Why did Sisko make such enourmous strategic decisions?

[Cepstrum]

Hi. I'm a relatively new poster and mobile-device user, so please pardon me in advance for typos and/or asking a redundant question.

It seems that Sisko had the power and responsibility to unilaterally make a number of significant *strategic* — not just tactical — decisions re relations with the Dominion and ultimately, the war. I know there are some reasons for this:

• dramatic presentation
• time urgency
• his familiarity with the Bajoran system, his elevated status in their eyes (and DS9 *was* their station), and his lengthy dealings with the Dominion

Still, why wouldn't Starfleet fortify DS9, attach some flag officers as well as a unit of their best intelligence/strategic planners? Sisko was often left to take the initiative for matters that I'd think be best in the hands of experts, even though Sisko could be a significant part of it.

For example, why was it up to him to plan an operation to get the Romulans into the war? Or initiate and lead the attack to retake the station? Admiral Ross showed up now and then, and I can understand not having the budget to film a lot of additional personnel, but couldn't they at least refer to them?

They could have explicitly given Sisko more authority, or given him instructions to, eg, help find evidence of a planned attack on Romulus — In the Pale Moonlight still could've played out the same way (Sisko deciding to fake evidence). He did say he'd clear some things with Starfleet, but it just seemed strange having Sisko be left alone out there on the most important location in the Quadrant.

Perhaps I'm misguided here. Maybe I'm the strange one. Could someone help me understand this issue?

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

For the most part Admiral Ross was in charge of the war in that sector. He had a lot of faith in Sisko and gave him a wide lattitude.

 

[flemm]

They could have explicitly given Sisko more authority, or given him instructions to, eg, help find evidence of a planned attack on Romulus — In the Pale Moonlight still could've played out the same way (Sisko deciding to fake evidence). He did say he'd clear some things with Starfleet, but it just seemed strange having Sisko be left alone out there on the most important location in the Quadrant.

Perhaps I'm misguided here. Maybe I'm the strange one. Could someone help me understand this issue?

Some of the issues you are raising probably contributed to Ira Behr wanting to make Sisko an admiral in the later seasons (TPTB vetoed the idea), but on the other hand, he isn't really alone out there on DS9. Admiral Ross is present in the sector, and often on the station itself in season 7 in particular. Ross puts Sisko in charge of coordinating Starfleet military efforts to a large extent in early season 6 (though I forget the exact terms in which this is expressed or the exact definition of the authority that Sisko is given). There's some dialogue on this subject in Behind the Lines, I think.

Also there are representatives of both the Klingon empire (General Martok) and the Romulan empire (starting in season 7) permanently present on the station.

 

[Praxius]

For the most part Admiral Ross was in charge of the war in that sector. He had a lot of faith in Sisko and gave him a wide lattitude.

Not to mention that for a while, Sisko was given a promotion to "Adjutant" for Vice Admiral William Ross. Ross being the head honcho for the area, trusted in Sisko's abilities and experience.... and the fact that Sisko was the commander of DS9, had the most experience with the Worm Hole, the Dominion, dealt with the Bajorans and Cardassians on a number of occasions, dealt with the Maquis.... and also based on his knowledge and experience (along with Odo) was given a promotion earlier to head up security measures back on Earth from founder infiltration..... it would sound like he was more then qualified.

 

[indolover]

Admiral Ross was obviously the ranking officer, but in effect Sisko ran the war effort jointly with him. Most of the major battles in the war were led by Sisko using the Defiant as the flagship, or were even designed/drawn out by him, like taking back DS9.

The truth though, as I see it, is that Sisko made first contact with the Jem'Hadar, Vorta and the Founders, and essentially wrote the book on the Dominion as far as Starfleet is concerned. He would have more experience with them than anybody else. It's like Picard and the Borg in a way.

 

[Timo]

For example, why was it up to him to plan an operation to get the Romulans into the war?

"In the Pale Moonlight"? That wasn't a Starfleet operation, mind you. It was just Sisko's personal little save-the-universe scheme. He may not have been the only one out for such personal heroics, either; somebody like him may have failed in a similar plan already, while another may have been elemental in, say, getting the Klingons involved.

And I'm sure Starfleet Intelligence had sixteen a tad more official plans going, too - and in fact it may have been one of those that ultimately swayed the Romulans.

