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Burnham, Sarek and Picard

The figure is from here:
https://www.kurzweilai.net/understanding-the-accelerating-rate-of-change
"And because of the explosive power of exponential growth, the 21st century will be equivalent to 20,000 years of progress at today’s rate of progress, which is a thousand times greater than the 20th century, which was no slouch to change."

So, if the 21st century will be progressing at 1000x faster than the 20th... we could reasonably posit the same or greater increase in speed will occur for the 22nd century (assuming we reverse climate change, repair environmental damage and restore lost biodiversity - all of which could be done in less than 10 years), meaning that 20 000 years would now become 20 MILLION years worth of advancement (so if anything, my previous calculations for UFP's rate of progress/evolution were... EXTREMELY conservative).

I think THIS is what Trek should be portraying (and Dyson Swarms/Type II civilization, Type III and Type IV would conceivably be part of it).

I've read some of Ray Kurzweil's stuff periodically, and I'll have to disagree with you on a lot of it. I think in some ways he's a genuinely smart guy, but he's been known to make any number of loopy predictions with regards to the Singularity and the rate of technological progress.

I don't think our technological potential, in terms of rate, is anywhere near that level, even assuming we had access to Trek eras of technology. If you look at the design of modern aircraft, you'll see that many of them have essential design elements that seldom change in a radical fashion. This is because flight is based on a specific set of physical laws, independent of the technology, and any functional aircraft has to be built around those mechanics or it won't be able to fly. Turboprop engines haven't totally disappeared since the jet engine became practical, even though it has some advantages. We're not at a point where modern aircraft are going to look like UFOs in terms of their design, as cool as that may sound.

I mean, it only makes sense that at the height of the tensions between UFP and Dominion (before the war began), UFP would be engaged in upgrading ALL its ships and building new ones.

And how long would that realistically take, given that TMP says it took a year and a half to refit the USS Enterprise to the new configuration? Given that all the bugs weren't quite worked out (as with the transporters and engines) and Decker felt Kirk was out of his element, since the internal systems had been radically changed? And that's just the length of time to modify a single ship. A fleet would take much longer, even more so with the resource crunch of a wartime setting.

How many times have we seen that replicators are obviously highly useful, and yet some cultures either never develop them or simply don't find them superior to "antiquated" methods? Sisko's dad runs such a restaurant and passed some of those skills to his son. Picard's parents talked about getting a replicator apparently, though it's unclear whether they did; Robert seemed to think that replicated wine was obviously inferior to the real thing. O'Brien's mother refused to use one. This is partly due to the fact that most of the writers hated the replicator concept in TNG, because they realized how many problems it could cause in an economy even if it also has advantages. Why bother to treasure historic art if you can just replicate more? Why honor the Prime Directive if doing so means inherently letting people starve or suffer from disease? Isn't that far worse than the problems of cultural contamination, if we assume (naturally) that we can limit that by controlling the technology?

I wholeheartedly agree it's prudent to build as many resources as you can, especially in wartime, but I also understand how the basic limits of geography and existing options work. I was watching "In The Pale Moonlight" yesterday for fun, since it's a favorite episode, and Vreenak makes a point of highlighting how the Dominion shipyards are operating at full capacity as are their troop breeding grounds, whereas the Federation and the Klingons are struggling just to stay alive. Since the Dominion doesn't really have a large civilian base and the Jem'Hadar are exclusively a military force, this is naturally an advantage in wartime.

To be fair, all of those would be long forgotten and part of the past. Inter-species issues would have existed primarily in the early days of UFP, but would have largely disappeared in a few decades at best.
I mean, if Humanity was able to act as a bridge between species which had strained and practically barely speaking relationships in the past to the point where they brought them all together into a massive alliance that hadn't been seen before in that part of space (from what we know) in less than 10 years, then it stands to reason those kinds of social and inter-species tensions would have disappeared fairly quickly (and a way to doing that would likely be accomplished via exposure to relevant general education of the general public which would be facilitated by the UFP council - at least you'd expect mature civilizations to handle such issues - they'd have to in order to function as part of UFP and to eventually result in various species mixing together which would result in hybrids as well).

