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[Typhonis 1]

*L* oh man I`m surprised no one has mentioned all the other fallicies SF Engineering has pulled"Soloton Wave Experiment"from concept to pprotype without testing it first.Using forsefields to keep the ships together during routine operation.No physical barriers throughout most of the ship

[RedImperator]

I would think Starfleet publications would be the most vocal in denouncing her. The Yamato. Enterprise, and Odyssey disasters are all public, and someone has to be blamed. Was Brahams even a Starfleet engineer? I don't remember seeing her in a uniform. Get Brahams quickly convicted as the sole person responsible for the disasters and wage a smear campaign to discredit her in public. Even if you do have a hotsot young officer in charge of the engineering council who's sincerely trying to solve the Federation's woeful engineering shortfalls, there's going to be tons of bureaucratic inertia trying to force him to railroad one person and one person only.

[Typhonis 1]

And they will try using dozens of CYA memos no wait they dont have them

[Raoul Duke, Jr.]

The problem with using just one person (Brahms) as a scapegoat for multiple disasters is that it's over too quickly... the public would have no satisfaction from only one judicial lynching. Besides, someone (or several high-ranking someones) authorized a civilian physicist to head a design team for the GCS (and presumable NCS, since the Nebula is basically a Galaxy-class variant) power plants. That same individual authorized her to exercise heavy input into the ship's other systems... it's conceivable that she may have headed the Library Computer design as well, since it is so closely tied into the Warp Core that a computer failure almost guarantees a core breach. With the systems being that closely intertwined, you can bet your ass she had her grubby little fingers into not just one, but both.

But her only real crimes are incompetence and dishonesty... the real criminals are the power-brokers that put her in the position to screw the pooch so grandly. I'm thinking Nacheyev and Haftel, primarily. Nechayev gives the shiftiest, most cold and underhanded vibe of any Starfleet admiral -- including Dougherty -- and Haftel has clearly shown disregard for the concerns of individuals (when he tried to forcibly seize Cmdr Data's daughter). No, Brahms may be guilty, but it's my reporter's instinct that she was given special favor -- but in reciprocation for what kind of bakshees I can't yet guess.

[RedImperator]

I don't know if Starfleet can risk going after one of its own admirals. What if they arrest Nacheyev, and, just as an example, she lets it slip that a certain Starfleet captain had the chance to infect the Borg Collective with a debilitating computer virus and refused to do so because the drone in question had become friends with another Starfleet lieutenant commander? And, futhermore, that that captain went unpunished? Or the near-coup that nobody seems to know about? The Baku cock-up? Starfleet admirals probably protect themselves just by knowing about Starfleet's fiascoes. A sacrificial lamb like Brahams, though, is probably safe enough to go after.

[Raoul Duke, Jr.]

Oh, indeed. But at some point Starfleet has to answer to the public. Just look at the whole "Operation Foxhunt" fiasco the U.S. Navy endured, which brings me to the observation that Starfleet must have a department analogous to the NIS, which may be immune to the wrath of the Admiralty. After all, someone's probably got to do the digging in things like this, and it sure as hell won't be Starfleet's version of the Annapolis ring-knockers.

[RedImperator]

When have we seen any evidence of Starfleet being responsible to anyone? The two cannonical times the civil government and military officials have come into conflict, Starfleet threw a hissy fit and tried to assassinate the president (ST6) and stage a coup (whatever DS9 ep. that was). If you subscribe to the notion that the federation is a nominally democratic communist state, with a military dominating the civil government, then Starfleet may not have to usually worry about the civilian side of the Federation government. They probably DO have some kind of internal affairs department, but it might be neutered.

[Raoul Duke, Jr.]

Well, in order for this to work, we have to bend those rules a little bit. For the purposes of this new page, we have to assume that somebody is responsible to a higher power than Starfleet. Seeing as Brahms is not serving in Starfleet, but connected to it (she would appear to have served the same function as a civilian contractor or consultant) she can't be court-martialed. She can, however, be made a "hostile witness" at a military court proceeding involving those who gave her the position with the Galaxy-Class Development Project in gross negligence of her lack of qualifications. Hope that made sense, I'm not entirely on top of things at the moment, what with sleep dep creeping in...

[RedImperator]

Ok, so the status of the case so far:

A class-action lawsuit has been filed by the relatives of the crew of the U.S.S. Yamato. The Admiralty put pressure on the judge to throw the case out, but the civil government, in the aftermath of the Dominion War, is getting tired of Starfleet meddling in the legislature and the judiciary. The suit goes through. In a panic, Starfleet decides to railroad Leah Brahams, and place the blame for the poor performance of the GCS on her. The Starfleet Engineering Council mauls her, but not before accusations slip out that the GCS (and presumably the NCS) was riddled with poor design and mission decisions that Brahams wasn't responsible for (design: structural integrity field in place of a rigid spaceframe, overcentralized command and control functions, placement of critical systems in the detachable saucer, etc.; mission: placement of civilians on military starship, placement of exploration vessel in combat situations, entering combat with the saucer attached and civilians on board). The Engineering Council hearing was set up by the admiralty explicitly to dump all the blame on her, so the civil trial would focus on her--they might not be able to get a judge to throw the case out, but they could lean on the judge and the council for the plaintiffs to settle for Brahams' head.

