THE N.I.D.: A powerful intelligence agency within the U.S. government, the N.I.D. was
long controlled by operatives who were jealous of Stargate Command and its control over the
Stargate and other alien technologies.
A ruthless attitude toward alien cultures eventually brought about a rogue operation
inside the N.I.D. halls of power, circumventing the S.G.C. and the law in order to secure
advanced weapons and technologies for Earth.
In the Stargate universe the N.I.D. is a U.S. government agency responsible for intelligence
operations across many fronts.
Their headquarters is in Washington, D.C., along with operations at Area 51 and special-ops
bases and safehouses throughout the United States.
The group has frequently been a thorn in the side of Stargate Command.
But eventually allies inside the N.I.D. worked to root out corruption and restore the agency
to its proper role.
As a civilian organization the N.I.D. does not have a place in the chain of command over
the top-secret military base inside Cheyenne Mountain.
Rather they are tasked with civilian oversight: reviewing operations, determining alien contacts
and technologies that may be beneficial to Earth, and facilitating their transferral
to Area 51 for study.
The agency has more direct authority at Area 51 itself, where technologies and biologics
retrieved from other worlds are studied by experts in many fields.
(It is not stated in Stargate canon exactly what “N.I.D.” stands for, But it seems
to be something close to “National Intelligence Division.”)
Although the N.I.D. is a civilian organization, its leadership has come primarily from the
military.
Following the promotion of Colonel Kennedy, Colonel Harold Maybourne was elevated to interface
with the S.G.C. and to oversee the research and storage of artifacts at Area 51.
Maybourne was aggressive to the point of outright hostility, attempting to take refugees from
the planet Tollan by force rather than allowing them to be resettled by the Nox.
And when Teal’c was infected by the venom of an alien insect, Maybourne ordered his
transfer away from the base for scientific study.
Soon it became clear to General George Hammond and SG-1 that the N.I.D. was operating with
its own agenda, taking orders from unknown civilian authorities – even to the point
of secretly relocating the second Stargate, found in Antarctica, and utilizing it to send
their own teams off-world.
Among those pulling Maybourne’s strings was Senator Robert Kinsey, who was dissatisfied
with Hammond and O’Neill’s leadership and the pace at which Stargate Command was
bearing fruit for Earth – and particularly for the United States and its interests.
Kinsey fought to have the S.G.C. defunded and mothballed, and control of the Stargate
and off-world missions handed over to the N.I.D.
For years Kinsey kept his fingerprints off the N.I.D.’s questionable actions.
Inside the organization a rogue faction was being quietly developed, headed by Colonel
Maybourne and taking orders from people like the Senator.
The discovery of a second Stargate on Earth gave them the opportunity to begin sending
their teams off world in secret.
And what may have started as black-ops intelligence gathering quickly escalated to outright criminal
acts.
Believing that the ends justify the means, the rogue agents stole a weather control device
from the planet Madrona.
They employed a scientist to engineer their own human-Goa’uld hybrid, in the hopes of
getting at the knowledge passed on by the enemy’s genetic memory.
And they stole technology from Area 51 storage and replaced it with replicas.
Eventually Maybourne and his operatives even established an off-world base of operations.
This group worked for months to steal technology from many different worlds, using a mole inside
Stargate Command to smuggle smaller devices and specifications back to Earth.
They also used a Goa’uld long-range communications device to stay in touch with Colonel Maybourne,
who would exploit mission reports from the S.G.C. to give them new orders.
These operatives took a beam weapon from P3Y-294 in an operation that left three locals dead.
They stole technologies belonging to the Tollan, the Asgard, and others.
And they disrupted the operations of a defensive weapon called the Sentinel on the planet Latona.
After it became evident that many worlds throughout the galaxy were victims of theft and espionage
by humans from Earth, the Asgard and the Tollan contacted Stargate Command, notifying them
of their intent to sever all ties with Earth.