Or initiate and lead the attack to retake the station?

That looked a bit more like the attack was already a done deal, and Ross gave Sisko a big role in the practical execution because somebody had to do it for him anyway and Sisko sorta deserved the honor.

We're not really sure if Sisko led the attack. He talked with other ships and formations during it, yes - but other people more trained in fleet command may have been in overall charge, whereas other starship skippers on Sisko's level may have been giving their own commands and perhaps telling Sisko where to fly his ship, too. We just didn't hear this part of the action because starship communications aren't generally audible, except through the communications officer (or the officer in charge of communications anyhow, even if modern ships don't exactly have Uhuras aboard). And said communications officer heavily censors what we hear, only relaying the stuff relevant to our on-camera heroes. In contrast, Sisko's outgoing orders, missives, suggestions, prayers and curses would be prefectly audible to us (but possibly not to the commander of USS Insufferable or the flag officer leading the battle from USS Pompous).

Sisko made first contact with the Jem'Hadar, Vorta and the Founders

Does that count? Sisko never reported back on his contact in "Jem'Hadar" before the Jem'Hadar themselves made contact with Dax and Kira. In that sense, he was no different from the late commanders of those starships lost to the Dominion. And Kira and Odo were the first to contact the Founders. Does Sisko get the formal credit merely because he was the CO of the actual contact makers? And does Keogh then snatch the credit from Sisko because he outranked the hero and commanded the retrieval mission?

and essentially wrote the book on the Dominion as far as Starfleet is concerned.

...Which is why Starfleet kept him chained to his desk on the back side of nowhere, commanding a space station whose strategic significance had evaporated when the Prophets closed the wormhole for good. He probably had his hands full writing that book!

Basically, it shouldn't be difficult to explain away all those instances where Commander or Captain Sisko seemed to be commanding the entire Starfleet. Why, at times, he may even himself have believed that he was running the whole show. Happens to frontline military commanders a lot, from what I hear.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

If you think about it from day one you could kind of consider Sisko an Admiral. DS9 is essentially a Star Base and since they don't use the rank of Commador anymore a Star Base is usually alway run by an Admiral.

Maybe after running a "Star Base" for close to 6 years Ross thought he could handle it.

Another note you rarley see Admirals go in the field (exceptions I can think of Wolf359 and First Contact) so to promote him they might have to pull him out of the field.

 

[indolover]

For example, why was it up to him to plan an operation to get the Romulans into the war?

"In the Pale Moonlight"? That wasn't a Starfleet operation, mind you. It was just Sisko's personal little save-the-universe scheme. He may not have been the only one out for such personal heroics, either; somebody like him may have failed in a similar plan already, while another may have been elemental in, say, getting the Klingons involved.

And I'm sure Starfleet Intelligence had sixteen a tad more official plans going, too - and in fact it may have been one of those that ultimately swayed the Romulans.

Or initiate and lead the attack to retake the station?

That looked a bit more like the attack was already a done deal, and Ross gave Sisko a big role in the practical execution because somebody had to do it for him anyway and Sisko sorta deserved the honor.

We're not really sure if Sisko led the attack. He talked with other ships and formations during it, yes - but other people more trained in fleet command may have been in overall charge, whereas other starship skippers on Sisko's level may have been giving their own commands and perhaps telling Sisko where to fly his ship, too. We just didn't hear this part of the action because starship communications aren't generally audible, except through the communications officer (or the officer in charge of communications anyhow, even if modern ships don't exactly have Uhuras aboard). And said communications officer heavily censors what we hear, only relaying the stuff relevant to our on-camera heroes. In contrast, Sisko's outgoing orders, missives, suggestions, prayers and curses would be prefectly audible to us (but possibly not to the commander of USS Insufferable or the flag officer leading the battle from USS Pompous).

Sisko made first contact with the Jem'Hadar, Vorta and the Founders

Does that count? Sisko never reported back on his contact in "Jem'Hadar" before the Jem'Hadar themselves made contact with Dax and Kira. In that sense, he was no different from the late commanders of those starships lost to the Dominion. And Kira and Odo were the first to contact the Founders. Does Sisko get the formal credit merely because he was the CO of the actual contact makers? And does Keogh then snatch the credit from Sisko because he outranked the hero and commanded the retrieval mission?

and essentially wrote the book on the Dominion as far as Starfleet is concerned.

