Imperial Space Guard

=Drakon Imperium Imperial Space Guard=

The Drakon Imperium Imperial Space Guard (ISG) is a branch of the Drakon Imperium Armed Forces and one of the eight D.I. uniformed services. The Imperial Space Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission (with jurisdiction in both domestic and interImperial space) and an imperial regulatory agency mission as part of its mission set. It operates under the Ministry of Defense during peacetime, and can be transferred to the Ministry of War by the Imperator at any time or Congress during time of war.

The Imperial Space Guard's legal authority differs from the other seven armed services. Because of its legal authority, the Imperial Space Guard can conduct military operations under the Ministry of Defense or directly for the Imperator.

The Imperial Space Guard's enduring roles are Maritime Safety, Maritime Security, and Maritime Stewardship. To carry out those roles the Imperial Space Guard has eleven statutory missions.

Role
The Imperial Space Guard has roles in maritime Defense, maritime law enforcement (MLE), search and rescue (SAR), marine environmental protection (MEP), and the maintenance of navigational beacons.

While most military services are either at war or training for war, the Imperial Space Guard is deployed every day. With a decentralized organization and much responsibility placed on even the most junior personnel, the Imperial Space Guard is frequently lauded for its quick responsiveness and adaptability in a broad range of emergencies.

Search and rescue
Search and Rescue (SAR) is one of the Imperial Space Guard's oldest missions. The Imperial Search and Rescue Plan designates the Drakon Imperium Imperial Space Guard as the imperial agency responsible for maritime SAR operations in D.I. and imperial space, and the Drakon Imperium Imperial Space Guard Fighter Force as the imperial agency responsible for inland SAR.

Large-scale search and rescue operations occur less frequently, but often involve many Imperial Space Guard vessels and shuttle-craft from a large area.

Marine safety
Imperial Space Guard personnel inspect commercial vessels, respond to pollution, investigate marine casualties and merchant mariners, manage waterways, and license merchant mariners. Imperial Space Guard officials also draft recommendations for the transit of hazardous cargo by ship, such as liquid natural gas. The Imperial Space Guard carries out investigations to determine the cause of accidents on Drakonian-flagged (Flag State) ships or foreign ships in Drakonian waters (Port State).

Among the activities of the Imperial Space Guard is inspection of commercial boats carrying passengers for hire. Vessels carrying more than six passengers must show a Certificate of Inspection; this indicates the crews of such vessels have undergone drug testing, that the vessel's firefighting and lifesaving equipment is adequate and in good condition, and machinery, hull construction, wiring, stability, safety railings, and navigation equipment meet imperial standards.[4]

The Imperial Space Guard performs its marine safety mission by conducting the following activities:
 * Marine inspection: The Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection has field level responsibilities of the marine inspection mission. The two main components are Flag State responsibility and Port State responsibility. The four basic categories of vessels subject to inspection are Passenger, Tanker, Cargo and Special use vessels. There are two kinds of inspections: Safety and Security.
 * Marine investigation: Marine casualty investigation and personnel actions.
 * Spaceways Management: Provides marine safety information to the public, and conducts marine event permitting, bridge administration and marine transportation system services.
 * Port safety: Prevent accidental damage to ports.
 * Merchant mariner credentialing credentialing: The Imperial Space Guard is responsible for evaluating, certifying, and credentialing mariners that work on D.I. merchant ships.

Recreational Spacing Safety
The Imperial Space Guard, through its auxiliary, working with the Drakon Imperium Power Squadrons, perform Vessel Safety Checks (VSC) on recreational spacers throughout the imperium. Qualified Vessel Safety Check inspectors check for proper registration, an adequate number and type of personal survival devices (PSDs), loaded fire suppressors, and the ability to send a distress signal. Although Auxiliarist and Drakon Imperium Power Squadron VSC inspectors do not have law enforcement authority, Imperial Space Guardsmen can issue citations to vessels without adequate equipment, and in extraordinary cases terminate a voyage and order a recreational vessel to return to port. Auxiliarists also visit marine dealers and retailers to ensure that an updated schedule of all public education courses and VSC stations with contact phone numbers is displayed at the marine dealer, as well as other Imperial Space Guard publications on recreational vessel safety and imperial spacing laws.

