Section 31
- Underground Federation intelligence agency
- Originated with Earth Starfleet (ENT: "Affliction", "Divergence"; ENT Novel: The Good That Men Do)
- Official justification for existence drawn from Article 14, Section 31 of the Starfleet Charter (as inherited from the same portion of Earth Starfleet's charter) (ENT: "Divergence"; ENT Novel: The Good That Men Do)
- No association with Starfleet Intelligence
- Small cell-based organization
- Intermittent operations
- Instituted only when necessary due to astropolitical conditions, dispersed and left fallow otherwise to prevent discovery
- Three known eras of operation
- First era: December 2150 - March 2166
- First instituted as a successor to off-book security operations undergone by Matthew Harris in 2140s (ENT Novel: Patterns of Interference)
- Incorporated by the AI Uraei, who proceeded to induct Harris and associates (ENT Novel: Patterns of Interference; S31 Novel: Control)
- Drawn from agents in Starfleet Security, Starfleet Intelligence, and United Earth's ESA (ENT Novel: Patterns of Interference)
- Continued to be limited to UESPA following establishment of Federation (ENT Novel: Patterns of Interference)
- Estimated at 10 core decision-makers, 24 field agents as of January 2166 (ENT Novel: Patterns of Interference)
- Publicly revealed, prosecuted by Starfleet JAG, Federation Department of Justice March 2166 (ENT Novel: Patterns of Interference)
- Until 2386 revelations, known simply as a conspiracy instigated independently by Harris (ENT Novel: Patterns of Interference)
- Second era: 2260s - 2300s
- Third era: 2350s - 2386
- Actions largely directed by Admiral William Ross (unwittingly) under direction of Uraei (TNG Novel: Available Light)
- Permanently decommissioned upon public revelation of existence 2386 (S31 Novel: Control)
- Arrests and prosecution of agents begun late July 2386 (TNG Novel: Available Light)
- Related records