Section 31

From Star Trek: Theurgy Wiki

Section 31 was the name of an officially-nonexistent and autonomous clandestine organization which claimed to protect the security interests of United Earth and, later, the United Federation of Planets. Loosely speaking, it used to be Starfleet's black-ops division, operating separately from and usually without the knowledge of Starfleet Intelligence (though it often recruited members of Starfleet Intelligence). Section 31 was also somewhat comparable to the Romulan Tal Shiar or Cardassian Obsidian Order – unlike these other organisations, however, Section 31's very existence used to be a deeply buried secret, known only to a handful of people beyond its own membership. Source: Memory Alpha

No Section 31 characters are allowed to be made in the sim. Section 31 died with Sloan in DS9, him being a rogue element and a relic from the time where Section 31 created Control in Star Trek: Discovery. Section 31 was not only a betrayal of Starfleet values, it was a destructive and reckless organisation that never really achieves its goals. The Founders' Disease exacerbated the conflict during the Dominion War by turning it into an existential struggle for the Founders rather than just some war that they could pull out of if desired. If genocide had been achieved, would things have really been better if there was no one to negotiate a peace settlement with? If there was no one with the authority to give the order to stand down, then that would have meant decades, if not centuries, of continued conflict. The thing about organisations is that they tend to find work for themselves. As the old proverb puts it, if all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

Worse yet, Section 31 was not accountable to anyone. If its not accountable to the Federation government and people, it is illegitimate. Whatever shoddy story they make up about the founding charter (see ST:ENT), they were a criminal organisation. The best comparison for Section 31 was a extremist paramilitary groups, who fought against people they decided were enemies of the state, usually enabled by corrupt Starfleet admirals. The wider implications for the Federation with the existence of Section 31 was even more troublesome, implying that the Federation was not a functioning constitutional democracy, but is actually authoritarian. Section 31 could not have existed in a place with freedom of the press. It would be outed, publicised and discredited. Therefore, the Federation does not have a free media. Neither could Section 31 have existed if the government was accountable to the people of the UFP. Anytime a Starfleet officer knowingly assisted Section 31, they were breaking their oath to the Federation and committing a crime.

With Section 31 incompatible with the UFP presented in Star Trek, this renegade relic of an organisation died with Sloan, and our story will only have use of Starfleet Intelligence in the year 2381.