International Affairs Agency (IAA)

Overview

The International Affairs Agency, often called simply "the Agency," is the HD Universe's foreign intelligence service, modeled on the CIA with elements of the NSA. Its Los Santos base is IAA Headquarters in Pillbox Hill, and it also runs an underground facility beneath a satellite relay station in the Grand Senora Desert. Known agents include Karen Daniels and Agent 14, and Lester Crest is among its allies. Steve Haines portrays it as corrupt and obsessed with expanding its budget.

History

The Agency first operated in Liberty City in 2008 behind the cover of the United Liberty Paper company. Karen Daniels, posing as "Michelle," watched Niko Bellic, and the contact known as Agent ULP blackmailed him into off-the-books jobs before helping him find Darko Brevic.

In Grand Theft Auto V the IAA and FIB fight over funding. The Agency holds Ferdinand Kerimov after faking his death, which leads to Dead Man Walking and to Three's Company, where Michael De Santa snatches him out of IAA Headquarters during Karen Daniels' interrogation. The Agency also figures in Monkey Business and The Wrap Up as the rivalry between the agencies plays out around Michael.

In GTA Online's Heists update, Agent 14 recruits the player through Lester to free Maxim Rashkovsky in The Prison Break and then steal nerve agent data in The Humane Labs Raid. Afterward, Karen Daniels pays the crew and declares their usefulness over.

Territory and activities

The IAA focuses on national security, using armored and military hardware such as the Insurgent, Valkyrie, Annihilator Stealth, Buzzard and the Mobile Operations Center. Its agents carry Carbine Rifles, Assault Rifles, Combat MGs, shotguns and Sniper Rifles.

Trivia

• In GTA IV the agency is never named; office props and file names point to the CIA.
• Karen Daniels remarks that the IAA can get anyone to do its dirty work just by paying them.