You mean like how France has obviously "forgotten" centuries of warfare and political rivalry with countries like England and Germany, since they're not presently at war and unlikely to have such poor relations in the immediate future? :p I'm quite certain that many members of those governments are in agreement that working together is more beneficial than the alternative, but that doesn't mean they'll always agree on the path forward. Especially after the whole Brexit thing. :lol:

I'd have to say again that I'd consider this to be moving way too fast to be realistic. Styles was pretty bigoted towards Spock in "Balance of Terror" and seemingly convinced that a new war against the Romulans would be a good thing, because his ancestors fought in that war a century earlier. That the Vulcans and Romulans proved to be cousins of sorts only heightened his dislike of Spock.

Another point that comes up for emphasis in "Pale Moonlight" is how the Romulans - who are extremely territorial - are also content to let the Dominion violate their borders if it serves their war aims - especially since they're fighting the same states that the Romulans themselves have been opposing for ages. As long as the Dominion is otherwise honoring their neutrality, it doesn't seem like a huge threat. Sisko's counter that the Founders will ultimately stab the Romulans in the back when they win is a perfectly logical point, and yet it's not sufficient alone to persuade Vreenak (and by extension, the Empire).

To be fair, V'ger wasn't 'incredibly damaging'... powerful and dangerous? Yes, but it didn't do any permanent damage to UFP.
The Borg were also not too damaging. Sure, SF lost almost 40 ships and 11 000 lives at Wolf 359, but Shelby pretty much shrugged off the incident saying SF will bring the fleet back up in a year.
11 000 lost people isn't a small thing, and since UFP cherishes preservation of life, it would be seen as a devastating loss to them at the time, but on a larger scale, that's probably nothing compared to lives lost when the Xindi decided to attack Florida, or during the initial war between UFP and Klingons during Disco S1... or the border wars between UFP and Cardassians (albeit, those weren't conceived by the writers as of yet, so... the UFP only losing 11 000 people at Wolf 359 and 40 ships was actually somewhat 'lucky' - the losses could have been higher).

It didn't do any permanent damage, thankfully - but it came close to destroying the planet. So did the whale probe in TVH. W359 seemed like a reasonable large loss in peacetime, though I agree some of the statistics are a bit wonky.

The Dominion capturing Betazed was a stretch for me. SF was effectively 'caught with their pants down' (which is ludicrous since sensors have ridiculous ranges and computers would be automatically alerting the crew if a large fleet of enemy ships was approaching). It was further compounded by the stupidity of Betazed's orbital defenses being in the process of being upgraded (as they were 80 years old). Now, who does that?
SF found time to upgrade the USS Lakota to rival the Defiant before the war broke out... the needed orbital upgrades would have occurred prior to the war (when the Dominion threat became eminent at the end of DS9 Season 2 - majority of S3 was spent upgrading DS9 - and SF technology is capable of self-repair and self-upgrades... who the heck would forget making such upgrades to all UFP member planets on a regular basis?).
Starships receive regular maintenance and upgrades every few years... why the heck would orbital defenses NOT receive the same treatment?

I'm glad "Pale Moonlight" goes into some nice details about the attack, mainly because I consider it part of the good writing. We learn several things about how the invasion happened:

* The Dominion force went through an adjoining sector, which Starfleet Intelligence did not view as a weakness because it was a significant distance from the front lines, and the enemy's own supply lines. They might have also assumed - wrongly - that such a force would have spotted and stopped much quicker.

* The 10th Fleet was supposed to be the main defense in that sector, but they were caught off guard and out of position doing training exercises.

* Betazed has orbital defenses but they're obsolete and undermanned. The whole assault took a mere 10 hours, which I admit for me is a bit of a stretch even allowing the Dominion's manpower advantages. But not entirely impossible.

The United States has 50 distinct states and a number of territories. It's not likely to be able to upgrade all of those instantaneously or even quickly, even though it does maintain specific standards of what is needed. And geography plays a role in that as much as the local infrastructure and the resources from the federal government do. Where I live in eastern VA, there have been a number of debates because there is a plan to expand the local Air Force base significantly from its current design. Some residents don't want that option because they feel it's a waste of taxpayer money and it will increase the noise pollution from the existing jets (which is at times significant), while others feel the extra training and employment for the military residents would offset the problems.

