Claude decided to restructure the intelligence bureau of the region. Originally, there was only one bureau in the military, which was a little too comprehensive and messy.
For example, they had to clear out spies from other countries within the region, spy on enemy countries' military information, and understand the latest battlefield situation.
It was precisely because the area they were in charge of was too large that they often couldn't respond in time.
For example, the bureau didn't know anything about the royal navy's movements in the kingdom.
Claude planned to set up two more intelligence bureaus. One would be known as the intelligence bureau and would be in charge of the various countries on Freia, including the kingdom itself. Be it military or economic information, they would collect as much as they could so that they wouldn't be clueless when the time came.
The other would be known as the security bureau. It would be in charge of espionage and clearing out spies from other countries, as well as protecting military secrets and intelligence within the region. It was to prevent the region from acting like a sieve and letting the enemy know everything that happened in the region.
As for the Military Intelligence Bureau under the autonomous military zone, it was split into two departments, the Land Intelligence Department and the Sea Intelligence Department.
As the name suggested, it was the Army Intelligence Department and the Navy Intelligence Department, with different targets.
The land bureau was in charge of scouting enemy countries and the battlefield, just like Operation Wildfire. The colonized countries on the west coast were the targets of the land bureau.
The navy bureau was in charge of scouting the navies of the various countries and the distribution of pirate factions.
However, after Claude finished setting up the two bureaus, he suddenly realized that if the funding for the bureau and security bureau were to be handled by the region, the military would be at a huge disadvantage.
The funds needed to complete the deployment of these two intelligence departments was not a small amount. Moreover, these two intelligence departments were responsible for the security of the entire overseas autonomous territory, so it was only right that the autonomous territory's parliament allocated funds to set them up …
Having the land bureau and navy bureau under the region was enough. It was only natural that the military affairs would be managed by the military.
Given his authority, the council wouldn't go against his will if he suddenly set up two intelligence agencies, one for the internal and one for the external. However, they would feel that Claude was being a little too domineering and wouldn't be too happy about it.
Considering the issue of funding, Claude felt that it would be best to discuss the establishment of the intelligence bureau and security bureau with the parliament first. That way, they would feel more respected.
So, he went to look for the acting chairman, Marshal Bolonik. Chairman Bennett was left in the Great Plains of Canas to liaise with the royal capital.
The Overseas Dominion Parliament was presided over by Marshal Bolonik, who was responsible for managing the daily administrative affairs of the executive committee as the acting chairman.
Strictly speaking, the Overseas Dominion was currently implementing a dual-track system. It was a two-way management system, with both sides working at the same time. The executive committee of the Dominion Parliament was in charge of local administrative affairs, and the Dominion Army was in charge of military and defense.
Nominally, the highest authority of the Overseas Dominion was the Dominion Parliament. All matters concerning the Dominion required the approval of the Parliament.
But the truth was that the Dominion Parliament was actually a rubber stamp responsible for stamping everything.
The executive committee held administrative power. Each of the twelve executive committee members was responsible for an administrative matter. All local administrative offices of the autonomous territory were under the management and administrative guidance of the executive committee.
The Dominion Army's only superior was the Dominion Parliament. The actual governing body of the Dominion Army was the executive committee, which was on the same level as the Dominion Army. However, the executive committee would have to get Claude's approval first.
From a certain point of view, Claude was already the most powerful person in the region. The ministers in the royal capital knew very well that they had to deal with Claude first if they wanted to solve the region's problems.
When Claude saw Bolonik, he saw that he was looking rather worried. He couldn't help but be delighted when he saw Claude and placed a large stack of documents in front of him.
"What's this?" Claude asked.
Once Bolonik explained, Claude understood that he was worried about the governance of the region.
Originally, the system of local government officials in the overseas autonomous territories was implemented according to the kingdom itself. Most of the local officials were elected and inspected by the local authorities to get their positions.
Election was where a local famous person would act as a guarantor to recommend someone to take up a position in the region and the executive committee would approve it.
The inspection, on the other hand, didn't need to go through the executive committee. Instead, it was the local administrative office that was in charge of checking if the person was qualified for the position.
For example, Claude's father, Morssen, became a public official in Whitestag when he was young through the inspection system.
Back then, Whitestag lacked manpower and Morssen was able to get a position as a junior middle school liberal arts graduate. After more than a decade of hard work and diligence, not only did he become a citizen from a normal office worker without any backing, he was even promoted to the position of chief executive of Whitestag. It was a truly inspiring life.
