have studied the MSS for many years: The MSS is a civilian agency, although it controls its own separate police force (the "State Security Police", one of the four components of the People's Police) and includes some People's Liberation Army (PLA) officers among its personnel. The MSS official uniform is dark navy blue, similar to that of the regular People's Police, with the only difference being a badge on the right arm with the Chinese characters "国安" ("State Security"). Article 4 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China gives the MSS the same authority to arrest or detain people as regular police for crimes involving state security with identical supervision by the procuratorates and the courts. The National Intelligence Law of 2017 grants the MSS broad powers to conduct many types of espionage both domestically and abroad; it also gives the MSS the power to administratively detain those who impede or divulge information on intelligence work for up to 15 days. History Central Special Branch (1928–1936) In November 1927, the CCP established its first formal intelligence service, with Zhou Enlai founding the Central Special Branch (, often shortened to Teke; sometimes written Special Services Section (SSS)) to conduct "special operations" work. With Xiang Zhongfa and Gu Shunzhang's assistance, Zhou designed the organization that many Chinese intelligence officers today see as the origins of their enterprise. Establishing secret bases across the Chinese territory, the Teke was composed of four sections led by Gu Shunzhang and Kang Sheng. 1st Section, General Services Section (), was responsible for the protection and safety of CCP headquarters and leaders to include making arrangements for secret meetings. 1st Section was led by Hong Yangsheng (). 2nd Section, Intelligence Section (), was responsible for intelligence and counterintelligence and led by Chen Geng (), later to become the CCP's Vice Minister of National Defense. 3rd Section, Operations Section (), was the infamous "Red Guard" assassination section headed by Gu Shunzhang (顾顺章) whose "dog-beating squads" () were tasked to kill traitors. 4th Section, Radio Communications Section () was headed by Li Qiang (later to become PRC Minister of Foreign Trade) and responsible for communication in the underground spy network. Zhou's primary objective was to disrupt the Kuomintang's secret police attempts to penetrate the CCP which required both a defensive counterintelligence effort to identify potentially traitorous members of the party and an offensive intelligence effort to