In reading some of my library on military history, and also several "what if" books about possible alternatives, one of the ideas that comes up with WWII is a target the Axis Powers didn't directly attack. Luckily for us. :D This target was the Panama Canal, which makes it much easier and quicker for supplies from the Atlantic coast to reach areas on the Pacific coast, and thence to Asia. Had the Japanese successfully incapacitated both Pearl Harbor and destroyed the canal as well, it would have been a much more difficult time for the U.S. to rebuild and make the same contributions to the allied war effort as they actually did. Ships and supplies would have had to go around South America to get to the west coast. Not unlike how the Russian fleet in 1904 had to sail around Africa to get to Asia, because the Turks wouldn't let them through the easiest geographical route. The Russians sailed halfway around the world and wound up getting totally trashed by the Japanese.

Sometimes enemies can just surprise you. Pearl Harbor was thought be protected from conventional torpedoes before the Japanese attack, because its water base is shallow and not deep enough for many of the then-current models to arm properly. The Japanese solved this issue by modifying their torpedoes to function differently, as they spent extensive time studying Pearl's geography in preparation for the strike. And they continued to use those improved weapons for the remainder of the war, because it let them hit targets in shallower water.
 
Eh, no. Starfleet did not upgrade the Lakota. A renegade Admiral plotting a coup upgraded the Lakota in preparation of the coup.
These renegade Admirals have so much power, like Admiral Marcus and his USS Vengeance over at the Kelvin Timeline.
 
Eh, no. Starfleet did not upgrade the Lakota. A renegade Admiral plotting a coup upgraded the Lakota in preparation of the coup.

Uhm, that's nitpicking.
The admiral was part of Starfleet, as was the USS Lakota, and as such, it was a Starfleet upgrade.
It would be ludicrous to assume that SF would send 80 year old ships into war without modern upgrades - they would never stand a chance otherwise... and we know they put up a decent fight - most of the Miranda's being blown up were shown at the culmination of battle scenes, and we know DS9 never showed shields on fleets of ships due to taking time to render all of that out... so it was easier to shorten the battle sequences to give a 'portrayal'.

In fact, we KNOW that ships like the Miranda class underwent system upgrades over the decades to keep them in the fleet in TNG... they had the LCARS interfaces after all - so it stands to reason other systems were upgraded as well.

Also, Starfleet upgraded DS9 from a simple mining station/trading outpost to a battle starbase capable of fending off a fleet of 50 ships (at least) in a span of 1 year.

If it takes 1 year to do such extensive upgrades on an alien space station, every single Federation world would likely be capable of upgrading its pre-existing outdated orbital defenses in probably half that time... or at most same amount of time (also prior to the war and at the same time DS9 underwent upgrades).
 
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The admiral was part of Starfleet, as was the USS Lakota, and as such, it was a Starfleet upgrade.
I don't think it's quite clear cut. In that same episode, during the battle between the Defiant and the Lakota in fact it's pointed out Sisko made upgrades to the Defiant which were not Starfleet upgrades. If Sisko could do that, it would be super easy, barely an inconvenience for Admiral Leyton.
 
I don't think it's quite clear cut. In that same episode, during the battle between the Defiant and the Lakota in fact it's pointed out Sisko made upgrades to the Defiant which were not Starfleet upgrades. If Sisko could do that, it would be super easy, barely an inconvenience for Admiral Leyton.

Also, O'brien was surprised by the modifications to the Lakota and clearly didn't know about them. You would think an Excelsior class starship undergoing such upgrades would be news and widely known given their service history. But I guess not when you're the pet project of a traitorous Admiral.
 
I don't think it's quite clear cut. In that same episode, during the battle between the Defiant and the Lakota in fact it's pointed out Sisko made upgrades to the Defiant which were not Starfleet upgrades. If Sisko could do that, it would be super easy, barely an inconvenience for Admiral Leyton.

Actually, it is very clear.
What upgrades were given to the Defiant?
Sisko was contributing to the overall design of the Defiant, so its likely he simply thought of the idea of using the ablative armor to further improve on its chances in a fight against the Borg.
In short, it was DESIGNED with Ablative armor from the start. If Benteen or Leyton didn't know that, then they hadn't done their homework, or it was classified for security reasons... much like O'Brien didn't know that Starfleet was upgrading the Lakota (not all officers will be up to date on everything that's happening). And its possible Starfleet wanted to keep certain things on the down low to throw Dominion (or other species) intelligence off (aka, it was classified at the time).

Sisko simply ordered O'Brien to work on the Defiant to make it space-worthy and try to solve a design flaw. He managed to patch it up for the most part, but the ship remained with a hull design issue that it was falling apart at high Warp velocities (which requires extra power to be shuffled to structural integrity).
 
