This branch is the top authority in the government, presenting itself as a benevolent force helping people, but in reality, it’s conducting experiments on them and exerting control.
Here are some names and types for a fictional scientific organization:
- The Administration
- The Bureau
- The Academies
- The Foundation
- The Interagency
- The Joint Task Force
- The Commission
- The Service
- The Authority
- The Initiative
- The Department
- The Technical Board
It really depends on how your government is organized. Names like the Ministry of Progress, Science, or Knowledge are pretty straightforward options.
When you refer to it as a branch of government, are you talking about a subdivision of the executive branch like the Ministry of Defence or the Department of Agriculture? Or are you referring to a separate constitutional arm such as the Executive, the Legislature, the Judiciary, or the Guardian Council?
If it’s the former, as Sophisticaden suggests, names that are overtly misleading, like the Department of Happiness, would work well.
If it’s the latter, you might consider names with a Greek or Latin flair that imply a focus on science, such as the Collegia or the Academia.
The Directorate or the Committee of Public Safety—I borrowed the name from the French Revolution.
The Committee of Public Safety was essentially a rationalist dictatorship that played a major role in instigating the Reign of Terror, so it was decidedly malevolent.
I’ll go with “The Collective.”