SWARM is a division of the SIA.
The SIA is the UK's Secret Intelligence Agency, a very hush-hush part of the British Intelligence community. It was the SIA which convinced the Home Secretary to sign off on the quite large financial drain that would eventually produce SWARM and it is safe to say that not everyone was happy at the expenditure - read: other organizations like MI5 and MI6.
SWARM is really the name of a project, created by the Department of Micro-robotic Intelligence, but the name is used here rather than the Department's own since it is the star attraction, otherwise it is even more hush-hush than its funding organization. As Queen Bee says of her project, "The existence of SWARM is known only to my staff, and to the people in this room. However, nanotechnology is the future. Micro-robots will soon dominate the worlds of spying and crime investigation. These SWARM operatives are the most advanced robots on Earth. On the outside, they are almost indistinguishable from real insects, yet each has equipment and capabilities that make the average undercover agent look like a caveman."
Yes, you read that correctly - robots and insects. Very small robots made to look and function as common insects but with intelligence far more advanced.
The Queen Bee mentioned above is human. She is the woman in charge of the project and a devoted believer in the capabilities of the mechanized wee things under her command. "She was a tall woman with a shock of blonde hair and a smartly cut suit. She wore a pair of glasses with small, circular lenses that reflected the rapidly shifting light from the screens. Behind the lenses, her steely grey eyes darted from one readout to another, soaking up information. Her age was difficult to work out from her looks, but her slightly pursed lips, and the way her long fingers tapped slowly on the arms of her chair, showed that she meant business." Queen Bee always means business.
The members of SWARM are (data provided us in the first recorded adventure):!!Widow: a spider - abilities: 360ยบ vision and recording function, able to produce silk threads and webs stronger than steel, armed with an extremely venomous bite, and able to walk on any surface - horizontal, vertical or upside down.
Chopper: a dragon fly - abilities: Telescopic vision with zoom, scanning and recording functions, night vision and thermal imaging abilities, high-speed flight with super control and rapid directional change.
Nero: a scorpion - abilities: strong, impact-resistant exoskeleton, pincers to grab and hold, with high dexterity, venomous sting in tail, capable of high-speed attack movements.
Hercules: a stag beetle - abilities: extra-tough membrane on wing shells to withstand extreme force and pressure, serrated claw for sawing through any material, can lay surveillance 'eggs' for tracking and data analysis.
Sirena: a butterfly - abilities: uses beauty rather than stealth for protection, expert in reconnaissance missions - can gather environmental data through high-sensitivity antennae.
Sabre: a mosquito - abilities: long proboscis for extracting DNA and injecting tracking technology and liquids to cause paralysis or memory loss, specialist in stealth movement without detection, capable of recording low frequency, low-volume sound.
Morph: a centipede - abilities: flexible, gelatinous body with super-strong grip, ability to dig and burrow, laser-mapping sensory functions.
Oh, one final, pretty important factor: these robotic insects possess artificial intelligence!