Alternative History
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The American Investigation Agency is an American government-owned entity, one of the few organisations owned by the government, rather than those working within it. It is divided into two sections, the Local Division (LD) and the International Division (ID).


History[]

The AIA, often referred to as simply the Agency, was formed on July 26, 1907, by People's Attorney Theodore Roosevelt, on the advice of President Charles Bonaparte, as a means for the government to investigate those matters that transcended state boundaries and jurisdiction. It's first director was Alexei Bielaski, who hotly denied any existence of organised crime in America, and only ever investigated individual criminals. Upon being assassinated in 1919, he was replaced by George Wickersham. Perhaps the Agency's most famous director, however, was Alphonse 'Scarface' Capone, director from 1929-70, who managed to bust over 30 statewide smuggling operations during the Marijuana and Alcohol Prohibition period, as well as numerous smaller ones. Capone took a hard line on organised crime, and was in part responsible for the short-lived "White Scare" in the late '50s that set back relations with some of the European monarchies decades. Perhaps his most famous act, however, was the capture of reactionary mafioso Eddie Hoover in 1947 during an attempt to flee the country.

In 1943, after the World War, President Earl Browder created the International Division, responsible for obtaining information about foreign entities deemed important, and reporting appropriate information to branches of the US Government.


The First Cold War[]

Following the end of the World War in 1940 and the capture of a United Kingdom spy in a high-level AIA position in 1941, anti-capitalist tendencies began to become apparent in the AIA's leadership. At the behest of director Capone and several Southern senators, President Strong cut off ties to many capitalist European countries and called for revolution in them. Anti-capitalist sentiment grew strong in the Southern states, and there were several calls to end relations with the Californian Republic of America, many of them from within the AIA itself. These were mostly ignored. However, when Joseph McCarthy became the governor of the CRA county of Oregon in 1945, he successfully managed to convince President Olson to end all trade between the two nations and publicly denounce the cause of communism. Fear of communism grew in the CRA in much the same way fear of capitalism was in the USA. Tension between the two governments grew and the nations went through a "Cold War", with an open rivalry, each side attempting to outdo the other through any means possible short of actual military conflict (a "hot" war). This ended in 1949 when AIA documents were leaked revealing that McCarthy had been a spy for the AIA, working towards starting an armed conflict in an attempt to reclaim the west coast of North America. The CRA was issued with a formal apology, and the AIA underwent a major reorganisation, with several people being removed from positions of power.


List of Directors[]

  • Alexei B. Bielaski (1907-1919)
  • George Wickersham (1919-1929)
  • Alphonse Capone (1929-1970)
  • Johnathon Gotti (1970-1984)
  • Dorothy Bush-Kerry (1984-2002)
  • William Ribicoff, Jr. (2002-present)
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