Radioactive Politics

[Joy 0]

Subject : Political Effects of the Alistair (TKR 117) Radiation Emergency

From : Ambassador Joy Two, Aegis

To : The Aegis Advisory Committee

CC : Ambassador Drankum, Aegis

Administrator Hannah McDowell, Alistair

Commander Chirakis, Aegis

Office of the President, UFP, Earth

Office of the Chair, The Federation Council, Earth

Ambassador Joy Seven, The Presidio

Ambassador Joy Eight, MMS Mudd

Precedence : Immediate

Encryption : UFP39D

Security : Secret *

 

There is an ancient, abandoned and buried city upon Alistair which includes a ruptured hazardous waste site containing large amounts of trilithium. The purpose and the technology related to the waste site is not understood. However, a significant radiation release has taken place. Most of the small initial colony survey team took ill. The immediate medical emergency seems past. All those seriously ill have been stabilized. The problem of containment of radiation is ongoing.

 

Conflicting priorities have developed between the civilian colonial administration responsible for the governance of the planet and the military administration of Aegis responsible for providing security for the planet. Both have been cooperating reasonably in preserving sentient life. The colonial administration is concerned with the preservation of the archeological site as a high priority. The Aegis command staff, or more specifically Ambassador Drankum, wishes to over ride this concern, and to assume long term control over the colony. Ambassador Drankum’s priorities have not been made explicit. There may be a desire to contain the radiation to preserve the over all value of the planet for colonization.

 

But more troubling, Ambassador Drankum declared on the Aegis control tower, in the presence of myself and several Starfleet officers, an intent to block all others from plundering the planet, as only he gets to plunder it. When I explained that his emergency power to assume military control over the civilian would expire with the end of any clear and present danger to the colonists, he expressed an intent to ignore the law and maintain emergency martial law indefinitely.

 

Before I get into the political and legal implications, I will make a plea for reasonable compromise. So long as a clear and present danger exists, Ambassador Drankum can reasonably maintain over riding control. However, he should not ignore the legitimate concerns of the civilian authority. As an intent to violate the law has been publicly stated, the civilian authority should retain oversight powers. Legitimate concerns should be respected.

 

When there is no longer a clear and present danger to the population, Administrator McDowell should resume her authority as leader of the colony. So long as Starfleet / Aegis assets remain on Alistair, she should respect that they should be used effectively with an intent to be withdrawn reasonably quickly. She should also respect the long term worth of the planet as a site of future settlements, and not consider the planet’s worth solely as an archeological site.

 

***

 

I shall now go on at length about law and politics. I shall describe what the humans call ‘cans of worms.’ It is my expressed desire that we should not open cans of worms. Refer to the practical compromise above as the recommended approach to avoid opening cans of worms.

 

During my stays on Aegis, there have been two prior incidents involving states of emergency leading to Aegis military personnel suspending the individual rights and the usual prerogatives of civilian government. The first occurred in Admiral Gorum’s time. The station XO, Captain Ayres, was the victim of an assassination attempt. The assassin was captured and later suicided.

 

The station command staff considered the captured and later dead assassin to be a sufficient ‘clear and present danger’ to justify shutting down all civilian and diplomatic traffic entering or leaving the station. This suspension of the right to travel continued until the destruction of that incarnation of Aegis. The entire diplomatic staff, including Ambassador Drankum and myself, objected strongly to this abuse of power. A dead man is not a clear and present danger.

 

More recently, Captain Muon, upon my advice, declared a Ferengi fleet to be a clear and present danger to the station. Ambassador Drankum rejected orders given by the combined Aegis / Cardassian authorities granted under said emergency powers.

 

I am strongly concerned that we set correct precedent. Emergency powers are necessary, but so are the limits upon them. The standard of ‘clear and present danger’ must be honored by Aegis command staffs and by all allies who are part of the Aegis alliance.

 

***

 

The Aegis command staff, or at least Ambassador Drankum, have been neglecting diplomatic duties to make contact with and establish friendly relationships with Aegis’s neighbors. We have contacted only the two Federation colonies in the area. Our other neighbors, in turn, have taken an attitude of ‘wait and see.’ We should take care what we let them see.

