The worst of the Villians

[Prax]

Unless section 31 has a hotline to "future guy"(I suppose it's actually possible that they are using some technology to learn of future events), I'm not convinced that their plan was to kill the founders, but merely find a way to stop them from shapeshifting. The threat at the time was changeling infiltrators, not armies of Jem Hadar, or an intergalactic war.

 

[PR109]

I think people have a hard time accepting that Section 31 are just not good people. I understand some of their decisions but most of the time they just show who they truly are. They are pretty much the shadow government. We have to stop finding excuses to make them seem "noble" like the federation. Humans are just as nasty as klingons, cardassians and romulans.

 

[Prax]

I don't think it's all that clear. If Section 31 are "just bad people," then so is Starfleet. The Admiral in "Improbable Cause" was hoping the Cardassians would be successful in wiping out the founders. Starfleet command authorized Sisko to defraud the Romulan government to drag them into a war that would cost them millions, and condoned everything that happened in the operation. Admiral Ross, the alleged "Goodmiral" helped Section 31 put a terrible Romulan in power, because he secretly worked for Starfleet. Bashir deduces that dozens and dozens of people at Starfleet medical had to have been involved to create the virus and give it to Odo.

If DS9 has shown anything, it's that unlike TNG, Federation principles aren't enough to keep the Federation alive. S31, in this show and in ENT, are not depicted as purely "bad people."

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I don't think it's all that clear. If Section 31 are "just bad people," then so is Starfleet. The Admiral in "Improbable Cause" was hoping the Cardassians would be successful in wiping out the founders. Starfleet command authorized Sisko to defraud the Romulan government to drag them into a war that would cost them millions, and condoned everything that happened in the operation. Admiral Ross, the alleged "Goodmiral" helped Section 31 put a terrible Romulan in power, because he secretly worked for Starfleet. Bashir deduces that dozens and dozens of people at Starfleet medical had to have been involved to create the virus and give it to Odo.

If DS9 has shown anything, it's that unlike TNG, Federation principles aren't enough to keep the Federation alive. S31, in this show and in ENT, are not depicted as purely "bad people."

The question really comes down to does section 31 have anyone who would refuse to do immoral things (and if so, do such people have any real influence on the organization). Starfleet having bad apples doesn't prove 31 has good apples. I'm not sure off the top of my head if anyone from ENT would qualify. DSC probably could - Tyler at least, although he's new and untested still - but DSC feels like a complete and total retcon to me where Sec. 31 is concerned. They've taken a top secret black ops organization that isn't even to supposed to officially exist and transformed it into the Federation's CIA - pretty transparently in preparation for the idea of devoting an entire series to the organization (because it's just an easier sell if you can claim what they do is totally normal and legal).