Strategic Operations Officer

[Shamrock Holmes]

When Worf came to DS9, Sisko assigned him as Strategic Operations Officer. My question is, did someone else (Kira or Dax most likely) have that role prior, or was it a new position? Also, was it specific to DS9, due to it being a mostly Starfleet station but outside Federation territory, or do all starbases (and maybe any permenant fleets) have someone in that role.

Shamrock Holmes
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Strategic_operations_officer

 

[nx1701g]

The position of Strategic Operations Officer was a new position onboard the station from what we were led to believe; however, there is nothing that spells out there wasn't someone serving the role previously.

Inferring from the episodes it seems that each sector has a Strategic Operations Officer. He/she coordinates all Starfleet Operations within a particular sector of space. Additionally, this officer works as a Senior Tactical Officer and works with Security and Tactical matters as needed. This position also seems to be an intelligence role as - from dialogue in an episode where Worf was off the station - Doctor Bashir had to take over Worf's intelligence duties because he was one of the few on the station with a suitable clearance level.

 

[Navaros]

I don't see why Sisko himself wouldn't always fulfill that role. It's his job to decide strategy and coordinate Starfleet activity, not Worf.

"Strategic Operations Officer" is IMO just a BS position that they fabricated because TPTB told them they had to put Worf on the show and hence they had to shoehorn him in yet had no legitimate position to give him.

Although if I were a showrunner I would have made him "Klingon Liason Officer" since at least that position would have had a modicum of legitimacy by fulfilling a role that wasn't already taken care of by the existing crew members.

 

[JB2005]

I think the Job Description would read something like:

"We need a job for worf."
"Security Officer?"
"We've Got One"
"Operations Officer"
"Not Very Military"
"Strategic Operations Officer?"
"God damn it we've done it again!"

I would have believed him as Eddington's replacement myself...

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

"Strategic Operations Officer" was merely Worf's title. We didn't actually see him "coordinate Starfleet activity" in any episode (would have been pretty boring anyway).

In reality, he alternated between being third-in-command of DS9, acting/relief security officer of DS9, first officer of the Defiant, commanding officer of the Defiant, tactical officer of the Defiant, and first officer of the Rotarran.

 

[Sykonee]

Keep in mind too, that Starfleet didn't have as heavy a presence in the sector at the beginning of the series as it did upon Worf's arrival, so a Strategic Operations officer's duties could probably be multi-tasked by others, maybe even Kira. Since Starfleet's business in the sector continued to grow from S3 on, the workload would undoubtedly increase until an official S.O. was required. If Worf hadn't come along, chances are Eddington would have been the go-to guy for that.

 

[Timo]

Of course, we soon saw Worf run into jurisdiction problems, supporting the theory that "SOO" was merely a make-work title invented to justify Worf's presence. When he tried to "coordinate Starfleet law enforcement operations in the sector", Odo claimed Worf was stepping on his toes - which makes no sense, because Odo was trying to infiltrate a wide interstellar crime ring while apparently only being a humble sheriff in the Bajoran system, while Worf by his mandate should have been able to roam the galaxy on police errands.

It makes sense that Sisko would have to find a politically acceptable excuse for having Worf aboard. Klingons were supposed to be allies; it would simply not do to bring aboard a person openly helping Starfleet work against the Klingon Empire. As far as we know, the only time there had been a "Klingon liaison" in Starfleet before was in TNG "The Emissary", where K'Ehleyr's job was to get a shipful of Klingons killed so that UPF interests would be protected!

Hence, "Strategic Operations Officer" as the title of the important anti-Klingon consulting officer...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[arch101]

Worf's new job was certainly a step up in responsibility from Security Chief of a single starship. Makes his later "demotion" in the last films all the more ludicrous.

 

[Jerikka Dawn]

I don't see why Sisko himself wouldn't always fulfill that role. It's his job to decide strategy and coordinate Starfleet activity, not Worf.

"Strategic Operations Officer" is IMO just a BS position that they fabricated because TPTB told them they had to put Worf on the show and hence they had to shoehorn him in yet had no legitimate position to give him.

Although if I were a showrunner I would have made him "Klingon Liason Officer" since at least that position would have had a modicum of legitimacy by fulfilling a role that wasn't already taken care of by the existing crew members.

It makes perfect sense to me that the duties of Strategic Operations Officer would have been carried out by Sisko before Worf's appointment.

With the Dominion threat and the increased strategic value of the sector, it's obvious that Sisko's plate would have been filled up with more things, and also that the duties of managing strategic operations for the sector would have been made more refined, so it would seem natural, to me, to open up a new position for someone that Sisko could delegate these responsibilities to and still report to Sisko.

After Worf's appointment, I always saw Worf as Sisko's XO with regard to Starfleet matters and Kira as his XO with regard to Bajoran matters.

The situation changed, so the line-up of responsibilities and officers had to change.

Happens all the time in the real world in business.

 

[Anticitizen]

Worf came around right about the time the Dominion conflict began. Before that time, there weren't really any 'strategic operations' that needed officiating.

