazism, a multilateral anti-Nazi treaty to which both Osiris and TSP are signatories. In particular, a statement by Cormac is discussed, in which Cormac says that several regions are considering exiting CAIN. Neo Kervoskia says that discussions about CAIN membership in Osiris have “become a proxy war between Cormac and the government.” Neo Kervoskia asks if it’s true that TSP is considering exiting CAIN. To be clear, discussion of possibly exiting CAIN is privileged information from the Private Halls of the Assembly. Belschaft notes this: “I can't comment without breaching TSP's regulations re; private areas.” However, he goes on to reveal the contents of the discussion in a roundabout way. “Were I even to confirm that TSP is discussing exiting CAIN rather than agree to an amendment that creates a central bureaucracy, I would be in breach of said regulations. I’m sure you understand?” In other words, “I couldn’t possibly tell you that TSP is discussing exiting CAIN, without being in violation of the laws.” Belschaft continued to divulge the substantive points of debate in the Private Hall thread. In the logs provided by Belschaft, it is clear that Neo Kervoskia seeks his counsel and advice, and expects Belschaft to pass along privileged information, rumors, intelligence, etc. 2.c. Additionally, we must note that Belschaft ran for Minister of Foreign Affairs in the February 2017 elections, on a platform of acknowledging and accepting that Osiris is run by Empire. This was a marked shift from the Belschaft who lead a state of emergency against Escade as Delegate in 2013, on the suspicion that she was Neenee. An even more marked shift, considering his defense rests upon the idea that Neo Kervoskia is a threat enough to TSP that he needs to be developed as a intelligence source. 2.d. On an aside, the CRS believes there are inconsistencies in the logs provided. There are moments when Neo Kervoskia references past conversations, but those conversations aren’t found in the logs. Or, conversely, Neo Kervoskia says he has a question, but that question is never asked. We do not believe we have the full accounting of the communications between Belschaft and Neo Kervoskia, and indeed these communications may be spread across several platforms, including logged and unlogged platforms such as IRC, PMs on various forums, telegrams, and even non-NationStates platforms. 3. Belschaft’s Defense 3.a. Belschaft’s defense of his offer to help Neo Kervoskia/Osiris is that he was developing an intelligence source—being agreeable with Neo Kervoskia in order to figure out his plan, in other words. This defense rests upon several assumptions. The first, that Belschaft was an authorized intelligence officer of the South Pacific Special Forces. Second, that Belschaft only encouraged divulging of pertinent information. And lastly, that Belschaft never relayed privileged information or intelligence, never aided Neo Kervoskia in TSP-Osiris or TSP-Empire relations, and that all of this was relayed to the appropriate channels in TSP as part of an authorized intelligence mission. 3.b. In our investigation, we did learn that the South Pacific Special Forces did create an intelligence arm under Minister of Military Affairs Imkitopia, and continued under Roavin. Despite the constitutional requirement for the CRS approve of and be involved in the establishment of an intelligence agency, the CRS was unaware of it until this investigation. Again, we will not mince words: the creation of this intelligence arm was illegal. In the intervening time, the CRS has appointed an Intelligence Coordinator, and any legal issues with the establishment of an intelligence agency have been dealt with and settled. 3.c. In CRS interviews, both Roavin and Vietnam confirm that Belschaft was masked on Discord as an intelligence officer. However, according to Roavin, he was authorized for only a single mission, and it was unrelated to Osiris or Empire. Both Roavin and Vietnam told the CRS that they were unaware of any communication between Neo Kervoskia and Belschaft until the Discord log leaks. Particularly, Vietnam said that Belschaft never told leadership about any of it. 3.d. In our interview with Roavin, he confirmed that he would have expected Belschaft to notify him of any attempt to develop Neo Kervoskia as a source. In Belschaft’s deposition of Roavin, Roavin said that he did not consider Neo Kervoskia to be a “person of interest” that intelligence officers were to develop as potential sources if contacted without solicitation. In other words, the CRS understands that Belschaft was not specifically authorized to accept unsolicited contact from Neo Kervoskia and use it as an opportunity to develop a source. That contact, under a reasonable understanding of intelligence decorum, should have been reported. It was not, to either Belschaft’s superiors or to the CRS. 3.e. Belschaft’s defense is undercut by the fact that he never reported any of this to anybody. Neo Kervoskia is a founding member of Empire, the only group to be considered such a threat to TSP that its members are prohibited from becoming politically active in the region. He is also the Pharaoh of Osiris, a region with a publicly known agenda of infiltrating GCRs, and whose Chief Vizier openly said considers TSP a hostile target. It strains credulity to believe that a responsible intelligence officer would not report contact with Neo Kervoskia. We are to believe that Belschaft had spent three months developing Neo Kervoskia as a source, but never told anyone? Never sought authorization? Divulged privileged Private Hall information and counseled on TSP-Osiris and TSP-Empire relations, without seeking permission? The CRS must take many very, very long leaps of faith to accept this defense as exonerating. 