Colonial Administration Authority

The Colonial Administration Authority (CAA) was the United Earth Government's governing appendage for all extrasolar human colonies from 2310 up until the instatement of UNSC martial law at the onset of the Covenant War. Together with its military arm, the Colonial Military Authority, the two organizations made up what was known as the Colonial Authority.

Overview
Although it developed an organizational character distinct from the UEG, by and large the CAA both represented the Earth government's interests outside SolCore and acted as the colonies' primary means of representation within the UEG, albeit only nominally in many cases. This was organized through the Colonial Congress, a CAA legislative body with representatives elected from each colony. However, the CAA was ultimately subordinate to the UEG proper, and though other channels of participation existed for colonies within the UEG, their ability to influence policy was limited as they were not represented in either of the parliamentary assemblies of the UEG proper. Though small reforms were made over time, these were mostly in favor of the Inner Colonies due to their far greater representation than the Outer Colonies. This remained the situation for virtually the entire 25th century and fed into the tensions that eventually flared up as the Insurrection. The UEG itself was initially relatively hands-off as to the activities of the CA, especially its military arm, and the Earth government grew increasingly out of touch with the reality out in the colonies until the UNSC-CMA Cold War provided a wake-up call as to how far they had diverged.

The CAA maintained its own military force, the Colonial Military Authority, though it was gradually undermined by corruption and superseded by the United Nations Space Command. Over the course of the increasing militarization that characterized the early 2500s, many former functions of the CAA were gradually cannibalized into the UNSC, particularly after the CMA's fall from grace. One of these was the Department of Commercial Shipping, which was folded into the UNSC in 2503 due to concerns about coordinating with anti-piracy and anti-insurrection actions. Another was the Department of Colonial Security, the CAA's primary intelligence arm. The CAA presented considerable resistance against the transfer of power to the UNSC in 2527, and was subsequently stripped of its power and reconstituted as the "UNSC Colonial Authority" as a result. Since the war, most of the Colonial Authority's roles have been taken over by the interim Phoenix Initiative, which has been forced to take a more hands-off role in the colonies' governance.