This is argument bait. I know this. I don't mind. See, I'm bored, and I like to argue....coherently argue. Anyway, argument begin: Trek, for a 40-odd year old series, has this funky habit with the organization of things beyond the individual ship: It's never been consistent. It makes a lot of sense in some regards, given that the focus of the show is properly not on the high command. But from a universe-building POV, it sucks. Hence, I'm going to mesh canon (to the vbest of my knowledge) and other influences to try to produce what Starfleet Command might look like. In this, RL inspirations will be clearly evident, as will cues taken from GR's description of Trek as "Hornblower in space". Plus, there'll be some just-plain-speculation. I'll note here - feel free to use this in your endeavors - if you're a published author, I don't necessarily need credit (however, a note to me saying you're cribbing my work would be nice). If you're using it in non-commercial endeavors like a gaming thing, hey, just throw me a note. Finally, stuff in []'s is "margin notes", stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else. And now, on we go. ---- At the top of the chain of command is, necessarily and properly, the President of the UFP. The President, like the American President or British Monarch of Earth's history, has vested in them the powers and duties of the Head of State and the commander-in-chief. All officer commissions are issued on behalf of and in the name of the President, for instance. Below him is the Secretary of Starfleet (formally, the "Secretary of State for Starfleet"). He exercises the day to day civilian control of Starfleet, aided and abetted by a large civilian bureaucracy. His closest Earth counterpart would be the Secretary of Defense in the United States, or Defense Ministers the world over. He may be but is not necessarily a retired Starfleet officer. In the event of his being such, current statute law requires that he be on the retired list for a minimum of 10 years without interruption before becoming eligible. Now we enter into the uniformed chain of command - serving Starfleet officers. At the top of the pyramid is the "Chief of Staff, Starfleet", more generally known as the Chief of Staff. To prevent rank and seniority disputes, this officer is the sole active holder of the rank of Fleet Admiral, designated in the arcane Starfleet Play System as OF-11. Below the Chief of Staff come the Bureau and Fleet Commanders. An easy way to remember the difference is that if it might be classified as a "shore" establishment, it's a Bureau; if it commands operational forces, it's a Fleet. All of these officers are ranked Admirals (OF-10). (There has been within Starfleet some agitation over the years to change the name of the Fleet Commanders to something more distinctive; that, however, has never happened yet.) The Bureaus are those of Personnel (BUPERS), Education and Training (BUED), Construction (BUCON), Medicine (BUMED), Sciences (BUSCI), Starfleet Security (BUSEC), Intelligence (SI, SFI, or BUINT), Weapons (BUWEPS), Information (BUINFO), Engineering (BUENG), and Research (BURES). Generally, the admirals commanding these organizations are known as the "Chief of x", for example the "Chief of Personnel". Many of the functions of these bureaus are self-explanatory, however, for reference: Personnel - handles recruitment, promotion (for officers and senior enlisted), assignment, and similar tasks. [If Starfleet personnel are paid, they're handled through here, or perhaps a separate BUADMIN (Bureau of Administration).] Education and Training - Oversees such organizations as Starfleet Academy, OCS, the enlisted training base, and other Starfleet training units. Also responsible for ongoing certification and refresher training for active personnel, particularly through the active "Starfleet University" system, which provides continuing academic education to Fleet personnel through distance education and offices at many starbases. Construction - responsible for the construction of starships, starbases, and other vessels and major installations of Starfleet, either in-house or through contractors. Under this Bureau sits, awkwardly, the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. Medicine - generally self-explanatory. This is Starfleet Medical's formal name - they train doctors, nurses, counselors, and associated personnel in conjunction with BUED, and dispatch them throughout the Fleet in conjunction with BUPERS. They also set medical standards for general Fleet recruitment and retention. Sciences - If it wears blue and doesn't fall under BUMED, it probably falls here. The general science division of Starfleet. They work in conjunction with other Starfleet organizations to do things like have a starship visit that nearby nebula. Under BUSCI comes the First Contact Division, which handles covert monitoring of pre-warp cultures and the first contact with warp-capable cultures. Or, well, it