Yulai - In the wake of the Code Aria Inquiry report leak to various media services and public domains, the CONCORD Assembly has descended into a swirl of rumour and outrage. Amid the torrents of harsh words directed in all manners of directions, the Inner Circle have been reported to have launched an emergency investigation seeking to determine both the source of this leak and the authenticity of the report. Meanwhile on the floor of the Assembly itself the representatives of the four empires have begun to fall into step with each other, in what is turning into a rare showing of like minded thinking, and are demanding answers from the Inner Circle on the content of the report. Sounding the rallying call among the Assembly is the senior representative of the Amarr Empire, Lord Qumar, who has vehemently condemned the Inner Circle, confirming the speculation of the media CONCORD analysts that much of the information in the report has been withheld from the empires themselves.
"If the substance of this report is authentic and accurate," Stated Lord Qumar in a post-Assembly press conference, "then this is completely intolerable. The actions of the Inner Circle must be held to account. The very leaking of this report has all but shattered our confidence in the current state of security in the Inner Circle which, if nothing else, requires immediate attention. Ironically we also have this breach of security to thank for bringing this to light. The very details of the report, in which both the wider results of the investigation into the sporadic activation of the newly opened regions as well as information of CONCORD ships entering these regions with CONCORD assets has never been disclosed to us. The Inner Circle has denied all of us information relating to the safety of our borders, the security of our sovereign jumpgate network and the request for the use of CONCORD assets outside of the secured borders they are meant to serve within. Their blatant lack of regard for proper channels is an outrage of the highest order."
Not alone in his anger, one of the Caldari State lower representatives stated in a different interview.
"CONCORD assets that have been devoted to the proposed excursion into the drone infested regions could have, and should have been put to much better use within the borders of the empires CONCORD was created to serve. Anything else, such as this, is an abhorrent waste of resources which none of the empires were consulted about."
Multiple CONCORD experts in the media have fixated on the possible connection between these developments and the more recent incidents in the last three months, as mentioned by capsuleer Mera Vahlsina who those events involved. Having poured over the leaked report several times, the tenuous connection of the date the report was lowered in classification and the mishandled retirement of a CONCORD Commander which was surrounded in rumour has been raised. Not to mention the recent information from Mera Vahlsina herself on the GalNet stating the closeness in date from her partner's departure on an unspecified CONCORD patrol and the publishing date of the leaked report.
"It is entirely possible" stated one expert, "that what we are witnessing is the crumbling foundations upon which a very large house of cards has been built."
Further to this speculation political analysts and The Scope, turning their attention to the finer points of this recent development, have begun ruminating over the levels of autonomy that currently exist within the Inner Circle. Armed with this incident, along with an infrequent history of security breaches and operational charter violations by CONCORD personnel, fears are being raised over just how much power the Inner Circle as well as other branches of CONCORD have at their disposal. The Scope's head political analyst for the Genesis region stated the following in a broadcast this morning.
"It is becoming increasingly clear that the Inner Circle have begun to exercise more power than they have available to them. One might speculate, and I must be clear given the situation that this is entirely a point of speculation, that the departments of CONCORD outside of the empire's Assembly itself have grown a little too big for their boots. And that they are evidently deluding themselves with regards to their scope of authority. We can only hope that this is not a typical and frequent occurrence within CONCORD."