Forum

I am trying to get my head around what exactly the "Paramilitary" career is. So you're a US citizen, you've done some military service, and now you're in Intelligence as a Paramilitary. Working for who? Doing what? When war breaks out you are apparently not even subject to the draft as you're already in the combat zone as a Paramilitary. Would you be some sort of CIA operative trying to galvanize resistance to the Soviets in occupied territory?

People that intelligence agencies uses for more dirty works perhaps that they don't want the regular army to deal with perhaps. Besides that, I have always seen these as locals (give or take) that have been used by foreign powers in a civil war of just to destabilise a region. Could still be used this in a similar way, even though this is WWIII scenario.

Thanks. So the best I can come up with for a US citizen is the following. "Agent" would be a CIA or similar operative who's infiltrated a Soviet unit to try and "turn" a General or something like that, "Assassin" would be a CIA operative who's trying to "take out" the Soviet General, and "Paramilitary" would be a CIA operative who's trying to sabotage Soviet facilities and infrastructure like fuel dumps etc.

Player Manual, Page 37:
“ Intelligence agencies, such as the CIA and KGB, have their agents in the field gathering information, assassinating enemy leaders, stealing examples of new equipment, sowing discord among the population in enemy-occupied territory, and assisting partisan units in their struggle.”

To be honest I see that role as EX- Spec op moved into clandestine working.

Thinking of a number of Private Military Contractors who work on Government Contracts Ie BLACKWATER, AGEIS but the darker naughty stuff lol. Completely deniable operators

Or the CIA's own SAD unit. 'The Special Activities Division (SAD) is the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) covert paramilitary operations unit. They are one of America's most secretive and lowest profile special ops organization'

Special Activities Center has several hundred officers, mostly former members from Tier 1 units like SEAL Team Six and Delta Force, as well as other U.S. Special operation Forces personnel.[34][35][36] The CIA has also recruited individuals from within the agency.[37][38] The CIA's formal designations for these individuals are paramilitary operations officers and specialized skills officers. Paramilitary operations officers often attend the Clandestine Service Trainee (CST) program, which trains them as clandestine intelligence operatives and an internal paramilitary training course.

RIPPED FROM WIKI lol

Or the CIA's own SAD unit. 'The Special Activities Division (SAD) is the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) covert paramilitary operations unit. They are one of America's most secretive and lowest profile special ops organization'

That would fit the bill for me. SAD/SOG (Special Activities Division/Special Operations Group). The difference between such operatives and Special Forces would be that they wear no uniform and the US would deny all knowledge of the operative and the mission if they were compromised. My particular PC isn't from a Special Operations background, just regular military, but maybe some other criteria was used in his case when he was selected.

Of course to some degree these folks were always around, but a lot of that stuff is post-9/11.

'Paramilitary' means several units

- The FBI's Hostage Rescue Team
- The State Department's Diplomatic Protective Service
- The Secret Service's Executive Protection Details
- The CIA's Special Activities Division

All these are a step up from SWAT teams or the US Marshall's Service's Fugitive Warrant Service. I knew a guy who was in State's DPS [and could prove it], and THOSE dudes can find themselves in some serious poo-poo. The guy was on the Ambassador's protective detail when Haiti had a coup, and THAT was some ugly stuff.

Of course to some degree these folks were always around, but a lot of that stuff is post-9/11.

Which is why I kept my reply to unit that I knew were formed in 70's and 80's... long enough ago that they had personnel, responsibilities and doctrine worked out.

Thanks. So the best I can come up with for a US citizen is the following. "Agent" would be a CIA or similar operative who's infiltrated a Soviet unit to try and "turn" a General or something like that, "Assassin" would be a CIA operative who's trying to "take out" the Soviet General, and "Paramilitary" would be a CIA operative who's trying to sabotage Soviet facilities and infrastructure like fuel dumps etc.

Here's some basic differences between a CIA officer, an analyst, and a paramilitary...

Officers [NEVER 'agents', an agent is by definition a local betraying his country, an 'officer' is a government employee tasked with acquiring intelligence. It's like the difference between 'soldier' and 'terrorist'] are expected to gather intelligence, mostly HUMINT [human-sourced intel] by running agents.

Analysts are tasked with evaluating intelligence to find the 'gems in the garbage'. This is harder work than it sounds like. This could be anything from evaluating signal intelligence, pouring over satellite photos, going over agent interviews and information word by word, comma by comma, to find the actionable intelligence the government requires. Analysts also generate most of the field requests that officers need to look into.

Paramilitary do the 'muscle' jobs that Officers aren't trained for, protect officers in the field if they're under high threat, and do much of the deniable shooter tasks that intel agencies require. To put it another way, the mythical MI-6 '00' would be a paramilitary.