Unfortunately, things don't go as planned. The head of the engineering council is an honest officer who sees a chance to make his name by mucking out the ranks of Starfleet engineering. The admiralty tries to prevent him from investigating further accidents and disasters. Frustrated, he finally goes to Internal Affairs with the transcripts from the Brahams hearing. At the same time he's doing this, Brahams's lawyers are screaming to the press that Starfleet is covering up major accidents. SIF launches an investigation. The Admiralty's members privately threaten to blab Starfleet's dirty little secrets if they're court martialed. SIF can't be intimidated. Reformers in the lower ranks start coming out of the woodwork, as well as a few honest admirals. The court martials begin. The admirals turn on each other on the stand. The public is horrified as a litany of bungles, fuckups, idiocy, nepotism, greed, corruption, waste, and thousands of lives lost for no good reason is revealed. Half the admiralty is sacked. The cabinet resigns, plunging the government into chaos.

Reformers come to power, and starting with Starfleet, they begin to roll back 3/4 century of pisspoor decisions on all levels. A leaner, tougher, TOS-style Federation emerges to dominate the Alpha Quadrant for the next century. Klingon reformers overthrow the inept fundamentalist government there and restore an intelligent, secular government. They don't resume the Cold War with the Federation, but they make it clear they will pursue their own policies. The Romulan people, under the influence of Vulcan subversives and seeing what's happening to their neighbors, overthrow their tyrannical dictatorship and create a republic drawing closer to Vulcan. There's talk of unification, possibly Romulus and the Federation entering a trade and customs union. Th Borg come back, get spanked by superior ships and tactics. Cardassia joins the Federation. The Quadrant enters a new era of peace and prosperity.

Then a wormhole to the Galactic Empire opens. 100 ISDs and three Executor command ships arrive with carrack cruisers in escort. The AQ is brutally conquered. The end.

[Raoul Duke, Jr.]

I think this is stating the obvious, but I'm compelled to do it anyway: that was just slightly beyond the scope of the proposed document.

[Publius]

As it happens, there is no real reason to assume that Starfleet has an admiralty. "The Admiralty" is a colloquial reference to the Board of Admiralty, itself the common name for the Commissioners for Exercising the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, etc.

The Lord High Admiral is a great officer of state, and possesses administrative and operational control of the Royal Navy. In 1628, the office was put into commission -- to wit, it was taken out of the hands of the aristocracy and placed in the collective hands of a committee responsible to the Parliament as members of the Government.

Until 1964 (when the Lord High Admiral was taken out of commission), the committee was composed of individual members known as Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty, and presided over by the senior member, entitled the First Lord of the Admiralty. During the time in which the Lord High Admiral was in commission, the First Lord of the Admiralty was a member of the Cabinet.

(Astute observers will note that the same was done to the Lord High Treasurer, and that First Lord of the Treasury is the actual constitutional title of the Prime Minister.)

Of course, since the Ministry of Defence was organised in 1964, the Royal Navy was placed under the Secretary of State for Defence, and the Board of Admiralty was dissolved, the office of Lord High Admiral having been taken out of commission. At common law, the Queen is currently Lord High Admiral, and retains those fucntions of the office not especially delegated to the Secretary of State for Defence and the Defence Council.

Needless to say, it is highly unlikely that the Starfleet would have a Board of Admiralty, as that would first require that there be an office of Lord High Admiral -- highly unlikely in a nominally democratic federation such as the United Federation of Planets. In any event, My Lords of the Admiralty (as they were frequently referred to) were not commissioned officers of the Sovereign; the Lords Commissioners were civilians.

Starfleet Command appears to be the actual headquarters apparatus of the Starfleet, having both administrative and operational control of the operating forces (both naval and surface-based, curiously enough).

Of course, it would be much easier to speculate on this if the United Federation's government were better understood; if the Starfleet Technical Manual were valid (which at one point it was) this would be much more easily done. Instead, we are left with contradictory evidence as to who is the primary governing agent of the United Federation -- is the President or the Federation Council? Is the President part of the Federation Council? Is he elected by it?

Publius

[Raoul Duke, Jr.]

It's reasonable to assume that the President is indeed elected, probably from the ranks of Federation Council members. As far as "The Admiralty" is concerned, it may simply be a general reference to the group of admirals who staff Starfleet Command Headquarters or generally contribute to fleetwide command decisions.

I'd like to see some input (for the page) on Starfleet's version of the NIS, or Naval Investigative Service. Typically NIS investigators are referred to as "Admiral-Killers" or, more colorfully, "Terminators." These investigators are primarily tasked with the investigation of incidents such as flag-officer involvement in the case this page would describe. The SIS (Starfleet Investigative Service) could be more or less modeled on the NIS and instituted by Starfleet Command directive -- an event which would make an interesting addendum to the proposed page.

[RedImperator]

I think this is stating the obvious, but I'm compelled to do it anyway: that was just slightly beyond the scope of the proposed document.

I got carried away. Tequilla does that to you.

[FaxModem1]

Since when has the Federation had free press? Sure, we see writers, but we never see reporter, only in ST:Generations, but that was in Kirk's age. So, who knows, they might have been put in the New Zealand prison for interfering with Government policy or some idiotic charge.

[Darth Wong]

I'm finally adding this stuff to the site!

[Raoul Duke, Jr.]

Since when has the Federation had free press? Sure, we see writers, but we never see reporter, only in ST:Generations, but that was in Kirk's age. So, who knows, they might have been put in the New Zealand prison for interfering with Government policy or some idiotic charge.

As has been pointed out before, Fax, we are assuming that they do for our purposes here. If they did not, this new page wouldn't be possible.

[Raoul Duke, Jr.]

I'm finally adding this stuff to the site!

Cool deal! I hope my op-ed piece makes it!