 

[Red Ranger]

Well, at first blush, it seems TPTB created this to justify having Worf on board the station. However, you can kind of "retcon" the importance of the stratetic operations officer position given the Dominion threat, the resurgence of a hostile Klingon Empire, and DSN's importance being at the entrance to the only known stable wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant. That's how I always justified it in my mind. And Worf got to wear command red again! -- RR

 

[Anticitizen]

Also, at the time, the Klingons were being antagonistic, so having a Klingon aboard in a strategic role could be valuable.

 

[PorthosShadow]

In the world of Star Trek its never really been clear just who does what. There are exceptions, we know what a Doctor or an engineer does. Those are pretty self explanatory but what are a science officer's duties or a second officers. From to time we see them working but most of the time its best left unsaid. I think its probably because most of their duties don't make for dramatic Television or even semi interesting Television.

What all those people in Starfleet do all day long is akin to how they operate their computers. I as a fan may not understand how they are doing it or even what they are doing but I assume it works. Put it another way, you have to be there. I think the same goes for what they do on any given day.

 

[cultcross]

Worf's new job was certainly a step up in responsibility from Security Chief of a single starship. Makes his later "demotion" in the last films all the more ludicrous.

Not really - Worf was also Tactical Officer on board the Enterprise. And if the usage of the terms 'tactical' and 'strategic' are used in the way that the UK government uses them (the only thing I'm familiar with, sadly ), 'strategic' is simply one level of planning broader than 'tactical'.
Your SOO prepares a strategy,
Then ship or fleet Tactical Officers come up with tactics to implement it,
Then front-line officers actually implement the tactics operationally.

 

[Timo]

...To muddle this particular argument further, what was Worf's job description in those "later movies"?

In ST:FC, Worf is picked up after completing a job he was doing all the time on DS9, too: commanding the Defiant. That doesn't sound like a promotion or a demotion to me.

In ST:INS, the Dominion War, and thus DS9 the TV show, seems to be in the recent past, and Worf is basically aboard as a mere passenger, again picked up under a "plot convenience" clause. He does random jobs but is never addressed as an officer of any particular position. Even when he's late from his bridge shift, the matter is one of humorous irrelevance, and there seem to be plenty of high-ranking officers to do the various jobs (Security, Tactical, Communications, Stating Out The Obvious When Deanna Is Absent) Worf used to do in TNG.

In ST:NEM, Worf again seems to join an impromptu entourage, this time the Troi wedding party. He could still be the important ambassador that the final episode of DS9 was supposed to make of him.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[nx1701g]

^ If you listen closely as he's talking you can make out part of what Worf is saying in Insurrection. He says that he was at the Manzar Colony establishing the Defense Perimeter there. That sounds like the job of a strategist.

 

[Timo]

Uh? That'd depend on what Worf did in terms of "establishing" these defenses. If he designed and built fortifications according to operational instructions from higher up, he doesn't sound much like a strategist. If he were more like Rommel in WWII, supervising the Atlantic Wall fortifications with considerable latitude and with broad authority on moving the point of emphasis around between the Bay of Biscay and the Nordkap, then there could be a strategic element to it.

But why would the strategic operations officer of the Bajoran sector be involved in any of this stuff? Was Evora, the planet Picard was sent to convert to the UFP cause, somewhere near Bajor?

For all we know, it may have been in exactly that direction. After all, space around Bajor was "neutral" before Sisko came, and any planet in the region no doubt saw Cardassian, Klingon, Federation and Dominion influence constantly seesawing the strategically important volume of space. It would be important to gain solid allies or members in that region after the end of the war, to get a foothold in the former no-man's-land.

Still, a guy tasked with coordinating operations in the sector would be doing a rather poor job if he left his office for a specific sub-project and neglected the rest of the sector...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[anti-matter]

Didn't Dax tell Sisko only a Klingon could deal with Klingons? Worf was a hired gun specially assigned to deal with other Klingons... so the title is fitting.

Kira was 1st officer Dax was Science Officer. Between the 3 of them and Odo they could deal with most threats but the Klingons needed a full time babysitter.

 

[Navaros]

Didn't Dax tell Sisko only a Klingon could deal with Klingons? Worf was a hired gun specially assigned to deal with other Klingons... so the title is fitting.

Kira was 1st officer Dax was Science Officer. Between the 3 of them and Odo they could deal with most threats but the Klingons needed a full time babysitter.

These are good points. These points make me wonder why they even bothered fabricating a bogus "Strategic Operations Officer" title for Worf. One minute he's brought on to be a liason with the Klingons, then by the end of the episode all of a sudden he is given totally unnecessary and completely irrelevant duties to that task , when none of that needed to be included. It would have made far more sense if they just left Worf as a Klingon liason and didn't even try to add any nonsense to that role on top of it.

 

[dHunter333]

there was a deleted in scene in nemesis that explains why worf quit being the ambassador to quo'nos (end of ds9)
it was boring or what not so he went back to being chief of security on the enterprise


really was a bad idea to cut it

i am not sure if it is available as a dvd extra
please let me know