tries to be the ones who handle it, rather than ship crews winging it. Starfleet Security - Responsible for the training of all Starfleet security personnel (in conjunction with BUED - basically, BUSEC sets the standards, BUED trains) among other duties, this division also handles force protection, Starfleet's system of prisons and penal colonies, security clearances, and other "internal security" functions. [However, depending on your view of whether or not there's a Starfleet Marine Corps, they also naturally fit here - Penta] Intelligence - The Chief of Intelligence is more often known as the Director of Starfleet Intelligence. This bureau handles all aspects of external intelligence gathering, covert operations, and so forth. [Section 31, naturally, fits here. When it wants to.] Weapons - BUWEPS is responsible for the development and production of Starfleet weaponry and ammunition - from the smallest hand weapon and personnel protective gear up to torpedoes and mines and shipboard phasers. Often, they work in conjunction with BURES - the reason they're separate is a matter of history and, in some cases, differing worldviews. Information - BUINFO is best thought of as Starfleet's PR department. They handle everything from the Starfleet recruiting ads seen throughout the Federation to legislative liasion (interfacing with the Federation's legislative branch) to civilian press handling to the running of Starfleet's own internal journalistic enterprises, such as "Arrowhead", the Starfleet equivalent of Stars and Stripes. Engineering - Starfleet takes safety seriously. BUENG handles everything to do with matter/anti-matter reactors, from development to production to ongoing maintenance to disposal. Not unlike the US Navy's Office of Naval Reactors, these folks make up something of a second chain of command for any ship's Chief Engineer. [Reactors, with a change in acronym to BUREACT, might be a better name for this unit. However, the concept remains.] Research - BURES are the beings that oversee Starfleet's Advanced Starship Design Bureau and other project offices for each class of ship. When a ship leaves the drawing boards, it passes from BURES to BUCON responsibility. They also do the R&D on virtually everything else in the Starfleet inventory, from combadges and communicators to warp engines. [In many cases, I see them working through contractors, but that's a stylistic point.] Starfleet's system of Bureaus has remained relatively constant from the 23rd century onward, but new organizations do tend to come and go throughout time. Not mentioned here among the Bureaus are some semi-independent organizations - they're ranked on the same level as and serve many of same functions as the bureaus, but for assorted reasons aren't grouped with them. Most prominently among these groups are the Judge Advocate General's Corps and the Starfleet Archives. The Starfleet Archives is headed by the Archivist of Starfleet, and they do exactly what the name says - they're Starfleet's archives. Starfleet, like any human-dominated bureaucratic entity, has meticulous, sometimes obsessive recordkeeping at its heart, and the archives are where records of every sort end up eventually. Whether it be freely available or among the deepest secrets of Starfleet, eventually it ends up here. Not all of their records are in electronic format, either - essential records, such as personnel records and war plans and the like, are also kept (specially stored) on paper. That said, if ever there's a candidate for "Part of Starfleet most likely to birth an AI", Starfleet Archives's computer systems are it. [For what it's worth, I see Memory Alpha and similar installations as being part of a larger, "Federation Archives" system.] Starfleet Archives also maintains official historians throughout Starfleet. The Judge Advocate General's Corps is the military justice system of Starfleet. Composed of the Fleet's lawyers and legal assistants, the JAG Corps provides judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and other court personnel for the purposes of military justice. They also staff Staff Judge Advocate (SJA) offices on Starfleet installations throughout the Federation, which provide legal services for commander and servicemember alike. They're headed at the OF-10 (Admiral) level by the Judge Advocate General. [I see Starfleet justice as working off of the UCMJ of the US Armed Forces IRL - meaning that yes, court-martials are decided by boards of officers (and in some cases, enlisted), with the whole thing presided over by a Starfleet judge. Appeals go to a Starfleet Court of Appeals, then to the Federation Supreme Court.] [The non-bureaus part of the Shore Establishment is also where I'd place the Chief of Chaplains, if you blieve (as I do) that Starfleet, especially after their Bajoran experience, are likely to have Chaplains.] [I decided here makes a good point to post what I got - Next will follow the Operational Forces.]