...Which is why Starfleet kept him chained to his desk on the back side of nowhere, commanding a space station whose strategic significance had evaporated when the Prophets closed the wormhole for good. He probably had his hands full writing that book!

Basically, it shouldn't be difficult to explain away all those instances where Commander or Captain Sisko seemed to be commanding the entire Starfleet. Why, at times, he may even himself have believed that he was running the whole show. Happens to frontline military commanders a lot, from what I hear.

Timo Saloniemi

Sisko would have reported back to Starfleet Command, as the ranking officer. Whether he gets the credit is by the by. In Q Who, Picard never went on the Borg Cube, but Picard was in command so the buck/responsibility lied with him. And didn't Keogh die? How can a dead man report back? Starfleet couldn't have initially learnt of the Dominion threat from anywhere else other than Sisko, since he was the CO of DS9.

Remember also that the DS9 crew were first to learn that the Jem'Hadar were addicted to Ketracell White, went on the first joint mission between the Federation and Dominion, and was even called by his former CO Admiral Hayton because he had most experience with with the Dominion. As for the Prophets closing the wormhole, that was only for a short period. For most of the series, ships were free to go through it.

 

[Timo]

Starfleet couldn't have initially learnt of the Dominion threat from anywhere else other than Sisko, since he was the CO of DS9.

That would mean both Dax and Keogh were lax in their duties, though. These officers learned of the threat before Sisko reported on it, and obviously would have reported on to Starfleet ASAP.

As for the Prophets closing the wormhole, that was only for a short period.

Yup - for the period of the Dominion War. Or what was left of it after the minefield went down. DS9 never took place in a battle again after "Sacrifice of Angels". So physically, Sisko was completely sidetracked from the war, save for the attack on Chin'toka (where he participated thrice, then returned to his station) and the final assault.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[tau136]

It seems that had the power and responsibility to unilaterally make a number of significant *strategic* — not just tactical — decisions re relations with the Dominion and ultimately, the war. I know there are some reasons for this:

Still, why wouldn't Starfleet fortify DS9, attach some flag officers as well as a unit of their best intelligence/strategic planners?

One of the leitmotifs of DS9 was the political aspect, the exact nature/ownership of DS9 & staffing issues were a tad on the sensitive side so you can argue Starfleet didn't have much scope to dump bucketloads of extra personnel in (esp heavyweight personnel).

 

[Timo]

...And given those limitations, and others, would it really have made sense to turn DS9 into Starfleet's local HQ? It was a gunnery outpost guarding an invasion route - situating your HQ there would be rather suicidal.

A true starbase in the Bajoran system would simply be another Pearl Harbor without an early warning system. Either the wormhole could be blockaded completely (say, with minefields or negotiations with the Prophets), or then an invasion would have very real chances of coming through despite the presence of a starship fleet. Better base that fleet somewhere farther off, so that it can operate at Bajor but its logistics are not vulnerable to enemy activity at Bajor. Starfleet already had SB 375 and apparently also SB 401 in the region, thoroughly compatible with Starfleet hardware and well staffed with Starfleet high-level command professionals. DS9 didn't need to duplicate those aspects, and could concentrate on being a gunnery outpost (and, in peacetime, a trade hub).

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Saquist]

Hi. I'm a relatively new poster and mobile-device user, so please pardon me in advance for typos and/or asking a redundant question.

It seems that Sisko had the power and responsibility to unilaterally make a number of significant *strategic* — not just tactical — decisions re relations with the Dominion and ultimately, the war. I know there are some reasons for this:

• dramatic presentation
• time urgency
• his familiarity with the Bajoran system, his elevated status in their eyes (and DS9 *was* their station), and his lengthy dealings with the Dominion

Still, why wouldn't Starfleet fortify DS9, attach some flag officers as well as a unit of their best intelligence/strategic planners? Sisko was often left to take the initiative for matters that I'd think be best in the hands of experts, even though Sisko could be a significant part of it.

For example, why was it up to him to plan an operation to get the Romulans into the war? Or initiate and lead the attack to retake the station? Admiral Ross showed up now and then, and I can understand not having the budget to film a lot of additional personnel, but couldn't they at least refer to them?