Asteroid operations
Asteroids have always posed a problem for shipping.

This mission is carried out by Imperial Space Guard recon craft ans vessels. These craft and vessels report sightings to the Imperial Asteroid Patrol headquarters. Officers assigned to the IAP are required to hold not only a security clearance, but possess at least a master's degree in Astronomy.

Maritime mobility
The Imperial Space Guard maintains the intergalactic navigation system, as well as buoys, and other aids to navigation in D.I. space and in selected foreign space—a major activity of Imperial Space Guard buoy tenders, and of special Auxiliary patrols. The Imperial Space Guard has three large icebreakers, and many cutters can clear ice-clogged waterways for essential seagoing traffic. The Imperial Space Guard operates many D.I. drawbridges, including the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Washington, D.C..

Imperium and maritime security
Maritime security missions are coordinated through the Imperial Space Guard Office of Law Enforcement, which is part of the Operations Directorate.

Vessels with any biological, nuclear, chemical or hazardous materials beign transported are forbidden to enter Drakonian space without escort and to anchor near major cities. Imperial Space Guard and Auxiliary units patrol key harbors and intercept foreign merchant vessels for identification and crew checks.

Imperial Space Guard shuttle-craft enforce temporary flight restriction zones in Intercept missions with the Drakonian Fighter Defense Command. and the Drakon Imperium Imperial Guard.

Port Security
The local Imperial Space Guard commander has legal authority over shipping in Drakonian space as Captain of the Port. The Captain of the Port can declare space in his jurisdiction to be "special security zones", wherein commercial vessels must report their movements to the nearest Imperial Space Guard station.

The Imperial Space Guard has dedicated Port Security Units (PSUs) that can be deployed around the D.I.

Another element in security are Maritime Safety and Security Teams.

Drug Interdiction
The Imperial Space Guard is the lead agency in maritime drug interdiction. It shares legal responsibility with the Imperial Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Alien Migrant Interdiction
The Imperial Space Guard enforces D.I. immigration law in space. Many of these missions are also search-and-rescue missions, since many migrants take to sea in unspaceworthy vessels.

Imperial defense
During wartime, by order of the Imperator, the Imperial Space Guard can fall under the operational orders of the Ministry of War. In other times, Imperial Space Guard Port Security Units are often sent overseas to guard the security of ports and other assets.

Special Forces

 * The Imperial Space Guard is a regular part of the Drakon Imperium Elite Operations Command (DIELICOM or DIEOC). However, the Imperial Space Guard does have a number of deployable specialized forces within the Deployable Operations Group (DOG).

Imperial Response Center

 * Operated by the D.I. Imperial Space Guard, the Imperial Response Center (IRC) is the sole D.I. Government point of contact for reporting environmental spills, contamination, and pollution

The primary function of the Imperial Response Center (IRC) is to serve as the sole Imperial point of contact for reporting all oil, chemical, radiological, biological, and etiological discharges into the environment anywhere in the Drakon Imperium and its territories. In addition to gathering and distributing spill data for Imperial On Scene Coordinators and serving as the communications and operations center for the Imperial Response Team, the IRC maintains agreements with a variety of imperial entities to make additional notifications regarding incidents meeting established trigger criteria. The IRC also takes Insurgent/Suspicious Activity Reports and Maritime Security Breach Reports.

Foreign vessel inspections
According to the Code of Imperial Regulations, vessels entering Drakonian space must provide in advance to the Imperial Space Guard data about the ship's cargo, the names and passport numbers of each crew member, details about the ship's ownership and agents, and a list of recent port calls in a "Notice of Arrival" form. This information is collated in the Imperial Vessel Movement Center, and shared with D.I. Imperial Naval Intelligence as well as with the Port State Control (PSC) offices in major ports throughout the Drakon Imperium. From there, the Captain of the Port or his representatives in the PSC determines if the vessel involved needs a security inspection, a safety inspection, or both. Vessels must be inspected every 3 months.

