Chief Audit Council

The Chief Audit Council (CAC) is the 15-member semi-secret governmental committee that exercises ruling power over the Illuminatian government's Ultrabureau of Control (UBC). The group is the highest body in the UBC, providing overall management of the ultrabureau, serving as a final arbiter of policy and conflict within the UBC, and acting as the UBC's representative when deliberative bodies are called to form from among the administrative heads of the Illuminatian government's four ultrabureaus.

The Chief Audit Council acts much like a supreme court might act within a judicial branch of government. However, as the UBC is not a judicial branch, the CAC is best described as a board of examination and highest mediator of internal governmental affairs.

While the existence of the CAC is publicly known and its decisions are disclosed in all the same ways as any non-private, non-proprietary decision of a governmental body, the identity of the individual members of the CAC is kept secret from nearly everybody—public and governmental bureaucrats alike. It is understood that this secrecy is necessary to maintain the integrity of the CAC in its highly sensitive position as a check upon the other three government ultrabureaus.

The anonymity of the CAC's members is a mechanism of removing any potential for impropriety, bribery, or personal threats upon the individuals that may affect the neutrality of their decisions in their professional capacity. Strict impartiality is required of CAC members. Chief Audit Council members are required to absolve themselves of any interest, investment, or connection to any entity that might be subject to their oversight. CAC members are allowed to abstain from taking part in deliberations when any actual or perceived partiality may be at risk of existing. Temporary substitute CAC members are recruited for these situations from a pool of potential jurists who are known to lack personal interest or connection to the matter at hand. Substitute members are necessary to maintain the 15-member quorum.

Chief Audit Council members have a strong incentive to maintain anonymity. Any CAC member who is publicly exposed is subject to immediate dismissal from the council.