Overview notes on the Operational Forces: It seemed simplest, for purposes of explanation, to cover the "geopgraphic" division of Starfleet first, then any non-geographic divisions next. []'s indicate margin notes, as before. I was a little confused as to the canon rank system above Captain for Starfleet, so went with Commodore-Rear Admiral-Vice Admiral-Admiral-Fleet Admiral. --- The Operational Forces of Starfleet are divided up into Fleets. Generally speaking, Fleets are organized along "geographic" lines, though the borders between Fleets are somewhat arbitrary and subject to change. Fleets are designated, somewhat arbitrarily, by Greek letter. Each commander's position title, in Starfleet writing, is formatted as "Commander, x Fleet", usch as "Commander, Alpha Fleet". Fleet commanders are Admirals (OF-10). Alpha Fleet is the one constant - centered out of Earth, and headquartered on Spacedock, this Fleet has command of the "inner core" of the Federation, and particularly Sector 001's defense. Below the Fleets are the Starfleet Districts - further parcelling up the Federation and its borders. Generally, District Commanders are ranked as Vice Admirals (OF-9). These Districts are given ordinal numbers - For example, the First Starfleet District of Alpha Fleet has amidst its ambit the Sol System. Below the districts are individual Starfleet operating areas, their commanders holding Rear Admiral (OF-8) billets. The number and size of these are not completely consistent, and depend in large part on the geography of each Starfleet District. Commanders at this echelon are known by the formula "Commander, SFOPArea <x>, <y> Starfleet District, <z> Fleet", or similar - for example "Commander, SFOPArea 1, Second Starfleet District, Beta Fleet". In shorthand, he'd be known as "CDR 1-2-<greek letter for Beta>". Below the operating areas are individual Starfleet bases, whether in space (Starbases) or "landside" (starfleet slang for being on the surface of a planet). Starbases are numbered (somewhat arbitrarily) and sometimes named (Starbase 174 "Leto", for example), while landside bases are known simply as Starfleet Base (SFB), with the planet name (or some other geographic identifier): For example, Terra Nova has simply SFB Terra Nova; Earth has, among others, SFB San Francisco, the official name of Starfleet Headquarters. Bases are typically commanded by Commodores (OF-7), though Captains or even Commanders are possible for secondary facilities. They're simply known as "Commanding Officer, <base>". [Each echelon under this system above the individual Starbase may be presumed to have (sometimes enormous) staff elements under the commander. Fleet Operations (Headed up by the Chief of Fleet Operations) at SFHQ in San Francisco serves as this for the Chief of Staff of Starfleet.] *** Now to trace the chain of command for ships. It gets a bit harder here, since ships are mobile, sometimes travel in groups, sometimes travel alone, and so forth. Some ships are assigned to "Detached Duties" . Their chain of command goes from FleetOps in San Francisco to the individual CO until they're assigned to a standard chain of command. These ships are most prominently on deep-space exploratory missions, but other ships also fit here. [The Enterprise-D fits here for the most part.] Most ships, though, are assigned to a standard chain of command. Individual ships look to Task Forces or Battle Groups. Task Forces are commanded by Commodores, usually "flying their flag" from aboard a ship of the Task Force, or from a nearby base. They have a small staff to coordinate the Task Force's operations and staff functions. Task Forces look to either the commanders of Starfleet Operating Areas or to Squadron Commanders. Squadrons are combinations of Task Forces, commanded by a Rear Admiral - the staff echelons are commensurately larger. Above Squadrons are Wings, in some situations - generally only seen during general war, these are combinations of Squadrons, commanded by Vice Admirals. Above this are the numbered Fleets - these are truly massive organizations, commanded by full Admirals. ["Wet navies" are rather inconsistent in how they structure forces beyond the indiviudal ship, and I have no doubt Starfleet will continue that.] Generally, Starfleet keeps most of its forces assigned to Task Forces looking to Operating Area commanders. Some ships are detached for exploratory operations or the like, but Starfleet's defensive and border patrol and similar responsibilities tie up the majority of Starfleet's ships and personnel. *** Miscellaneous bits and pieces - expanded margin notes: Truth be told, Starfleet's mostly-defensive mission since the arrival of the Borg in TNG forces me to presume that the structure would be more US Navy than Hornblower's Royal Navy. The idea of Starfleet acting as both the Navy and an exploratory service is inherently in conflict - if your ships are spread all over doing exploration, they can't be massed as would be necessary should war break out. We've also seen very few instances of Starfleet ships, all told, going about on their own. Certainly, by the time of TNG, that doesn't seem to be the rule. My sketch for the operating forces is split up and schizophrenic for a reason - You have to account for Starbases and ships alike. The Bureaus system may seem like a lazy cut-and-paste of the US Navy's bureau system to Starfleet, but I did try to think it through from first principles. Weapons, for example, I see as being separate from Research for the simple reason of differing outlooks. It's not such a bad thing if your Research boss is a pacifist and a classic ivory-tower intellectual. Your Weapons chief, on the other hand, needs to be far more practical and aggressive. I now welcome and invite comments, queries, argument, whatever you might desire.
