Bashir’s (Third of a) Dozen
But perhaps the best parallel to Section 31’s Dirty Dozen outfit is not any other iteration of Starfleet’s dirty secret, but the characters introduced in the Deep Space Nine episode “Statistical Possibilities.” In it, we meet four individuals who have been illegally “genetically enhanced.” There are longer discussions to be had about Star Trek’s problematic use of genetic enhancement and eugenics as a stand-in for persecuted minorities, but here other things are going on. These are not Khanian supermen. They are, frankly, massively autistic-coded.
They are not shunned from society because they breach the Federation’s unimpeachable ideals around equality. Nor are they shunned because of a predilection for violence or deception. Their sin is far worse: They’re awkward. They don’t fit in. They are socially difficult. The Federation’s all-encompassing tolerance might take in Klingons, Androids and EMHs (to an extent), Changelings, and even the occasional Borg, but the line is drawn at people you might avoid at parties.
But, as is always the case in these stories, on a foggy Christmas Eve it turns out that having a red nose is super handy. As much as the Federation is happy to shun these characters, it is willing to benefit from their insights into the Dominion conflict. And when it does, we the audience learn about the Federation, how it works, and what it stands for.
So, returning to Section 31, what does it have to say about the Starfleet it is contrasting itself against? Or, to put it another way, what can this version of Section 31 do that regular Starfleet can’t?
Do you need someone to go undercover to carry out morally shady acts to chase down a weapon of mass destruction? Starfleet’s very own morality poster boy, Captain Picard, does this in “Gambit” (Parts 1 and 2). Okay, but maybe to get this WMD you need Section 31 to cross enemy lines, and for Starfleet to be able to disavow it should they be caught. You know, like Picard and his most upstanding officers did in “Chain of Command.” Hell, in “I, Borg” he’s willing to unleash a weapon of mass destruction on a genocidal scale. Just like Sisko drops a WMD on an inhabited world to lure out a Maquis operative in “For the Uniform”. And that’s not even touching the shit Sisko gets up to in “In the Pale Moonlight.”
Compared to this, and a laundry list of other activities including secret weapons programs, undercover work, rogue admirals, so many Prime Directive violations we cannot count them, and of course, murdering Tuvix, Evil Georgiou and her band of misfits in Section 31 barely even qualify as hijinks.