[@KatherinWinter]

I've got a fairly solid grasp of how these organizations are put together between having learned directly from family members, as well as my own independent research (because it is a subject that I find fascinating) and reading books/playing video games that involve things like military operations and secret agents.

By the way, if you're ever looking for a good military fiction read, check out Larry Correia's Dead Six series. The first book follows two protagonists; a mercenary working for an American military black ops unit (the titular Dead Six), and a career criminal working on a major heist in the same fictional country. It gives a surprisingly good look at how both organized criminal groups and covert military units operate.

Larry's main series (that is, the first one he published and the one that is currently the longest) Monster Hunter International is another really good read, the first book in that series is actually available for free as an e-book on basically all platforms through the publisher's website.

This has been an opportunistic shilling for my favorite author. Seriously, go read these books. They are amazing.