4. Officials Findings 4.a. We find that Belschaft did engage in unauthorized communication with Neo Kervoskia, with full knowledge of his Empire affiliation. 4.b. We find that Belschaft gave an unsolicited offer to work as an agent for both Osiris and Empire. This includes working against anti-Osiris and anti-Empire sentiment in general, keeping an eye on possible threats to Neo Kervoskia and Osiris in general, and specifically passing along privileged information and intelligence from TSP to Neo Kervoskia and providing counsel to him on TSP-Osiris and TSP-Empire relations. 4.c. We find that Belschaft’s defense of his behavior – that he was building Neo Kervoskia as a source – requires leaps of faith we cannot make, when it comes to the security of the region. We only have his word, as he never reported any of this to his superiors. Indeed, we find it likely that he never intended to report anything, as he wasn’t conducting an intel operation, but in actuality helping a friend by agreeing to do what is listed in 4.b. 4.d. The CRS attempted to reach a mutual agreement with Belschaft, prior to the passage of the Security Powers Act. In exchange for an agreement to maintain a lower endorsement count and not seek office for a period of one year, we would amicably end the investigation. The CRS was strung along, with revision after revision from Belschaft, increasingly absolving himself of any suggestion of wrongdoing. The negotiations failed, and we thus launched our second investigation under the auspices of the Security Powers Act. 4.e. We believe strongly that Belschaft engaged in behavior that threatens the security of the region. He aided a hostile foreign region, by providing advice on foreign affairs, divulging privileged information, and making offers to push back against anti-Osiris and anti-Empire sentiment in the region. This behavior is unacceptable and must be deterred. It poses a serious existential threat to TSP, given Osiris’s willingness to infiltrate our region, foment divisions and manipulate votes, in addition to Empire’s long-standing modus operandi of doing just the same thing. 5. Invocation of the Security Powers Act 5.a. In accordance with our official findings, the CRS finds that Belschaft’s behavior poses a long-term threat to regional security, per Article 1.6. 5.b. In concurrence with the invocation of Article 1.6, we have determined to activate the following Section 7 security precautions for the period of at least one year, for the safety and security of the region: - 7(a) Removal from any office the individual already holds. - 7(b) Prohibited against standing for election or being appointed to any office. - 7(f) Prohibited against service as a game-side Regional Officer. - Additionally, we maintain the restricted endorsement count that we previously established, according to 2(i), which is 70% of the endorsement cap. (04-24-2017, 12:07 PM)sandaoguo Wrote: 4.e. We believe strongly that Belschaft engaged in behavior that threatens the security of the region. He aided a hostile foreign region, by providing advice on foreign affairs, divulging privileged information, and making offers to push back against anti-Osiris and anti-Empire sentiment in the region. This behavior is unacceptable and must be deterred. It poses a serious existential threat to TSP, given Osiris’s willingness to infiltrate our region, foment divisions and manipulate votes, in addition to Empire’s long-standing modus operandi of doing just the same thing. Seeing how the CRS has now formally accussed me of treason - "(1) Treason shall be defined as plotting against the Coalition, seeking to lower the delegate's endorsement count without his or her consent, breaking the endorsement cap after receiving an official warning, aiding any entity in which the Coalition is taking defensive action against, or any entity in which a state of war exists with." - when will charges be filed? Minister of Media, Subversion and Sandwich Making
Associate Justice of the High Court and Senior Moderator ![[Image: B9ytUsy.png]](https://i.imgur.com/B9ytUsy.png)
I request that the Chair move this thread, this thread, this thread, and this thread to the main Assembly forum.
There is no longer any sufficient reason to deprive the rest of the region of knowledge of these proceedings.
Would the CRS be kind enough to release who voted in favor and against this report and the declaration?
Above all else, I hope to be a decent person.
Has Been What's Next? CoA: August 2016-January 2017
Minister of Foreign Affairs: October 2019-June 2020, October 2020- February 2021
(04-24-2017, 04:48 PM)Tsunamy Wrote:Due to the fact that the Permanent Justice may be involved in an appeal, I think we should know how the vote count. Also, I recognize it has not been CRS policy to release vote counts however in this case, due to the fact that these are measures we have never seen the CRS take before, I think the Assembly has right to know how our Councilors voted.(04-24-2017, 04:23 PM)Omega Wrote: Would the CRS be kind enough to release who voted in favor and against this report and the declaration? Above all else, I hope to be a decent person.