Flipping through the stack of documents, Claude saw that most of them were about corruption, corruption, and collusion between the upper and lower levels of the government.
Claude asked curiously, "Since there's evidence, we can just punish them according to the system. Why worry about such things?
Bolonik sighed and told Claude the whole story. It was only then that Claude understood his predicament.
Originally, as a colony of the kingdom, the local officials were attached to the viceroys and admirals sent by the kingdom.
Later on, the war zone and the local officials worked together to get rid of the viceroys and admirals and get rid of the corrupt local officials.
The colony was changed to a dominion and gained the right to govern itself, forming a council and a military region.
When the dominion was first established, the colony was changed to a state and the various administrative offices were formed.
Back then, there was also a reorganization of the local government to get rid of the corrupt officials. The local nobles and councilors elected the local officials to take charge of the local affairs.
At that time, the Free Dominion was cut off from the kingdom, and its future was uncertain. The elected mayor of the local town was fair and honest, and the implementation of the various policies issued by the parliament was very effective.
But as the dominion's economy developed and the number of immigrants increased, there were many gaps in the administrative offices of the various towns.
Many smart people set their eyes on those positions and tried their best to become one.
After these people became public officials, the administrative efficiency of the entire overseas autonomous territory began to decline.
In short, the administrative offices of the various towns started to behave like bureaucrats.
After so many years of development, the people of the dominion got used to it.
Just like a patrolling police officer in a town, it had become a routine for him to take a few apples from a fruit vendor on the street and grab a few vegetables from a peddler's cart. The peddler could only curse in his heart and accept his bad luck.
The officials were rather shrewd. They wouldn't offend the upper echelons, but they wouldn't have a problem bullying the lower class citizens.
Had it not been for the large scale immigration of the military families from Shiks, the council might not have noticed the corruption at all.
However, when the two million Shiksan migrants arrived, there was bloodshed due to governance issues during the resettlement process.
Some black-hearted town officials deceived and colluded with each other during the resettlement process, embezzling the funds allocated by the council and extorting the Shiksan families. In the end, it led to a violent incident that couldn't be kept under wraps and was reported to the council.
The most important task of the council that year was to resettle the Shiksan families.
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It wasn't that there weren't any clean and honest officials in the various administrative offices of the region, but they were few in number.
What angered Bolonik the most was that some local officials practically rode roughshod over the townspeople, even forming gangs to collect protection fees from the townspeople …. What infuriated Bolonik the most was that some local officials practically rode roughshod over the townspeople, even forming gangs to collect protection fees from the townspeople.
Marshal Bolonik was furious. He was originally from a civilian family and had been living in the army ever since. He had developed an upright character that abhorred evil, and what he hated the most were these corrupt administrative officials.
Before he entered the military academy, his parents' farm in the outskirts of the royal capital was often blackmailed and extorted by the local officials. It cast a shadow over his youth and the more he saw, the more he hated the corrupt local officials.
Just like what he was saying, what was the difference between a self-governing region and the kingdom itself?
The local officials were all the same, deceiving their superiors, colluding with each other and taking bribes. In the long run, the council would lose all credibility in the eyes of the people.
He wanted to set off a storm in the whole of the overseas autonomous territory, to clean up the illegal local officials, but he was afraid that it would cause a major upheaval in the overseas autonomous territory.
What worried Marshal Bolonik the most was that if he decided to punish the local officials of the entire Dominion, it could easily cause the administrative affairs of the local towns in the Dominion to come to a standstill and no one to deal with them.
Based on the results of his investigations, many of the local officials could be dealt with in one fell swoop.
Arresting them would be easy, but who would be in charge of the local affairs?
Another thing he needed to consider was, even if there were replacement public officials, how could he prevent these public officials from repeating the same mistakes in the future?
After chatting with Claude for more than an hour, Bolonik finally remembered that he hadn't asked Claude why he was there.
Claude placed the documents on the new intelligence bureau and security bureau in front of him and explained the purpose of setting up the two intelligence bureaus. Bolonik nodded in approval. It was a division of power between the military and the council, which would be easily approved by the council.
However, Claude didn't intend to put the two intelligence bureaus under the council's jurisdiction. There were more than a hundred council members in the council. If any one of them could meddle in the affairs of the two intelligence bureaus, they would be useless.