"Operations" should be a Bureau...Kirk was promoted to "Starfleet Chief of Operations" wen he became Admiral. ALso, your description make sense as far as "Starfleet Commander " Admiral Morrow...(from ST3)
Let's propose something a little more radical. The American government is divided into three branches of government Executive, Legislative and Judicial. Let's give the United Federations of Planets a new forth branch of government, Starfleet. The Starfleet branch of government covers not just traditional military/defense duties, but also many of the duties usual assigned to the executive branch. Duties like the state department/secretary of state, diplomatic missions, Starbases are often also embassies, it's through the Fleet that new member planets would be brought into the Federation. Starfleet would also handle the traditional cabinet positions of department of Homeland Security (DS9 Homefront), department of Veterans Affairs and department of Transportation. Starfleet is a big part of Federation Intelligence, but the Executive branch's bureaucracy also includes a civilian intelligence agency. Starfleet also controls any army or marine units that exist at the Federation level. The Starfleet Corp of Engineers are directly attached to Starfleet (Maybe also the department of Trade, not sure about that.) The Federation President is the head of state, head of government, chief law enforcement officer and commander in chief. The President selects the senior admirals in Starfleet just as she would the members of the supreme court, the senior admirals would then be approved by the congress/parliament, again just as in the supreme court. This procedure would also select the Fleet Admiral. The President has no say in the selection of every low ranking admiral, this is handled internally within Starfleet. The legislature vets and makes the final determination of new members planets, not Starfleet. The legislature also posses oversight of Starfleet actions, Starfleet directives (including the prime directive) originate in the legislature. Starfleet posses it own JAG organization, but Starfleet personnel are not isolated from the civilian justice department. While the Starfleet branch of government is a (for want of a better term) military organization, the admiralty does posses a large civilian bureaucracy, many of it's civilian department heads/ministers exercise considerable power, but are always subordinate to the admirals. The Fleet Admiral (Admiral Nogura at one point) has a chief of staff. This individual runs the admiralty HQ command. The Starfleet Chief of Operations (Kirk's old job) commands the Fleet. The Starfleet Minister/Secretary of State is traditionally a retired Starfleet civilian. Starfleet is divided internally into many divisions and sub-divisions. The Fleet itself is the biggest in terms of personnel, resources and budget. The Fleet division of Starfleet is what most fans think of as Starfleet, starbases and starships. .
Problem, T'Girl: How is that not a military coup waiting to happen? There's a reason, after all, most democracies developed the three-branch structure we're familiar with. It was in large part precisely to keep the military subordinate to the civil power. Humanity may be evolved in Trek, but (I glance at Admiral Layton of DS9 "Paradise Lost" and "Homefront") likely not so evolved as to make that not worth considering. --- Morpheus: You're obviously trying to say something, I just can't figure out what. Maybe it's me, (It's fairly late @ night as I write this), but I had to read what you wrote a few times, and I'm still confused a bit. I'll try to reply, though: I should note that if I were forced to place what I wrote in a time period, it would be TNG/DS9/VOY. By canon, Fleet Ops should possibly have its own bureau as of the TOS movies, but we never hear anything about it again afterwards, which leads me to believe it got split up. The most popular alternative I've heard is that "Chief of Starfleet Operations" is meant to be similar to the USN''s "Chief of Naval Operations". That name being generally confusing, however, I went with "Chief of Staff" in this writeup; Chief of Staff is more generally understood in organizational terminology to mean the representative of the Commander (in this case the Commander-in-Chief), and while it still speaks to a Terran influence, it's not so uniquely American.
I don't think it would be in conflict. A small percentage of the fleet is probably assigned to exploratory duty on a rotational basis. I doubt Starfleet has hundreds/thousands of ships heading out of Federation space in infinite directions. Exploration of a certain area of space is planned ahead, a specific number of vessels are dispatched and replenishment ships make runs from Fed space on a regular basis (every few weeks/months) to courier supplies and personnel. Overall, I doubt no more than a few dozen ships are on exploration duty at any given time.
i guess what i was saying is that your explanation in one point is in conflict with the TOS movie organization, but at another point explains something. Even at the TOS Movie stage, they were probably not thinking much about "canon", so Starfleet organization was messy then. With your explanation being TNG era , it makes more sense.
Morpheus: Yeah - I'm sure if I wanted to I could draw it up for TOS-TOS movies, but the canon in those cases is very shifting and inconsistent; it's almost not worth it. You could draw out 5 or 6 different possible schemes from TOS/TOS movies. All have an equal possibility of being true. Whether you like TOS, hate TOS, believe TOS to be the only true Trek....You can probably admit that there wasn't much thought given to keeping things consistent. By TNG (after about season 2), things settle down. Canon isn't held to perfectly, no, but the universe gets more and more consistent. Hence, it gets more worthwhile to ask "Well, what about beyond the individual ship?".
I haven't checked it in years, but didn't FJ's Tech Man give a complete breakdown of the Star Fleet structure, in a big flowchart?
CaptCalhoun - BUCON. "Under this Bureau sits, awkwardly, the Corps of Engineers." SchwEnt - I had FJ's Tech Man. Once. Years ago. When I was 10. I am now 26. It's gone.
but the SCE (as depicted in the e-novel series SCE and Corps of Engineers) aren't just construction workers. they do all kinds of tech jobs from investigating derelict ships to fixing planetary computer networks to building space stations to salvaging damaged starships to fixing weather control nets. that's construction, engineering, R&D and all sorts.
Yeah, hence why I reference them sitting somewhat awkwardly under BUCON. I had to put them somewhere, but I admit that nowhere feels like a good fit.
It would be interesting to hear about the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. I work for the US Corps of Engineers yet I am a biologist. Would the Starfleet Corps of Engineers need their own biolgists (and other various scientists) or would they just seek advice from the science bureau?