Occasionally, my identity is... problematic. [It's a weird way to describe something like that, but it's the most fitting he can come up with right now. He continues:] I am a known captain of the Shinsengumi, and my name as well as my loyalties sometimes make it difficult to collect information. If I want to be trusted, I cannot always be Hajime Saitou, captain of the Shinsengumi's 3rd unit.

[That probably makes it sound nicer than it actually is. It wasn't always as simple as collecting information—he was deceiving people, betraying them.]

It's very similar to what we do here.