the way I see it, the LSF are supposed to be investigators/detectives. They were originally part of the liberty police force, until the liberty government cut funding to that organization and the LPI was formed as a private law enforcement group.
LSF claim to have top-secret access to anything and everything in liberty space... but really, they dont. Very few members of the LSF are privy to information and areas like alaska / zone 21 or the navy's top research projects... in almost every regard, the liberty navy has more authority than the LSF do.
The LSF exist to go undercover or spy on potential threats to liberty commerce and government - primarily that focuses around the trade of contraband goods, as shown in the opening missions of the singleplayer campaign. The LSF's primary responsibility is to stop piracy and smuggling, not to deal with foreign affairs or military incidents.
Most people -playing- as LSF characters now (and i'm guilty of this as well, on Virago way back when, because I didnt do my research) are RP'ing and portraying themselves as super-classified military officials with access to everything.
If you ask me, the LSF should be policing trade routes in liberty and stopping pirates/smugglers, not spending their time in z21/alaska or trying to sneak into foreign houses or order space.