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Also, O'brien was surprised by the modifications to the Lakota and clearly didn't know about them. You would think an Excelsior class starship undergoing such upgrades would be news and widely known given their service history. But I guess not when you're the pet project of a traitorous Admiral.

Why would O'brien know about upgrades to the Lakota?
Not all SF officers have proper security clearances and as such, its possible/likely that he wouldn't be privy to this information.
Also, SF intelligence might have wanted to throw the Dominion off, or at least keep them guessing... thinking the old ships would be easy pickings, when in fact, they weren't.

My point is it would be utterly idiotic to send 80 year old ship designs into war without any modern upgrades, and we KNOW those old ships were getting upgraded frequently. We saw Miranda's with modern LCARS interfaces. It stands to reason every other system on board (including those on Excelsiors) would have undergone same/similar upgrades that fit with the times, otherwise, they'd probably be a hazard to fly and would be easy pickings for any potentially hostile species.

The Lakota was probably an example of pushing those upgrades even further to make the older ships more tactically capable... so it was brought up to Defiant's level of firepower for example.
 
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Also, O'brien was surprised by the modifications to the Lakota and clearly didn't know about them. You would think an Excelsior class starship undergoing such upgrades would be news and widely known given their service history. But I guess not when you're the pet project of a traitorous Admiral.
Especially for O'Brien whom I believed first served on an Excelsior class. Apologies if I am misremembering.
 
The only other ship O'Brien was ever mentioned serving on was the Rutledge, New Orleans class (per the ST Encyclopedia).
 
What upgrades were given to the Defiant?
Sisko was contributing to the overall design of the Defiant, so its likely he simply thought of the idea of using the ablative armor to further improve on its chances in a fight against the Borg.
In short, it was DESIGNED with Ablative armor from the start.
The ablative armor is indeed the upgrade mentioned. During the battle, Benteen tells Leyton "someone outfitted the Defiant with ablative armor and neglected to inform Starfleet Operations."
If Benteen or Leyton didn't know that, then they hadn't done their homework, or it was classified for security reasons
I don't buy that. Leyton was presumably very high up Starfleet's pecking order, probably even Starfleet's chief of staff given he's the one who meets with the Federation President on a regular basis and we don't see him answering to any other Starfleet officers in those two episodes. So the idea that there could be anything in Starfleet classified to him doesn't hold up. Likewise, given he was obsessed with fortifying Starfleet/the Federation in preparation for war with the Dominion, it seems unlikely he wouldn't "do his homework" and make himself familiar with the capabilities and features of Starfleet's only warship. At the very least it stands to reason that when the decision was made to attack and destroy the Defiant, even if for whatever reason he didn't have official access to the records, he would have hacked them. After all the guy's planning on ousting the President and taking over the government, hacking into classified files that won't be classified to him within a day or so should he succeed is hardly an obstacle.

The bottom line, if Leyton didn't know about the ablative armor, it's because it wasn't in the files, and if it wasn't in the files, it's because Sisko added the armor without anyone else's knowledge. If a Captain can make upgrades without Starfleet knowing, so can an Admiral.
 
The ablative armor is indeed the upgrade mentioned. During the battle, Benteen tells Leyton "someone outfitted the Defiant with ablative armor and neglected to inform Starfleet Operations."

Few possibilities why this is the case:
1. The Defiant was designed with the ablative armor and as such this would have been part of its specs (in which case, Starfleet Operations would have known about the ablative armor and the oversight would have been on part of Leyton and Benteen.
2. While Sisko was away from DS9 (just after season 2 ending and beginning of season 3 episode) he decided to add the ablative armor to the mothballed Defiant and neglected to inform Starfleet operations - but this doesn't work as it would have been virtually impossible to do, because any and all materials pertaining to ship construction and/or upgrades would likely have to be logged, and multiple people would have to know.
Otherwise, how would have Sisko procured ablative armor in the first place and then installed it without SF Operations knowing about it?
He was just a Commander at the time and I doubt he would have had any favors with other personnel - at least none that would have allowed ablative armor to go unnoticed (because the technology in question was probably similarly new as Quantum Torpedoes [which are tightly regulated and in short supply] - therefore, I doubt the ablative armor not being known about would have been viable).

