Section 31

Section 31 did not exist, and therefore did not perform intelligence missions that violated Federation values. Had it actually existed, Section 31 would have employed such luminaries as John Turturro, Cigarette-Smoking Man and Death.
Contrary to a non-canonites rumor, Harry Mudd was never affiliated with Section 31 — as if the organization existed in the first place (which is categorically denied); he was a mere con-man and pimp.
== Behind The Scenes ==
GOD. If you really want something stupid that flies in the face of all things Star Trek...
Oooookay. I'm going to just say this much about Section 31. They don't make sense. The Federation doesn't need them. Let me explain.
The Oberth class starship, a 80+ year old science ship about the size of a Boeing 747 with pink seats carries like 1/1000th the weaponary of a Galaxy class or even a TOS-era Constitution. And we're not even gonna compare it to ships from the Klingons, Romulans, Dominion, or a freaking Defiant class. Despite this, the Oberth class has enough weaponary to convert the surface of the Earth to ashes in under five minutes. That's the level of non-classified, standard level military tech used for low level self-defense in the Federation's neck of the galaxy. And remember, photon torpedoes and phasers and such are "clean" weapons. No pesky radition poisoning, no fallout, no cataclysmic dust cloud - hell, you can program your weapons to wipe out artificial structures and specific lifeforms and leave the biosphere intact! You can wipe a planet clean on Tuesday and have those condos built and ready for leasing by Saturday. These are the weapons mounted on an obsolete Science Ship.
And that's just weaponary at the Federation's disposal! If you want to gather information (legally and openly) in Star Trek it is totally EASY to get your hands on some sensors that can monitor whole populations, databases, communications systems, even brainwaves! I think a good tricorder can even monitor time! Time! Any half-trained civilian goober with a 24th century Macbook can listen to anyone's speech or monitor anyone's individual actions across whole light-years! There's about nothing a good sensor technician can't see or get his hands on.
So if the Federation already has open and acceptable complete power over the civilian populace, what point does a shadow organization like Section 31 actually have in such a future?
IT DOESN'T HAVE A POINT! THE FEDERATION HAVING SECTION 31 IS LIKE GODZILLA HIRING SOME COMMON STREET THUGS TO "WATCH HIS BACK!"
==Selling Cars==
Let's suspend disbelief for a moment and agree that the Federation does need Section 31. (You never know when the Romulans have a cloaking device hiding a waffle iron in the staff's coffee room, where cooking devices aren't allowed - so as to preserve the replicator manufacturer's monopoly.)
Now remember the Blight (DS9 4x24.) All of the following descriptions apply to that disease:
# It is a horrible disease.
# It infects everyone on a planet from birth to death.
# A space-faring civilization could not eliminate it using their own technology.
# It causes a slow, painful death.
# The "EM fields from [medical] instruments" cause the virus to mutate. So if you have this disease and if you have any kind of technology, you will die even faster.
# The virus was genetically engineered by the Dominion.
# The virus was used to infect the people of the planet deliberately, as a punitive measure for their resistance against the Dominion.
# The Dominion used the Blight virus to make an example of the Teplan people for the rest of the Gamma Quadrant.
Then, the Dominion decides it wants to conquer YOU.
Someone at Section 31 decides to make a virus that infects Changelings and kills them.
Then several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine dedicate themselves to Section 31. Several lines of dialogue are uttered by Julian Bashir talking about the evil Section 31 - even though Dr. Head-Basher himself saw the devastation caused by the Blight. Ordinarily there would be a clear conflict between being a doctor dedicated to doing no harm, and wanting to defend the Federaton against an enemy that could and would make a disease like the Blight. Julian, however, never mentions the Blight when he discusses the disease infecting Odo.
The Federation Council, although not officially endorsing Section 31 or the Changeling disease or genocide, did not want to help cure the Changelings. There was no mention of the Blight regarding their decision, either.
Why did The Writers create the Blight? Why did they later ignore it? Why did they create the Changeling disease? Why did they create Section 31? Why did they make Dr. Secret Agent have such a problem with Section 31?
I posit one possible answer: To Sell Cars. The Writers want to make a television program so they can sell time for advertisements on TV and streaming video. Logic and continuity aren't always at the front of their minds.
Category:Things that did not exist