Section 31 is the unofficial designation of a rogue and officially nonexistent intelligence and defense organization resembling secret police or a black-ops organization in the Star Trek fictional universe.

Overview

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The "black operations" group exists outside the sphere of influence of Starfleet Intelligence, which deals with threats to the security of Earth, and later the United Federation of Planets.

Its operating authority stems from an obscure provision of the Starfleet charter — Article 14, Section 31, from which they derive their name — that makes allowances for bending the rules during times of extraordinary threats. While the original intent may have been to give Starfleet personnel some leeway when it comes to unusual or extreme circumstances, some Federation Council and Starfleet officials have taken it a step further and secretly created a standing organization able to respond to any threat, preemptively if need be. Section 31 might be compared to the Romulan Tal Shiar or Cardassian Obsidian Order, but operates much more covertly. Also, unlike its alien counterparts, Section 31 does not interfere in the day-to-day lives of Federation citizens - in fact, most citizens of the Federation have no idea it even exists.

They defy the principles of the Federation in order, supposedly, to protect them, which is one of the reasons why Section 31 is not officially sanctioned by Starfleet, and even its very existence is not acknowledged openly. But the philosophy of "protection at any cost" that allows for Section 31 is also employed by Starfleet in certain other venues; examples include the ultra-secret "Omega Directive", which gives captains almost unlimited authority to destroy the dangerous Omega molecule, including violating Starfleet's Prime Directive of noninterference. Another example is Starfleet Intelligence's program of temporarily reassigning line officers to covert operations (such as Picard's team in "Chain of Command, I and II", TNG).

Unlike other black-ops groups in the Star Trek Universe (Such as the Romulan Tal Shiar, and the Cardasian Union's Obsidian Order) Section 31 does not have a base. Instead it just consists of members of the Federation who are also part of Section 31. This makes the group one of the most dangerous black-ops groups in the Star Trek Universe.

Controversy

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The introduction of Section 31 has been controversial among Star Trek fans, some of whom feel it goes against the ideals of creator Gene Roddenberry. However, the film The Undiscovered Country, produced while Roddenberry was still alive, revealed that Starfleet Officers were capable of Section 31–style tactics even during the time of Captain Kirk. Some fans feel that a "Federation secret police" undermines the entire utopian vision of Star Trek. In effect, the creation of section 31 makes the entire Star Trek way of life a sham. Perhaps a sign of these shifting attitudes within Star Trek is the fact that three episodes depicting controversial policies — Deep Space Nine's "Inquisition," which introduced Section 31, and "In the Pale Moonlight," which featured covert attempts to get the Romulans into the Dominion War, as well as Voyager's "The Omega Directive" — all aired within the same two-week span.

Section 31 were also featured in "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" and "Extreme Measures".

Very little of Section 31's history has been revealed in on-screen canon. In the Star Trek Expanded Universe a series of novels was published profiling Section 31 operations with regards to James T. Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, and the crews of Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

Section 31 in Star Trek: Enterprise

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It was already known that Section 31 had existed before the birth of the Federation, so Enterprise, which starts in 2151, follows DS9's example by subtly introducing the organization and its role in Federation politics. The NX-01's tactical officer, Malcolm Reed, was somehow involved with the section prior to his posting aboard Enterprise and was recalled to service in November 2154 to prevent Enterprise from interfering in the creation of a viral cure that would also alter Klingon physiology (as detailed in the episodes "Affliction" and "Divergence"). For his role, Reed was thrown into the brig by Captain Jonathan Archer until he explained his actions and revealed his contact, a man named Harris. The next year, during the crisis caused by the Terra Prime terrorist group commandeering a powerful energy emitter used to deflect comets and other stellar material in order to prevent collisions with earth or other installations and using it to hold Starfleet Headquarters hostage, Reed went back to Harris for help in finding a way onto Mars past the sensor networks. Harris provided details to flaws and holes in the Martian sensor networks that would allow them to infiltrate the base, although he assured Reed that it would not be the last time they met ("Terra Prime").

Section 31 in Fandom

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Fandom conjectures regarding Enterprise and Section 31 have also served to help rectify alleged continuity problems within the Trek universe, the most recent being the suggestion that Section 31 was responsible for covering up the discovery of several Borg drones in 2153 (two centuries before official first contact), an idea supported by the revelation made in the Voyager episode "The Raven" that Starfleet was aware of the Borg's existence years before the first contact detailed in The Next Generation. It is also widely suspected that Section 31 was involved in the events of The Undiscovered Country and Insurrection (novels of the Star Trek Expanded Universe have explicitly linked the characters Admiral Cartwright and Admiral Dougherty to Section 31). Similarly, some believe a divergent branch of Section 31, either the Temporal Oversight Commission, or the Department of Temporal Investigations, is also responsible for the cover-up of the Temporal Cold War although its resolution at the start of Enterprise's fourth season appears to render this speculation moot.

External links

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• Star Trek: The Section 31 Files, audio theater from Darker Projects
• Section 31 at The Star Trek Non-canon wiki

Star Trek politics | Fictional intelligence agencies | villain groups | Fictional laws