u/Schismkov

Not to be confused with the hilariously embarrassing failure of a movie, this topic is about DS9's Section 31.

I just got done watching the season 7 Inter Arma Enim Silent Legis episode, and a line jumped out at me I hadn't noticed before. Bashir states he's not a part of Section 31, and Sloan argues he is, thst he passed all the tests.

This got me thinking about the nature of Section 31 and how it's managed to remain a secret for so long. Is it because it's not an agency as we consider agencies to be? It doesn't have operatives like the Obsidian Order, it doesn't have some base of operations or a fleet of ships or resources. It literally uses everyone and everything that is the Federation. Average people, ships, etc, even if they never realize it, to accomplish their goals? Like a butterfly effect that eventually causes the effect Section 31 is after? An order is generated that moves a ship to a sector that leads a specific officer to be in an area where they make a specific decision that leads to an outcome Section 31 desires but no one ever knows about because everyone was simply doing what they were meant to do.

In line with that theory is what Sloan says at the end of the episode to Bashir. He basically states that Bashir simply being himself and reacting how he would naturally react in the situation that presented itself is exactly what Section 31 wanted from him. They didn't need Bashir to be anything other than who he was.

Is that then what makes Section 31 so effective? They're not an agency as we know it, and their agents can't be found because in one way or another, at one time or another, everyone worked for them?