Jack O’Neill convinced Maybourne that he had become disillusioned with the S.G.C. and
its failures, and got himself a spot on the rogue team – only to expose the operation
and have its membership arrested, and later convicted of high treason.
The rogue N.I.D. was cut down – though its roots still ran deep, corrupting the organization.
Maybourne evaded arrest and defected to Russia, which had recovered a Stargate from the bottom
of the ocean.
Senator Kinsey too was connected to these efforts to support a Russian Stargate program,
in order to continue to secure alien technology and subvert the efforts of Stargate Command.
After a catastrophic incident SG-1 was called in to help, and Maybourne was found and arrested.
After Maybourne’s incarceration the N.I.D. moved to replace General Hammond, using blackmail
to force him to retire.
In his place they had a more aggressive leader installed: Major General Bauer was more receptive
to their recommendations, putting people’s lives on the line to develop and test a weapon
of mass destruction.
It was at this point that Jack O’Neill went to the disgraced Harry Maybourne for help.
Having been burned by his former colleagues, Maybourne agreed to help find dirt on Senator
Kinsey in order to pressure him to reinstate Hammond.
Kinsey capitulated, and for years managed to avoid his own criminal implication, until
his ambitions took him all the way to the vice presidency.
The rogue element of the N.I.D. was not extinguished by O’Neill’s exposure of their criminal
activities.
Sympathetic elements inside the organization simply regrouped, seeking new ways to exploit
technologies recovered by the S.G.C.
At first this was in the name of planetary defense, and the repeated threats to the Earth
only proved their point.
But the agency ultimately answered to politicians, and corrupt politicians like Kinsey answered
to wealthy business interests and donors.
A secret cabal was formed, known only as “the Committee,” to dictate the N.I.D.’s actions.
They made use of the rogue element, and later of their own spies and paid agents working
inside Area 51, to develop and exploit alien technology for their own profit.
They found a new man to replace Maybourne at the N.I.D.
– Colonel Frank Simmons.
With his help they even hijacked Earth’s first deep-space vessel, Prometheus, out of
drydock, hoping to take it to find a cache of weapons and technology believed to have
been left behind by the Ancients.
After the Prometheus incident, N.I.D.
Agent Malcolm Barrett was tasked by the White House with rooting out corruption within the
agency.
Agent Barrett was a straight shooter, a patriot and a man of integrity, who proved himself
an ally to Stargate Command.
He worked diligently to identify those sympathetic with the rogue operation, and to expose the
Committee and its illegal activities.
But even then, the group simply changed form.
Powerful moguls were still able to recruit operatives for their cause, and in the ashes
of the Committee was born “the Trust.”
With connections to government agencies and corporations around the world, this group
was less concerned about profit: they believed that the government had abdicated its duty
to protect the planet, and saw it as their responsibility to step in.
Believing they were justified in operating above the law, the Trust ordered their operatives
to kidnap a civilian and frame Teal’c for murder in a convoluted effort to coerce Daniel
Jackson to translate an Ancient text for them.
They blackmailed a businessman who was preparing to expose extraterrestrial life to the public.
And eventually, the last surviving members who were once a part of the rogue N.I.D. operation
began their own military assault on the Goa’uld.
After gaining access to a cloaked ship in Earth orbit, they transported the Stargate
out of the S.G.C.
Gate Room.
They used the gate to deploy rockets armed with symbiote poison to numerous Goa’uld-controlled
worlds, indiscriminately killing not only Goa’uld but thousands of Jaffa, including
members of the underground resistance movement, and even some Tok’ra operatives.
When they were found by SG-1 they fled into deep space.
There they came upon the Goa’uld and were likely taken as hosts – who now returned
to Earth in an effort to infiltrate the planet’s major world governments.
The powerful heads of the Trust now found themselves working for the Goa’uld, and
many were taken as hosts themselves.
Ironically, the group that once had been formed to aggressively protect Earth and its interests
became the vehicle of an alien threat that would not have been possible without their
actions.
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