The Department of Cover Ups, or the Bureau, was a government agency tasked with various conspiracies and cover-ups in the United States of America.
History[]
While the exact founding of the government agency is unclear, it is known that they were already involved in the Northwest Cover-up, in which Quentin Trembley, the 8½ president of the United States of America and the true founder of Gravity Falls, was removed from historical records.
In 1947, after Bill Cipher escaped from his capture by the US Army in Roswell, New Mexico, the incident was referred to the "Bureau", who demanded the US Army to burn all their records of the incident.
The logo of the government agency on a page on Ciphertology in the book Lesser Known American cults
It is implied that the Bureau was in charge of removing records of BillVille following Silas Birchtree's second death and the disbandment of Ciphertology in 1952.
In the summer of 2012, during Gravity Falls' pioneer day celebrations, the Dispatcher from the Department is first informed by Sherriff Blubs about Dipper and Mabel's intention to discover the true town founder. The dispatcher informs him to find the twins and stop them, stating there is no room for error. This starts Blubs and Durland's hunt to track down Dipper and Mabel. It is unknown what happened to the dispatcher after the events of the episode or after the revelation of Quentin Trembley. However, as Pacifica Northwest mentioned that money makes problems go away in "The Golf War" after Dipper asks her how learning her whole family were frauds was going, it can be assumed he either is still maintaining the Northwest cover-up for individuals who don't know the truth or working in another branch of the government.
The agents arrived in Gravity Falls to investigate the power surge
As Stan Pines reactivated his brother's Interdimensional Portal, the government picked up the power surge caused by the Portal and Agent Trigger and Agent Powers were dispatched to Gravity Falls to investigate. During their visit, Powers discloses to Dipper their ongoing investigation of a paranormal case that he suspects is deeply rooted within the town, which entices Dipper to help with their research. Powers gives him a business card that Stan quickly confiscates, hurriedly trying to convince the agents that the paranormal aspects of the town are mere legends to drum up business.
Later that night, Dipper manages to steal the card from Stan, arranging to meet Powers and Trigger in the woods where he reveals to them Journal 3. Unimpressed, the two prepare to leave, but quickly change their minds when a zombie that Dipper has raised with the journal attacks them; they kill the undead enemy, only for hundreds more to rise up from more fissures in the earth, and eventually drag the two agents out of sight. During the end credits, the battered agents emerge, having survived, and Powers concludes that they need to "bring in the big guns," despite Trigger objecting that the government won't believe the supernatural events they've witnessed.
The two agents continued their investigation behind the scenes and eventually, with the help of other federal agents, arrested Stan Pines and attempted to escort the twins to child services. However, before the agents could find out about the lab, a modified blast from the memory erasing gun causes him and the rest of the agents to lose their memory of the events, and be driven off the case by Ford Pines.
Known agents[]
Trivia[]
The US Government Cover-Up Seal
- A longer cut opening from "Scary-oke" had the government agency that Powers and Triggers work for be revealed as the Department of Cover Ups.
- The full actual canon name of the agency is unknown, given it was redacted in the Roswell incident report.
- On the file cover of the Northwest Cover-up and the top-secret film in "Irrational Treasure," the seal stamp says "Official United States Government Cover-Up Seal."
- While Hirsch admitted "a missed opportunity" to tie the unnamed dispatcher from "Irrational Treasure" with Agents Power and Trigger, on the Roswell chapter of the The Book of Bill, a logo of the Bureau is appended at the end. When Commander Buck Pierson, who apprehended Cipher, said he never heard of the Bureau, the agents replied: "You've probably never heard of Trembley either. Let's keep it that way." This implies that the Bureau is also in charge of the Northwest Cover-up, and later censoring information regarding Ciphertology and the town of BillVille.
In the show, the eagle in the logo faces to the left
- It is possible the agency could have been founded in the 1800s mainly to counter Bill Cipher after the founding fathers changed their minds regarding Cipher's deal and Cipher gave them nightmares in retaliation. It also explains the Department's continued presence in Bill Cipher's Roswell incident and Ciphertology.
- There seems to be at least two variations of the logo: in the show, the logo is depicted with the eagle facing left. In This Is Not A Website Dot Com, the eagle is facing right.