Espionage in 2155 is a fact of life, with everyone from small companies to great powers involved in it. Strong cryptography has made information transfer potentially more secure than ever before, which has simply increased the need for human spies and double agents. Intelligence agencies spend a lot of effort using AIs to compile data from open sources and to monitor data flow in general. Spy satellites are cheap enough that just about anyone can afford to put one into orbit around Earth, Luna, or Mars.

However, there is a limit to what remote observation and deduction can accomplish. Since few people leave secure data sitting around in unencrypted form on the Web, gaining information held in high-security installations sometimes requires physical infiltration. For example, an intruder may use microbots to crawl in, penetrate the enemy's filters and anti-microbot swarms, and then physically enter the computer. Another danger is involuntary subversion of employees or agents through implants and uploading. Cautious counter-espionage teams may use regular HyMRI scans and psychological evaluations of key people to ensure no one has tampered with their brains.

Four examples of especially active agencies are:

This organization (based in Geneva and Konigsberg) was formed by the European Union, Ukraine, and Russia to investigate and prevent abuses of human genetic engineering. They monitor scientific literature on new technologies, make recommendations to policy-making bodies, investigate genetics labs, and perform enforcement operations in conjunction with local police forces. Their mission has recently expanded to deal with bioroid trafficking and the threat of 'genetic terrorism' in which gene-altering proteus viruses are involved.

An abbreviation for Indonesia's 'Coordinating Agency for Pacific Stability' (Badan Koordinasi Stabilitas Pasifik), it is currently the most active covert-operations and intelligence-gathering agency within the TSA. BAKORSTAPAS specializes in industrial espionage and memetic warfare. Originally operating mainly against Australia and various archipelago microstates, its operations expanded considerably following the Pacific War, when it became the de facto coordinator for low-intensity TSA operations worldwide, including various nanosocialist guerrilla groups. It has close relations with Peru's similar Grupo Especial de Seguridad Memetica (Special Memetic Security Group).

The Tenth Bureau of China's Ministry of State Security is focused on collecting economic, scientific, and technological intelligence from foreign governments and transnationals. They are deeply involved in industrial espionage, and also keep an eye out for TSA operations and ex-Bioweapons Directorate war criminals. Bureau 10's main headquarters is in Beijing, but they maintain branch offices on all China's offworld stations and colonies.

This is a sister agency to the United States' Earth-bound Central Intelligence Agency. Just as the CIA may only act outside American territory, so the SIA's responsibilities begin outside Earth's atmosphere. Unlike the CIA, the SIA can and does act on American territory, notably the Martian Territories, and enforces American land claims on Mercury and elsewhere.