Why Sisko?

[BillJ]

What was Starfleet's reason for assigning Sisko to Deep Space Nine?

Far as I can remember, he had a much deeper background in engineering (working on the Defiant project prior to DS9) than in command. While Deep Space Nine was a backwater assignment, it was on the border of a former foe with an uneasy peace. A foe who hadn't seemed particularly trustworthy up to that point.

It just seems that the Bajor system could've easily become a flashpoint of renewed hostility and Starfleet placed someone there who has little personal knowledge on the situation.

I just would've thought that Starfleet would've chosen a more politically experienced officer for the assignment.

 

[Finn]

Because he is the Sisko. That's it, really.

 

[BillJ]

Because he is the Sisko. That's it, really.

I was looking more towards what Starfleet's rational was.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Do you think that they felt another engineer would be necessary to make the station function without falling apart?

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

I just saw Homefront/Paradise Lost. Admiral Leyton had a hand in Sisko's assignment to DS9. Leyton had been grooming Sisko for command on the Okinawa, and had made The Sisko his exec, so there was some command qualification on his part. So, there's that.

Also, I think Starfleet intended Sisko to be more of an administrator, and felt that he should answer to Starfleet superiors and Federation diplomats more than make his own command decisions regarding diplomacy. His engineering background would however, be ideal for getting things together on a broken-ass Cardassian space station.

 

[od0_ital]

First, while Sisko's background was in engineering, he was on the command track at the time of the Saratoga's destruction (he was the ship's first officer). So, he had the rank.

Second, goin' by Jadzia Dax's comments, Sisko's career had stalled out after Wolf 359. Sisko had friends in the admirality, Leyton, for example. Maybe some of his former COs had a pow wow & decided to give Ben a kick in the ass.

Didn't Leyton say someting to that affect in 'Homefront/Paradise Lost'?

Third, DS9 was a backwater assignment. Yes, it was close to the Cardassian border, but it wasn't the only station along the border, and the assignment of the Enterprise-D to the area for big missions showed Starfleet had an idea on how to deal with patrols.

So, it was a cheap, relatively easy assignment to send an officer to get his shit together - a backwater to give him one last chance to reach his potential...and then the bastard went & discovered a damn stable wormhole!!!

 

[Balrog]

He fit the suit?

 

[od0_ital]

Not like Q showed up, looked Sisko over & said, "I thought Riker would get this command..."

 

[SchwEnt]

I can see why Sisko got the command.
But afterwards, I wanna know why they kept him.

As mentioned, at first it was a broken down abandoned station in a backwater area. Fair enough, Sisko can handle the assignment.

After the wormhole is discovered and Bajor/DS9 become strategic locations in the quadrant, I'd think Starfleet might decide an admiral or more experienced officer take command of the station and the situation. Everything changed after the wormhole was discovered and I can imagine Starfleet re-evaluating its command in the area.

Oh sure Sisko proved more than capable of handling it.
But he surely didn't have much confidence in himself or the assignment at the beginning.

I guess the only thing that saved him in those early days was his standing as emissary. Starfleet may have wanted someone more experienced, but not at the risk of pissing off the Bajorans by re-assigning the Sisko.

 

[Jono]

^ I think that point was pretty much voiced by the admiral in "Rapture".

 

[CaptainStoner]

I guess the only thing that saved him in those early days was his standing as emissary. Starfleet may have wanted someone more experienced, but not at the risk of pissing off the Bajorans by re-assigning the Sisko.

That was a big factor and I remember Starfleet commenting on that.
There's really no one more uniquely qualified for that post than Sisko. You've got Captains with more years in the big chair, but none with the combination of experimental engineering, command, and unique and delicate relations with the Bajorans.

 

[Balrog]

I would think Kai Opaka and the Bajorans probably had a strong voice in having Sisko stay.

 

[od0_ital]

^

After he got there, sure...but not before Starfleet even sent him to Bajor to begin with.

 

[indolover]

Picard had said to Sisko that he was ready for a greater challenge. Perhaps Starfleet Command had seen Sisko as a Riker-esque officer, in the sense he was up and coming, had friends in Starfleet's top brass and had the potential for command. It made sense, since Sisko was an XO on two ships prior to being CO of DS9.

As for why he was chosen for DS9, well perhaps initially (prior to the wormhole discovery) Sisko had the competences to make the mission work. DS9 may have needed some engineering know-how to get it running. Perhaps simply Starfleet Command wanted somebody fresh, as Bajor was not a key Starfleet assignment at the time, and hardly key in Federation foreign policy (not like patrolling the Neutral Zone for example).

 

[Skywalker]

Nevermind why they chose Sisko, who was the genius who decided to put a Commander in charge of an entire space station? He should have been a Commodore.

 

[od0_ital]

^

TNG 'Starship Mine' showed that lieutenant commanders are givin' command of bases in Starfleet.

Maybe in the TOS days, Sisko would have been a commodore, but not in the 24th century....

 

[SchwEnt]

I like that originally Sisko was a commander. Nice change.
A full Commander is a fairly high rank, at least IRL.
Commanders can easily hold CO positions in any number of posts.

So it depends on how we wanna consider DS9.
An outpost? An ore processing facility? A starbase? A strategic sector command post? An old abandoned backwater station?

Maybe they should have had a commodore or admiral commanding the overall Bajor sector, with Sisko as station commander (like an admiral aboard a flagship commanding the fleet while the captain commands the vessel).

 

[Skywalker]

TNG 'Starship Mine' showed that lieutenant commanders are givin' command of bases in Starfleet.

Maybe in the TOS days, Sisko would have been a commodore, but not in the 24th century....

I know why he was a commander (TPTW were stupid), but a space station of Deep Space Nine's size and strategic importance should not have been put in the hands of someone of such a low rank. You're right that Sisko might have been a commodore in the TOS days; at least back then you had people in charge who had a better understanding of military rank structures.

Ha! I say that, and I'm nowhere close to being a TOS purist. Must be the military brat in me.

 

[od0_ital]

^

Size, maybe, but really, how strategic was it when Starfleet sent Sisko out there?

If Bajor were really that important to the Federation, they'd have sent Starfleet in rather than wait for the Cardassians to call it quits & leave...

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

TNG 'Starship Mine' showed that lieutenant commanders are givin' command of bases in Starfleet.

Maybe in the TOS days, Sisko would have been a commodore, but not in the 24th century....

I know why he was a commander (TPTW were stupid), but a space station of Deep Space Nine's size and strategic importance should not have been put in the hands of someone of such a low rank. You're right that Sisko might have been a commodore in the TOS days; at least back then you had people in charge who had a better understanding of military rank structures.

Ha! I say that, and I'm nowhere close to being a TOS purist. Must be the military brat in me.

How big was DS9, though, compared to the starbases we usually saw from the Federation? Wouldn't DS9 be a little closer to K-7 or something like that? Of course, K-7 was built by Starfleet but run by civilians. But it doesn't look anywhere near the size--at least by my guess--as the kinds of stations we saw commodores running. Nor does DS9.