ONI Special Activities Division

In the waning months of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC began the fourth generation of the venerable SPARTAN Program in a desperate bid to field more super soldiers. Though the war would end before the members of this next generation saw deployment, it would not be long before the project's head, former SPARTAN-II candidate , leveraged the program's success and expansion to divorce it from the Navy and, more specifically, the Office of Naval Intelligence. Threatened with the loss of a majority of their augmented personnel to this new "Spartan Branch", several high ranking officers and scientists within ONI proposed the creation of their own Spartan-exclusive unit, separate from the Spartan Branch and kept largely secret from the rest of the UNSC. Given that ONI developed the augmentation procedures and armor used by the SPARTAN-IVs, producing more was a simple endeavor and the proposal was quickly approved and funded, under the name of the Special Activities Division.
Initially composed of what few Spartans remained with ONI following the formation of the Spartan Branch, mostly those produced by Project DEMOPHILUS, SAD expanded rapidly, recruiting the best from ONI's Security Division, and various covert and black operations units, including the and . SAD fireteams began deploying across the human sphere, engaging resurgent elements of the Insurrection and the disparate Covenant remnant groups that now plagued human and former Covenant territory. They were also at the forefront of increasingly common interactions with Forerunner facilities and the dark secrets they often held.
==Organization==
Much like the Spartan Branch, the main operational unit within SAD is the Fireteam. Usually consisting of roughly four Spartans, SAD fireteams are highly skilled, incredibly flexible soldiers, many with years of prior special forces experience. Unlike the Spartan Branch, individual SAD deployments rarely had more than one or two fireteams, the major exceptions being those employed in site defense roles and those stationed aboard ONI stealth cruisers, such as the , which operated as motherships and command-and-control vessels for SAD deployments. The single largest mobile detachment of SAD Spartans is located aboard the UNSC Vegas, a highly modified stealth cruiser that serves as the mobile headquarters for the entire unit.
===Sub-Units===
The Special Activities Division operates a number of specialized sub-units, created for specific tasks or to deal with certain threats.
====Operational Detachment-Sigma====
Formed in the immediate opening of Cortana's uprising and the sudden rise of the Created, Operational Detachment-Sigma was created specifically for the purpose of harassing, delaying, and potentially destroying Cortana and her supporters. Composed of some of the greatest soldiers in human history, ODS and their allies carried out numerous missions against the Created, destroying whatever physical infrastructure they could to weaken the AI collective and actively targeting its members and supporters. Following the death of Cortana in late 2559, and the rise of the Banished that followed, ODS has been retasked with crippling the Banished and giving the UNSC time to regroup and push back.
====The Hangmen====
The mysterious unit known only by the codename Hangmen, was part of ONI's plans to destabilize the Sangheili and other ex-Covenant races and remove them as a threat to Mankind. The Hangmen were routinely deployed to Covenant space to act as Kill Teams, engaging targets of military and civilian importance and completely leveling them. Known throughout Covenant space, the UEG has completely denied knowledge of their existence. The lack of physical evidence, or survivors, has made countering these claims near impossible, though rumors abound of alien settlements razed to the ground, their inhabitants slaughtered, striking fear into the hearts of many a Sangheili.
===Acquistion and Logistics===
The Special Activities Division has a series of Program Executive Offices under their Ascquition and Logistics Department. The PEOs can acquire, equip, and maintain the necessary resources, technology, and equipment to support SAD's missions and its personnel. Below are a list of PEOs under SAD:
*Program Executive Office - C4I, Digital Application, and Software Intergration
*Program Executive Office - Intelligence, Electronic Warfare, and Sensor Systems
*Program Executive Office - Powered Assault Armor
*Program Executive Office - Special Warfare Soldier
*Program Executive Office - Mission Support Activity
==Equipment==
Category:Demons of Hope
Category:Units
Category:Office of Naval Intelligence