No, the problem is you've been watching too many James Bond movies. In the real world, you don't send highly trained agents in the field, you recruit "assets" who are either already in place, or can be placed where you need them but can't easily be traced back to you, then give them only as much information as they "need to know." It's entirely reasonable for a talented but rebellious young unknown to think she would have more "fun" working as a spy then chaffing under the UNS command structure.
No, they were willing to send her on a [covert] mission that should not have required a heavily armed presence at all, for which the Commodore did not give them written instructions (this having "plausible deniability") because the true intent of it "should have been obvious." Exactly the sort of thing that would raise a red flag with Internal Affairs.So UNSIA was willing to send their roboticist spy on a mission considered unimportant enough that they couldn't be bothered to give them clear orders.
Again, they were under contract to the UNS, who at the time were happily paying for a refit to their ship, then in drydock aboard a UNS battleplate, despite the fact that the UNS (officially) had no responsibility for the damages it sustained. Whatever happened later has nothing to do with the advisability of embedding a plant at the time they did so.After that mission, there was no guarantee that the Toughs would be doing anything UNS related for quite some time.
They were deeply on the outs with Petey, and had no mercenary license to work for anyone else any more. And if/when they did run back to Petey, it's not as if anyone (or everyone) in the UNS wouldn't have an interest in getting ears on him as well.or picked up a security contract from Petey.