 

There is a written established relationship between the military authorities of Aegis and the Civilian authorities of Alistair. The first act of Aegis upon moving into this region should not be to violate agreements and to rape a planet. Such an act would set a very bad precedent in the eyes of the local powers. Abusing the mandate to provide security for Alistair would make it much more difficult for Aegis to negotiate mutual security relationships with our neighbors. It is absolutely essential that Aegis get through this incident with the good regard of the civilian authorities of Alistair. We must establish that it is beneficial to make arrangements with Aegis.

 

***

 

Within Federation constitutional law, the standard ‘clear and present danger’ sands guard in a conflict between the Prime Directive and the Guarantees. The Guarantees say in essence that the Federation stands guard over the lives, rights and property of its citizens. The Prime Directive and the Federation Constitution say that the Federation may not interfere with the internal affairs of a planet.

 

There is a conflict here. If the planetary government does not or cannot protect the lives, rights and property of its citizens, do the Guarantees give the Federation government the power to usurp planetary authority and act to protect the rights of its citizens?

 

It is the position of the government of Mudd that the answer is yes. This is also quite often, but not always, the position of the Federation high courts and the Federation Council. I would like to say that declaring a state of emergency is a clear cut Starfleet prerogative, that the Guarantees always trump the Prime Directive, but the Joys have observed and participated in many a Council debate where this question has been answered in both directions. The degree of the threat and the current balance of power in Council are relevant.

 

Council also considers whether the Federation agency is truly acting in the interests of the Federation citizens on the planet. If the Federation agency is seeking power or wealth at the expense of the planetary government and population, the invocation of the Guarantees is generally considered a false pretense. I believe this is the case here.

 

***

 

At the time Aegis moved from Cardassia to its present location, there was a negotiation between myself and Ambassador tr’Aeolix where he objected to the Guarantees as a “Federation moral code” being made an official part of the Aegis treaty. Thus, language was inserted into Amendment 3 which removed the Guarantees from the Aegis legal article. With that removal might come an argument that Aegis can no longer declare a state of emergency based upon a clear and present danger.

 

On the other hand, Amendment 3 has not been unanimously approved by the Aegis powers. Thus, the modification urged by Ambassador tr’Aeolix are not in effect.

 

Then again, Amendment 3 also creates the power of the Aegis Advisory Committee. It is the Aegis Advisory Committee that authorized Aegis to provide security for Alistair. Strictly speaking, the Advisory Committee has no legal standing until Amendment 3 is passed.

 

Amendment 3 also authorizes military use of the station and economic development of areas other than Cardassia. Until Amendment 3 passes, the shipyard effort and the security arrangement with Alistair are in volition of treaty. Everything Ambassador Drankum accused Captain Muon of wanting to do in violation of treaty, Ambassador Drankum has actually done, and is continuing on an ongoing basis.

 

The operation of Aegis in violation of treaty has not until this time been a significant consideration. Until a government becomes concerned enough with said treaty violations to object to them before the interstellar courts, the Advisory Committee has had no reason to hurry their deliberations. Now, however, with Ambassador Drankum blatantly disregarding the interests of Alistair, such a planetary government exists. Ambassador Drankum’s violations of treaty are clear and obvious. Any court would compel Aegis to cease all operations.

 

On the other hand, Alistair does depend on Aegis for ongoing protection from external threats. It may not be prudent for Administrator McDowell to press her case.

 

Nothing in the text of either the old or new Aegis treaty explicitly authorizes humanitarian missions, let alone humanitarian missions in opposition to the wishes of a planetary government. Both the old and new treaties do, however, call for development of a crew code of conduct. These codes of conduct have been based on those of Federation Jupiter class stations. On this basis, it is the prerogative of the station commander to launch humanitarian missions, but he must do so in the context of a Federation code of behavior, which in turn is compatible with Federation constitutional law.

 

***

 

Again, the optimal solution would be for Ambassador Drankum and Administrator McDowell to respect each other’s interests and prerogatives. They should seek compromise rather than confrontation.

 

I also believe it would be in the interests of the Advisory Committee to expedite passage of some variant of Amendment 3.

 

 

Ambassador Joy Two, United Federation of Planets, Aegis

 

 

* Note, both Aegis and Alistair officials have expressed a desire to keep quiet the presence of ancient artifacts on Alistair. While neither have invoked formal security classification on this fact, it seems prudent at this time to do so. I would add that the above analysis of Aegis’s legal situation might also be kept quiet.