anyone notice the similarities between section 31 and the men in black(MIB)? i think star trek got the idea from watching that movie. which was first?

Would someone answer me this question: What actually is Section 31? Sorry to sound like a hopeless n00b

To hear section 31 tell it, they were originally created as a reaction to part of the original draft framework of the ‘constitution’ for the Federation. Section 31 of the draft document supposedly made some kind of mention to setting up an organization that would use any and all means to ensure the Federation was protected from it enemies, even if the actions taken contradicted other Federation laws. They are totally autonomous and as a result answer to no one. No one knows who funds them or how they operate.

They are essentially the Federations answer to the Tal-Shiar or the Obsidian Order but 10x worse because they are rouge agents, not at all like Star Fleet Intelligence.

They recruit from all field including SF intel and Star Fleet itself. Some ‘operatives’ are ‘sleepers’ becoming active only when instructed to do so. Examples of sleepers are Dr Julian Bashir (DS9) and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed (ENT).

Thanks for the fine explanation Paul

Section 31 is the Federation's top intelligence unit.

They are so secret, that officially, they don't even exist!

Because of this, they do not have any buildings that they operate from, (Like Starfleet Headquarters etc.) there are no official documents that mention them (Other than the Federation charter, and even then you have to know precisely where to look) and there are very few people that even know of their existance.

Section 31 operate as both internal and external affairs. They are charged with protecting the Federation's interests - at ANY cost. They answer to NO ONE, so they are even able to break any Federation rule, law, or civil rights, if it means the survival of the Federation.

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As far as I know, the first time Section 31 was ever mentioned, was in the DS9 episode 'Inquisition', which aired in 1998. Since Men in Black was out in 1997...well, you decide who copied who.

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Scatter has included section 31 in his Star Trek fanfic, Illustrious. They're a good read, and whilst obviously not canon, they might explain things a bit for you - and show just what lengths they will go to, to ensure the safety of the Federation.

http://illustrious.bur.st/

i thought they were some made up net thing. Not actually mentioned in Star Trek

Just curious matress...but are you Scatter's publicist?

LOL , don't think so

No, just his editor.

I 'advertise' them coz I like them, and I think (Hope) other people do too.

I just thought it might be relevent to this thread.

I still don't know why Scatter doesn't try to get them published. They're good enough to be - I'M NOT BIASED

'advertise'? you know this is against forum rules?
perhaps a bribe is in order

Surely the one of the grand designers of BOTF II, is not breaking forum rules. (I was talking about Jig)

how am i breaking the rules?

I thought Bribes were also against the rules

go to forum index, it says do not spam advertise or flame in this forum, says nothing about bribes

Ahh, i stand corrected. So that's a loop-hole we can exploit then?

i was talking to scatter about someone to animate his story... any volunteers?

Using what kind of software?

chris do you own any sort of animation software?

I own a copy of Dreamweaver MX 2004 Studio. That has a small amount of Animation software in. Haven't tried it out yet though.

dreamweaver is for flash, for what they would want you`d need max or lightwave to get decent results.

I wasn't actualy advertising, I was just using downsizeit's question as an illustration.

I'd never http://illustrious.bur.st/ purposely advertise things on the site.

Yeah, if you were gonna advertise you'd sneakily put it into your sig like someone I can see...*cough Trekboychris! cough*

Oh damn, its me again.

For all you Trekkeis out there, go and try Starbase118

I looked this up, the DS9 episode "Inquisition" where S31 first appeared was aired on April 8th 1998, the first Men In Black movie came out some time in 1997.

Pretty much as I said on page one, plus a specific date.

Meh I saw you waffling on about S31 so didn't read the end of your post

Ok, so the writers for trek probably saw the movie and squeezed something into the "charter" to make it legit, then wrote them into a show to see how viewers reacted....

I wish they would make a series about that... kinda a dark n gritty series, but still stay "trek" oriented..

It could be titled Star Trek: Undercover (or something)

For all the resources at their disposal, it is incomprehensable that there isn't some office (or even just a room or two) acting as some sort of logitical centre for S31. I'd wager they'd have a Starship or three as well.

Having just a bunch of agents scattered around the field acting as they please is far too anarchaic to actually accomplish anything. So, I'm willing to bet that Sloan was lying to Bashir about "we don't even have an office" part.

Waffle waffle waffle waffle waffle waffle Star Trek waffle waffle waffle Section 31 waffle waffle waffle little green men.

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If they have a building somewhere, doesn't that imply that at least some people do know about them? You can't exactly hide a building for hundreds of years without people noticing...unless you have a Cloaking device. Saying that, the Treaty of Algernon wouldn't exactly apply to them, would it?

Anyways, would they really need a building? They could masquerade as anyone, and use any data network they could find. Communications wouldn't be a problem to security experts afterall.

And centralising such a secret organisation could have it's downsides. It means that all 'secret' communications would be going to the same place, which could pose a security risk.

If the building was ever discovered by enemy agents, it could also get blown up - which would place the security of the Federation at risk for a long time.

By decentralising such an organisation, you increase the effectiveness of it in other ways - making it harder to wipe them out, or even detect them.