3. The addition of the armor was logged but Sisko might have asked Starfleet Intelligence to classify its addition to the Defiant in case the Dominion had spies and he would have wanted to increase the ships chances of surviving.

I don't buy that. Leyton was presumably very high up Starfleet's pecking order, probably even Starfleet's chief of staff given he's the one who meets with the Federation President on a regular basis and we don't see him answering to any other Starfleet officers in those two episodes. So the idea that there could be anything in Starfleet classified to him doesn't hold up. Likewise, given he was obsessed with fortifying Starfleet/the Federation in preparation for war with the Dominion, it seems unlikely he wouldn't "do his homework" and make himself familiar with the capabilities and features of Starfleet's only warship. At the very least it stands to reason that when the decision was made to attack and destroy the Defiant, even if for whatever reason he didn't have official access to the records, he would have hacked them. After all the guy's planning on ousting the President and taking over the government, hacking into classified files that won't be classified to him within a day or so should he succeed is hardly an obstacle.

The bottom line, if Leyton didn't know about the ablative armor, it's because it wasn't in the files, and if it wasn't in the files, it's because Sisko added the armor without anyone else's knowledge. If a Captain can make upgrades without Starfleet knowing, so can an Admiral.

As I mentioned above, Sisko wasn't a captain at the time when the Defiant first rolled out and the ablative armor was already part of it when it first arrived in DS9, therefore I doubt he would have the necessary leeway or ability to NOT mention addition of the ablative armor in 'secret'.

Its more likely that he asked Starfleet Intelligence in that case to classify addition of the armor when he first got the Defiant to DS9 to search for the Founders, for fear of Dominion learning about it so he could increase the ships chances of survival upon encountering their ships.

We know the ablative armor was something the Defiant already had when it first uncloaked at Ds9 in S3 episode 1... so the only explanation I can think of is that Sisko asked Intelligence to classify its addition... just the same way as Leyton would have classified addition of upgrades to SF's defenses and why someone like O'Brien wouldn't be able to know about it.

Also, why didn't Leyton opt to upgrade all of UFP's orbital defenses (including Betazed's) at the same time he was upgrading the Lakota?
That could have potentially prevented Betazed from being taken by the Dominion... and Betazed also had time after the war already started to do this on its own.
 
As I mentioned above, Sisko wasn't a captain at the time when the Defiant first rolled out and the ablative armor was already part of it when it first arrived in DS9, therefore I doubt he would have the necessary leeway or ability to NOT mention addition of the ablative armor in 'secret'.
And yet, that's apparently exactly what happened, according to onscreen dialogue.
Its more likely that he asked Starfleet Intelligence in that case to classify addition of the armor when he first got the Defiant to DS9 to search for the Founders, for fear of Dominion learning about it so he could increase the ships chances of survival upon encountering their ships.
Even if we entertain that idea for a moment, Leyton would have had plenty of ways of finding out. He presumably had someone from Starfleet Intelligence on his team who could have granted him access to classified files on the Defiant. Plus, we're talking about a guy who sabotaged Earth's entire power grid and caused a planet-wide black out. Hacking into computer files wouldn't be that difficult comparatively speaking.
just the same way as Leyton would have classified addition of upgrades to SF's defenses and why someone like O'Brien wouldn't be able to know about it.
Except the whole point of that episode was that Jaresh-Inyo wasn't listening to Leyton or authorizing the various upgrades to Starfleet he wanted to make, which is basically why Leyton was staging the coup to begin with. Given those circumstances, there's absolutely no way the Lakota's upgrades could be authorized.
Also, why didn't Leyton opt to upgrade all of UFP's orbital defenses (including Betazed's) at the same time he was upgrading the Lakota?
Presumably in the event that any Federation worlds attempted to resist his authority after the coup was successful, it would be easier to subjugate them with the same old outdated defenses. Which would help sell his coup as a necessity to the civilian population. "See how quickly your defenses crippled against an Excelsior class starship? Now imagine if a Dominion invasion fleet were attacking instead."
 
And yet, that's apparently exactly what happened, according to onscreen dialogue.

Actually, what I mentioned about Sisko NOT having leeway as a commander to NOT mention the Ablative armor addition makes a lot of sense.
As a captain? Possibly... and even then it would likely be subject to classification, not subject to personal whims.
These ARE Starfleet officers after all.