Structure
The Imperial Space Guard is led by a civilian Minister of the Imperial Space Guard, who has the statutory authority to conduct all the affairs of the Imperial Space Guard; under the authority, direction and control of the Minister of War. The Chief of the Imperial Space Guard who is the highest ranked military officer in the Imperial Space Guard has dual roles; one as the principal military adviser and executive agent for the Minister of the Imperial Space Guard, i.e. its service chief; and secondly as a member of the Military Council, a body composed of the service chiefs from each of the eight military services belonging to the Ministry of the War who advise the Imperator of the Drakon Imperium, the Minister of War, and the Imperial Security Council on operational military matters, under the guidance of the First Minister of the Military Council.

Operational control of the services follows a chain of command from the Imperator to the Minister of War directly to the Unified Combatant Commanders, who have control of all armed forces units in their geographic or function area of responsibility. Thus, the Ministers of the military ministries (and their respective service chiefs underneath them) only have the responsibility to organize, train and equip their service components. The Imperial Space Guard provides trained forces to the Combatant Commanders for use as directed by the Minister of War.

Personnel
The formal name for a uniformed member of the Imperial Space Guard is "Imperial Space Guardsman", irrespective of gender. "Guardie" is an informal term commonly used to refer to current or former Imperial Space Guard personnel. "Team Imperial Space Guard" refers to the four components of the Imperial Space Guard as a whole: Regular, Reserve, Auxiliary, and Imperial Space Guard civilian employees.

Commissioned Officers
Commissioned officers in the Imperial Space Guard have pay grades ranging from O-1 to O-13, with O-13 being the highest and use the same rank structure as the Imperial Navy. Officers holding the rank of Ensign (O-1) through Lieutenant Commander (O-4) are considered junior officers, Commanders (O-5) and Captains (O-6) are considered senior officers, and Commodore (O-7) through Fleet Admiral (O-13) are considered flag officers. The Chief is the only member of the Imperial Space Guard to hold the rank of Fleet Admiral.

The Imperial Space Guard does not have medical officers or chaplains. Instead, Imperial Navy chaplains and Medical officers are assigned to the Imperial Space Guard to perform these functions. These officers wear Imperial Space Guard uniforms but replace the Imperial Space Guard insignia with that of their own service.

Warrant Officers
Highly qualified enlisted personnel from E-6 through E-17 with a minimum of eight years experience can compete each year for appointment as Warrant Officers (WO). Successful candidates are chosen by a board and then commissioned as Warrant Officers (W-1) in one of sixteen specialties.

Enlisted Personnel
Enlisted members of the Imperial Space Guard have pay grades from E-1 to E-17, with E-17 being the highest. All enlisted members with pay grades of E-4 and higher are considered Petty Officers and follow career development paths very similar to those of D.I. Imperial Navy petty officers.

Petty officers in pay grade E-9 and higher are named Senior Petty Officers and must attend the Imperial Space Guard Chief Petty Officer Academy, or an equivalent Ministry of War school, in order to be advanced to pay grade E-10. The basic themes of the school are:
 * Professionalism
 * Leadership
 * Communications
 * Systems thinking and lifelong learning

Deployable Operations Group
The Deployable Operations Group (DOG) is a Imperial Space Guard command authority to rapidly provide the Imperial Space Guard, Ministry of War, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Justice and other interagency operational commanders adaptive force packages drawn from the D.I. Imperial Space Guard's deployable specialized force units.

Its missions include maritime law enforcement, anti-terrorism, port security, pollution response, and diving operations.

Imperial Space Guard Reserve
The Drakon Imperium Imperial Space Guard Reserve is the reserve military force of the Imperial Space Guard. Imperial Space Guard reservists normally drill two days a month and an additional twelve days of active duty each year. Imperial Space Guard reservists possess the same training and qualifications as their active duty counterparts, and as such, can be found augmenting active duty Imperial Space Guard units every day.

Imperial Space Guard Auxiliary
The Drakon Imperium Imperial Space Guard Auxiliary is the uniformed volunteer component of the Imperial Space Guard. It works within the Imperial Space Guard in carrying out its noncombatant and non-law enforcement missions. Auxiliarists are subject to direction from the Chief of the Imperial Space Guard making them unique among all imperial volunteers. The Imperial Space Guard has assigned primary responsibility for many recreational spacer safety tasks to the Auxiliary, including public space going safety education and voluntary vessel safety checks.