They could have explicitly given Sisko more authority, or given him instructions to, eg, help find evidence of a planned attack on Romulus — In the Pale Moonlight still could've played out the same way (Sisko deciding to fake evidence). He did say he'd clear some things with Starfleet, but it just seemed strange having Sisko be left alone out there on the most important location in the Quadrant.

Perhaps I'm misguided here. Maybe I'm the strange one. Could someone help me understand this issue?

You're correct of course in our military this would never be left in the hands of a Captain in the Navy. Brass makes these kind of decision. The only factor I can particularly think of that doesn't rely on explaining some decision made by the producers is that the Flag officers were running the Fleets and considering that Federation had at least a
30,000 ships and a War Zone of a million cubic light years, contributing to the slow speed of warp .....

...I think the Brass had their hands full containing and maintaining the War to the Border Worlds. Station would likelly have been...and have been left to Commanders and Captains. There are 15 Sectors bordering Cardassian and Breen Space which is 120,000 (Federation Star Charts) That comes to exactly 4 ships per light Year to guard if all 30,000 ships were on the line. Which of course they are not. The Federation ship had Fleets guarding Earth because the Federation's perimeter couldn't be maintained along every light year of space.

Fortunantly if Voyager is any indication. Federation ships like the Intrepid carry huge sensor packages which can scan up to 15 light years away. So ships have more than enough time to intercept any encroachments...
But I'm on a tangent.

 

[Cepstrum]

Wow, guys: thank you very much for the very helpful info dump from all of you. What you said makes sense and allows me to better appreciate the "realism" of Sisko's role.

The only thing I'd add is that I keep forgetting the rank of captain in a navy/Starfleet is far higher than a captain in, say, an army (it's more like a colonel). So Sisko, though not an admiral or specially trained for the role of a strategic commander, was plausible in his role given his rank, familiarity with the enemy, much better relations with the Bajorans (than Starfleet in general), and clear brilliance. Who knows? Maybe he could have turned down a promotion (and desk job) back near Earth to continue the fight where he felt he was most capable of making a difference.

Also, it probably would have violated typical SF protocol to promote him any further, given his relatively short career and lack of training for the admirality: his career trajectory was cleary not aiming for such a position, anyway. There may have been regulations stipulating that to promotion to admiral would require X amount of years as a captain etc. So he was, in effect, a flag officer in all but name. Kind of like PhD students who's status is "EBD" — everything but dissertation, which is sometimes considered "good enough" to obtain a professorship or a "post-doc" position.

it's been suggested elsewhere that some prefer to remain at the rank of captain to retain the ability to make critical command decisions without getting bogged down in the paperwork/busywork etc associated with being an admiral. He probably was more useful at a critical front line position with the relative flexibility of afforded by the rank of captain.

It's also likely admirals are better at moving fleets around and at diplomacy, for prior to the Dominion War, SF was not as militaristic as necessary (despite its many previous wars).

Finally, the points about the wide scope of the war, uneasy relations with the non-aligned Bajorans, and the dangerous position of DS9 were also good reasons for not turning DS9 into an HQ for flag-level officers and an intelligence outfit.

And leaving Sisko as a captain and CO of DS9 while tacitly giving him tremendous latitude proved to be the correct decision.

Again , thanks guys.

 

[Deckerd]

It stands to reason that whoever is in charge of such a valuable resource is going to punch above his rank. It's a bit surprising that Sisko was such a comparatively low rank when he was sent to DS9 in the first place.

I think there's a similar situation on Babylon 5, where Sheridan is also (IIRC) a Commander but the model is more army than navy in that particular setup. He was effectively more powerful than warship captains because he was running a huge resource.

 

[neozeks]

It stands to reason that whoever is in charge of such a valuable resource is going to punch above his rank. It's a bit surprising that Sisko was such a comparatively low rank when he was sent to DS9 in the first place.

Not really. At the start of the series, DS9 wasn't exactly, as you say, 'valuable resource'. It was a run-down outpost (quite smaller than a SB) orbiting a relatively unimportant world with only a few hundred personnel on board, not all of them even Starfleet. Of course, everything changed with the discovery of the Wormhole. But even after that Starfleet couldn't replace Sisko (cause he's the Emissary) and it apparently didn't want to bend the rules and give him an instant promotion to higher rank.