Has Been What's Next? CoA: August 2016-January 2017
Minister of Foreign Affairs: October 2019-June 2020, October 2020- February 2021
I would normally abide by what my colleague said above. We work as a collegial body, and votes should not be released on a regular basis. That said, this particular case is unusual, and I think a response is merited.
I supported the initial security risk declaration. We had evidence that Belschaft had engaged in questionable behaviour, and it was clear to me that further investigation was needed. Once the Security Powers Act was passed, and we had a clear legal authority to continue our investigation, I made a public commitment in this very subforum that we would act without bias and only in the best interests of equal treatment under the law and regional security. As the days passed, I became strongly concerned that the Committee as a whole was more interested in concluding swiftly with a security threat declaration, rather than properly investigating the situation, and only then making a decision on what our course of action should be. I was strongly and repeatedly opposed to be decision to draft the above statement, insisting that we had a legal duty to further investigate, and to consider any new information that we might have come across. Our duty is to uphold the security of the region, but not at the expense of due process and always within the constraints of our laws. Maybe they are inconvenient at times, but we have no right to act contrary to them, as the committee did when it decided the investigation conducted prior to the passage of the Security Powers Act was enough to satisfy the legal requirement. That was not fair to ourselves as an institution, to Belschaft as the subject of this investigation, and to the Assembly. That is why I voted against the statement, and why I continue to oppose the way in which this investigation, or lack thereof, was handled, and believe we should seriously reexamine its validity. TL;DR I voted against the security threat declaration because I don't believe the Committee conducted a proper investigation, as required by the Security Powers Act. Former Delegate of the South Pacific
Posts outside High Court venues should be taken as those of any other legislator. I do not participate in the regional server, but I am happy to talk through instant messaging or on the forum. Legal Resources: THE MATT-DUCK Law Archive | Mavenu Diplomatic Archive | Rules of the High Court | Case Submission System | Online Rulings Consultation System
This is all extremely troubling and may constitute dereliction of duty, abuse of authority, or violation of the law, or all of the above, on the part of the CRS members who proceeded without adequate investigation.
(04-24-2017, 05:32 PM)Kris Kringle Wrote: I want to repeat again that essentially what we committed was a form of double jeopardy. We conducted an investigation, we had extensive discussions in the Assembly and we voted on powers for the CRS. We then, somehow, were expected to conduct a second investigation with new information. That's why the Council ultimately threw everything and this kitchen sink into this report. There's only so much information one can gather on one conversation. Throughout this, some members of the committee continued to maintain that we need a proper investigation, but still can't tell anyone what that is suppose to look like. And, please, if someone else what to explain what a proper investigation should entail — please share, because I'm apparently not understanding this game (literal, not figurative). As the discussion has been going on Discord — everyone (including Bel!) — understands why the council would be concerned. The debate is whether or not he's appropriately a member of the nebulous thing called "The Empire," which, unless there's some oath of office, I still can't fully figure out who belongs to it. Further, this discussion has been going on for over two months now. I think we can also agree this is a ridiculous amount of time for something like this. As such, here's the point: We can argue whether or not the conversation and resulting discussions warrant asking Bel to drop endos and lower his profile for a bit. I think we're all in agreement that this can be debated. However, having this discussion over whether or not we properly "investigated" this is ridiculous because it assumes that either (a) the first release of information from the CRS wasn't an investigation; or (b) that it somehow should have been ignored (by the people who brought it to you) and something else was suppose to pop up.
-tsunamy
[forum admin]
@Tsunamy - Well, in regards to a proper investigation, what I would have done would be gather all available evidence, interviewed the various witnesses in detail - Roavin and Ressentine, my superiors in the SPF, in particular - and put it all together. Then I would have scheduled a sit down between the CRS and the accused for a formal interview, during which time you'd try and catch me in a lie, see how evasive I was being, etc. I also would have taken me up on my offer to grant someone on the CRS access to my accounts - you can keep saying that I could have destroyed any and all evidence, but the fact is that I haven't. A bunch of vaguely compromising stuff is still on there - none of it illegal, but still "compromising".
I would also have been very careful to limit any report to those facts that had been proven, and not include all sorts of unsupported assumptions, assertions and accusations. Minister of Media, Subversion and Sandwich Making
Associate Justice of the High Court and Senior Moderator |
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