Even if we entertain that idea for a moment, Leyton would have had plenty of ways of finding out. He presumably had someone from Starfleet Intelligence on his team who could have granted him access to classified files on the Defiant. Plus, we're talking about a guy who sabotaged Earth's entire power grid and caused a planet-wide black out. Hacking into computer files wouldn't be that difficult comparatively speaking.

Leyton may have had plenty of ways of finding out, but despite him being an Admiral, we have seen that not all Admirals are privy to sensitive information and can also be duped.

Except the whole point of that episode was that Jaresh-Inyo wasn't listening to Leyton or authorizing the various upgrades to Starfleet he wanted to make, which is basically why Leyton was staging the coup to begin with. Given those circumstances, there's absolutely no way the Lakota's upgrades could be authorized.

Correction. Leyton wanted to instill a strict marshal law on Earth and subject a lot of people to blood screening (the Lakota's upgrades were not really mentioned, apart from the premise that Leyton COULD have a military sized army of personal forcefields and personnel at the ready very fast if the president gave him authorization to do so)... essentially, controlling the populace under the pretense of security because he was convinced he could do no wrong.
In short, the marshal law thing, including using the Red Squad to instill fear into the populace for the purpose of seizing power were criminal actions. Leyton was a victim of his own fear which then pushed him to go into the extreme without even realizing it. When Benteen became aware of it late in the battle with the Defiant, she willingly stopped because she was able to do the right thing when learning all the facts about what Leyton had done and to which extent his paranoia went.
Leyton had some good ideas and should have stopped at upgrading all Starfleet ships and all UFP worlds orbital defenses and leave everything else as is - aka, no martial law or forced blood screenings (or effectively changing people's lives and turning them into a nightmare - the very nightmare humanity lived in BEFORE First Contact).

Presumably in the event that any Federation worlds attempted to resist his authority after the coup was successful, it would be easier to subjugate them with the same old outdated defenses. Which would help sell his coup as a necessity to the civilian population. "See how quickly your defenses crippled against an Excelsior class starship? Now imagine if a Dominion invasion fleet were attacking instead."

Honestly, that doesn't make sense to me.
I genuinely think the writers created yet another plot hole (but so many people think DS9 is 'flawless' that its almost impossible to make them see it).
What would be Leyton's goal here? After achieving all needed power in SOL (where capital of UFP is located), he could simply ORDER Betazed and all other UFP worlds to fully upgrade their defenses and fleets... there would be no need to make a demonstration of any kind.
He needed that kind of demonstration on Earth to instill fear into the populace and seize power, but after getting that done, his job would have been pretty much done and all he'd have to do is send out a general order to fully modernize all ships and defenses (which if the writers had ANY sense would have had UFP do anyway because for such an organization to survive for as long as it did, it kind of needs to maintain and keep up with the times, otherwise they risk getting severely left behind in a potentially dangerous galaxy and universe at large - and UFP was already in operation for hundreds of years to know better (aka, not get complacent... sure, preserve existing way of life and emphasize preservation of life, equality, everything they stand for., but you also stand a better chance at protecting yourself in the process while doing necessary upgrades of ships and defenses [without militarizing itself in the process] as you know that life doesn't stand still and potential enemies CAN develop lethal weapons which could kill you, so you want to prepare, but not necessarily USE your upgraded systems - only use them for self-defense as originally intended... case closed - and you can use those upgrades to vastly improve exploration capabilities)

Common sense... its sorely missing from A LOT of Trek (Ds9 included).
 
Leyton may have had plenty of ways of finding out, but despite him being an Admiral, we have seen that not all Admirals are privy to sensitive information and can also be duped.
But again, Leyton was presumably very high up the Starfleet food chain, possibly even the chief of staff since he's the one meeting with the President on a regular basis and he doesn't answer to any other Starfleet admiral at all. If he were chief of staff, then there shouldn't be anything in Starfleet that would be classified from him.
After achieving all needed power in SOL (where capital of UFP is located), he could simply ORDER Betazed and all other UFP worlds to fully upgrade their defenses and fleets... there would be no need to make a demonstration of any kind.
It wouldn't be that simple at all. After seizing power, there would very likely be planets in the Federation who would refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of a government run by a Starfleet Admiral who illegally removed the sitting President from office, and therefore they aren't going to do what he orders them to just because he's in charge. A show of force would be necessary to get those planets in line.
 
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