trope-a-day
Trope-a-Day: Secret Police
Secret Police: In the Imperial context – and under the “even free countries have these, albeit without the order of fear that the authoritarian kind cultivate” clause – this would be the Counterespionage and Counterasymmetrism Directorate (“One”) and the Internal Security and Surveillance Directorate (“Four”), which despite the sinister-sounding name is essentially