XCOM

XCOM (Extraterrestrial Combat Unit) is an organisation created to combating extra-terrestrial forces. It is currently lead by The Commander and his Internal Council.

Organization
XCOM is organized into several divisions, each with a different role to play.

Analysis and Communications Division
Analysis and Communications is in charge of monitoring the world for alien activity, as well as analyzing any data or signals entering or leaving the current base of operations. It is also in charge of XCOM's communication with the outside world.

Research Division
The Research Division of XCOM handles the advancement of knowledge and technology in order to combat the alien invasion. This includes (but not limited to) research into alien technology, the interrogation of alien captives, and the development of genetic modifications.

Engineering Division
The Engineering Division produces all of XCOM's armors, weapons, and tools. It also reverse engineers alien technology and invents new designs for fabrication.

Intelligence Division
The Intelligence Division coordinates and deploys agents around the world in order to fight the aliens in more covert ways than a traditional soldier.

Psionics Division
[WORK IN PROGRESS]

Background
USSECOM

The precursor to XCOM was established in 1957 by the United States Bureau of Strategic Emergency Command as a response for the launch of the Sputnik, the first man-made satellite by the Soviet Union. Its original mission was to provide a last-resort organisation to coordinate US resistance in the case of a successful communist invasion and conquest of United States.

In order to keep its existence a secret, any field operations to investigate possible Soviet subversion activities were made under the name of the Bureau of Operations and Command, or the Bureau. The organisation was originally established under the Department of Defense (DoD), and it was placed under the control of the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), created in 1961, to merge and coordinate the military intelligence efforts of the Army, Navy and Airforce. Its specific role of investigating any outside threat to the US in domestic soil gave it a position among the larger civilian and military intelligence agencies.

Outsider Incident

A small town in Missouri reportedly went dark, and the Bureau director, Myron Faulke, displaced Agent William Carter to investigate the town, believing it to be a possible Soviet incursion. Instead, Carter discovered the town had been taken over by twelve alien beings and was nearly killed when he ran directly into the fortified defences. However, a seemly benevolent angelic being known as Asaru had taken completely control of Agent Carter like a puppet, using him as a mouthpiece to communicate back to the Bureau and assisted him in staying alive while he waited for reinforcement.

When the reinforcement arrived to the fortified town, they found the outsiders to be in complete chaos with their leader being assassinated by mystical means. The remaining outsiders fell in short order. However, a report stated that Asaru had supposedly enchanted the mind of the reinforcements into a fighting force cable of take down these advanced Outsiders. Another report stated the Outsiders were disoriented and somehow turned on against each other.

Agent Carter was declared a hero and this incident was classified above top secret. Everyone involved seemingly came to a conclusion that it was a minor incident, in which their victory over the aliens meant there was little to fear. Over time, they gradually forgot this event had ever happened. However, the Bureau director Faulke somehow managed to treating the possibility of an alien invasion as a major concern. He decided to reassign part of his assets to focus on finding ways to fight a possible alien invasion.

Founding of XCOM

With the collapse of Soviet Union, the original goal of the Bureau was now forfeit. The secretive Council of Nations came together to discuss the theoretical scenarios of future alien contact, which was backed up by director Faulke's journals about the Outsider Incident - one event everyone seemly had forgotten about. Contingency plans were to be implemented in the event of hostilities. This led to a reorganisation of the Bureau into XCOM in 1992 with that goal to combat the alien invaders.

Until the activation of the XCOM project, XCOM would be operated on limited materials and skeleton crew to maintain and operate all vital facilitates. Comprised of some of the best military, engineering, and scientific personnel the member nations have to offer, XCOM worked to defend Earth from the extraterrestrial threat. The Council of Nations had a list of personnel for the project who could be called up if the time came.