Federation Commissioners

[Bry_Sinclair]

In "Metamorphosis" we were introduced to Nancy Hedford, an Assistant Federation Commissioner. It's been a while since I last saw the episode but was there any information given about what Commissioners actual do? Are they merely diplomats with a different title, or are they more of a government employee (someone appointed to a position by the Federation Council)?

Also what kind of authority do they have? Would a Commissioner be able to issue orders to Starfleet personnel, command an outpost, etc?

 

[Timo]

All the Commissioners felt they had the right to tell Kirk what to do - but conveniently only within the confines of the mission at hand (meaning we got little indication of the true extent of their powers). This would mesh very nicely with one particular usage of the title, one I'm also familiar with by accident of birth: the "Russian Commissioner" or Commissary, who is simply "a government official charged with oversight".

Commissaries were/are appointed for specific tasks ranging from the global and stately to the local and mundane. A typical assignment might be that of a Police Commissary (a title still used here in Finland, but also in e.g. France), basically the same as Police Commissioner. It is in Russian/Soviet use that Commissary would have seen its widest application, though. And the UFP usage appears very similar: "a person who gets the job done, by whatever means necessary", for any value of "job". The Russian Connection just gives the title an ominous echo, with all the negative overtones of political oversight. But that's again in keeping with the dramatic role of the Commissioner in Star Trek...

In theory, a Commissioner/Commissary might be appointed to command a military installation. Especially in polities where the roles of the police and the military are blurred - once again a trademark of Star Trek!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Thank you @Timo.

Very succinctly put. I'm toying with having a civilian official in some authoritative role and was wondering if a Commissioner would fill it, and by the sounds of that then they would.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Commissioners were basically the highest-ranking Federation official in a given area.

 

[Timo]

Two of the Commissioners in TOS were dealing with diplomatic issues - Hetford in "Metamorphosis" and an unnamed official in "Elaan of Troyius" were both mediating on a crisis. Perhaps the reason Commissioners rather than Ambassadors were sent is because the crises involved UFP rather than foreign assets? Elas and Troyius were UFP protectorates of some sort, and we know nothing about the Canaris worlds that would contradict the speculation.

Ferris of "The Galileo Seven" fame wasn't particularly diplomatic. Was he in charge of saving the UFP colonists from the disease? In charge of generally managing those colonies? In charge of managing medicine deliveries in general? The narrower his role, the more justifiable his antics, in dramatic and practical terms...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[J.T.B.]

In "Metamorphosis" we were introduced to Nancy Hedford, an Assistant Federation Commissioner. It's been a while since I last saw the episode but was there any information given about what Commissioners actual do? Are they merely diplomats with a different title, or are they more of a government employee (someone appointed to a position by the Federation Council)?

I always assumed an "assistant commissioner" was under a "high commissioner" like Ferris in "The Galileo Seven." Real world, I think high commissioner was created for someone with the status and powers similar to an ambassador but not necessarily involving international relations. So British Commonwealth nations send high commissioners to each other because technically they have the same head of state (the Queen), and the UN uses high commissioners for a couple of high level agencies.

Also what kind of authority do they have? Would a Commissioner be able to issue orders to Starfleet personnel, command an outpost, etc?

Real world, a high commissioner is very high up the chain. They get a salute of 19 guns, a four-star admiral gets 17. Of course their civilian status doesn't give them authority to give military orders, but if a ship's captain has orders to help them carry out a mission, they are naturally going to have some input. In general terms, they could tell the captain what they want done, but not how to do it. "The Galileo Seven" and "A Taste of Armageddon" cover the issue pretty well, I'd say.

 

[Tenacity]

Would a Commissioner be able to issue orders to Starfleet personnel

Nancy Hedford apparently had the power to order Captain Kirk not to shove her out the air lock when she wouldn't stop endlessly bitching.

A commissioner might be granted limited power to issue mission objectives to a commanding officer, but that wouldn't necessarily mean that she could legally order a crewman in a corridor to carry out a task.

 

[Timo]

Somehow Ambassador Fox managed to get beamed down to Eminiar despite the temporary CO of the ship (who also happened to be a transporter expert) carefully keeping watch against such a thing happening... The average crewman in a corridor might not be knowledgeable in the finer points of UFP legislation, and might not realize he isn't supposed to do this civilian's bidding.

Of course, Fox did seem to be within his rights to order Starfleet personnel around on matters big and small. Refusal supposedly was a criminal offense, and Scotty skipped a therapy session in the Neural Neutralizer only because he helped save Fox' life later on. Would the same hold true for Commissioners? Hard to tell, as none of those actually threatened Kirk's crew with penal brainwashing. But there was a clause allowing High Commissioner Ferris to assume command to the extent of being able to give Kirk direct orders that negated Kirk's authority as the CO of the vessel. Surely Kirk disobeying Fox under those circumstances would also have been a punishable offense - but probably in a different court.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The Commissioners were in charge of calling Batman.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I always thought TOS used "commissioner" just because it sounds official and kind of badass. Nobody really knows what 'commissioners' actually DO, so they can be whatever the plot requires!