In Deo Confidemus
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Black Hats are the bad guys, defined as opposing the principles generally espoused by the Agency. They include the three subcategories of Criminals, Terrorists, and Conquerers, and may be governments, organizations, or individuals. Black Hats are almost always, in some fashion, the target of Agency activities, either their activities and initiatives or their organizations themselves. Only in an extreme circumstance will the Agency act in cooperation with, or draw on the resources of, or back the activities of a Black Hat, and then only to avoid a greater evil from occuring.
Criminals are those who violate national or international law (or laws of morality which the Agency follows). They are (in context of the Agency's work) usually international crime cartels and syndicates of some size; national law enforcement is usually sufficient to deal with smaller threats. Drug lords, human traffickers, weapons smugglers, transnational Mafia/Yakuza "families" and the like are all valid targets, and have all been acted against by the Agency. Most often, this involves gathering of intelligence that is handed to existing national and transnational police organizations. On occasion, where those organizations are not up to the task, IX will step in more directly, though its influence is more like a scalpel on the problem, not a machete.
(IX, as policy, is generally opposed to drug abuse, but targets drug lords more for the violence, extortion, and related crimes that they engender or commit.)
Terrorists are those organizations or individuals who use violence to instill terror, and so gain gain concessions from populations or governments -- usually political, but sometimes monetary. While IX is relatively neutral on issues of national politics, it considers terrorist organizations -- particularly those that operate across national borders, or which are sponsored by particular nations -- to be fair game.
Conquerors are organizations or nations that seek to take control of other nations, or the world. They are a primary target of IX.
Note that these subcategories often have a lot of overlap. Conquerors commonly use terrorist tactics to influence world governments, and fund themselves through criminal enterprises. Some terrorist organizations also use criminal enterprises to fund themselves, while frequently criminal organizations use terror tactics, and seek ways to become national governments. And, of course, some national governments are little more than criminals and terrorists.
Some example of Black Hat groups:
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