As for putting it under the jurisdiction of the executive committee, Claude wasn't too happy about it either. The executive committee was already powerful enough. During times of peace, they played a greater role than the autonomous military zone.
Claude planned to set up an intelligence committee with twelve members to oversee the two intelligence bureaus.
In the future, the intelligence committee would be on the same level as the council and the region. They would be subordinate to the council and report only to the council.
However, they would be under the leadership of the region and would be funded by the council.
Of the twelve committee members, five would be recommended by the region, four by the council and three by the council.
Flipping through the stack of documents on corruption, Claude smiled. "Actually, your subordinates are quite capable. Perhaps you can set up an investigation bureau to serve as the region's anti-corruption agency. They'll investigate the officials in the various regions to prevent them from going down the path of corruption and punish every single one they find.
At the same time, they can also crack down on the criminal syndicates and investigate organized crime. "
Bolonik laughed heartily. He knew what Claude was getting at.
So, the three intelligence agencies of the region — the intelligence bureau, the security bureau and the investigation bureau — were set up with a few words from the two of them.
The list of twelve members for the intelligence committee was quickly decided. Claude would be the chairman, Bolonik the vice-chairman and Myjack the secretary general in charge of the day-to-day administration.
The five members recommended by the region were Claude, Beechlin, Myjack, Borkal (director of the intelligence bureau) and Fodelus (director of the security bureau).
The four members recommended by the council were Bolonik, Henderman, Weyblon and Hazorak, who was in charge of the police department.
As for the director of the investigation bureau, Bolonik would be in charge of it.
The other three committee members would be elected by the council members themselves. Those who were elected would have to swear not to leak any information without permission.
Claude had two suggestions regarding the governance of the government that Bolonik was worried about. The first was to implement a civil servant examination system instead of the recommendation and inspection system.
Every civil servant in a local town had to pass a uniform civil servant examination of the corresponding level.
The examination would be split into a written test and an interview. The written test would be followed by an interview. Only those who passed could become an official civil servant.
They would also have to be investigated by the investigation bureau and would be arrested immediately if they were found to have committed any crimes.
Secondly, the autonomous territory would implement a crackdown on organized crime groups in the various states and strengthen the local public order.
As for the governance of the government that Bolonik was most worried about, it could be hidden behind the crackdown. The corrupt civil servants would be transferred to another location before being arrested.
This way, not only could the arrested administrative officials contribute to the crackdown, but they could also be arrested in a different place so as not to cause any unrest in the local area.
Marshal Bolonik's biggest headache was that these corrupt officials had deep connections in the local government. If they were arrested and punished locally, these people would likely use the various local forces to resist arrest or resist stubbornly. It could cause a huge disturbance in the local government and it would not be easy to clean up the mess.
But now, Claude's idea was very wonderful. Using the crackdown, he would let the local administrative officials of Town A go to Town B to handle official business, let the people of Town B go to Town C, and let the people of Town C go to Town A, with the excuse that they were handling cases in different places.
That way, no one would suspect anything. When the civil servants arrived, they could be investigated and arrested. Those who should be arrested would be sentenced. Even if they wanted to resist, they wouldn't be able to do so.
Bolonik was overjoyed and decided to implement Claude's two suggestions.
The first step was to formulate a civil servant assessment system and spread the word that they would be implementing an assessment system for all administrative and civil servants in the entire overseas autonomous territory in order to determine the official qualifications of civil servants.
Then, he would carry out the crackdown and tell the civil servants that the crackdown would also be included in the examination system. That way, they wouldn't refuse to work in other cities.
After the crackdown was over, he would immediately conduct a civil servant examination in the various cities and select people with clean backgrounds to fill in the vacancies of the arrested civil servants.
However, if Bolonik's committee were to carry out the crackdown across the region, they would need the cooperation of the region's military.
Claude believed that only after Thundercrash's return would the military have enough manpower to carry out the crackdown on the nine provinces at the same time.
Bolonik's most important task before the end of the year was to pass the plan to set up the three intelligence agencies and the intelligence committee. After all, the establishment of the investigation bureau would be of great help to the crackdown and the governance of the government.
The 15th of October, year 606 of the Sacred Light Calendar, was a memorable day for the region. The parliament of the region approved the formation of the three major intelligence agencies during their quarterly meeting and elected the members of the intelligence committee. The committee was also authorized to allocate three million crowns to the three intelligence agencies.