When it was established, the agency employed many radical discontented elements in the party of Sonno Joi (advocating respecting the Emperor and excluding of foreigners) in order to conciliate them, who had been beyond control of the new government that were advancing the policy of "opening the country."
設置に際しては、維新後、開国政策を進める新政府にとってもてあまし気味の存在となっていた過激尊皇攘夷派の不平分子らの懐柔を目的に、彼らを多く採用したいきさつがあった。