Third Echelon
Other Name(s)	3rd Echelon, 3E, 3ECH
Formed	2003[1] (or 1990s in E[2])
Jurisdiction	United States / Worldwide
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Operations	Information retrieval and analysis Information warfare Data analysis and mining Covert Ops
Director	Irving Lambert (2003 - 2008) (KIA) (initial) Lawrence Williams (2008 - 2010) Anna Grímsdóttir (2010 - 2011) Tom Reed (2011) (KIA) Anna Grímsdóttir (2011 - Present)
Advisors	Anna Grímsdóttir Vernon Wilkes, Jr. (KIA) Frances Coen Dermot P. Brunton William Redding
Agents	See Splinter Cell
Parent Agency	National Security Agency
Status	Active
Appearances	All Splinter Cell games

"Let Vigilance Be Our Sword"
— Third Echelon's motto

"Third Echelon was founded on the principles of covert information gathering through physical infiltration."
— Irving Lambert discusses Third Echelon's creation and how it helped the U.S.

Third Echelon (sometimes spelled 3rd Echelon, abbreviated as 3E and 3ECH) is a top-secret sub-branch within the various intelligence branches of the National Security Agency (NSA) established in 2003^[3] (or the 1990s according to the novels and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Essentials). Its position within the U.S. intelligence community is at the forefront in the War on Information.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Background 3 "Splinter Cell" Program 3.1 The First Splinter Cell 4 SHADOWNET 5 Personnel 5.1 Third Echelon Team 5.1.1 Operations Coordinator 5.1.2 Communications Lead 5.1.3 Field Runner 5.1.4 Other Field Runners 5.2 Other Third Echelon personnel 6 Base of Operations 6.1 Training 7 Transportation 8 Cyberterrorism/information warfare 9 Operations 9.1 1999: NATO bombings of Yugoslavia 9.2 2004: Georgian Information Crisis 9.3 2006: Indonesia Crisis/Biological Warfare 9.4 2007: NYC Cyber Attacks/East Asian Crisis 9.4.1 Hallucinogenic Experiments 9.5 2008: JBA Crisis/Red Mercury Incident 9.6 2009: The Fisher Investigation 9.7 2011: Third Echelon Conspiracy 10 Operations (novels) 10.1 2003: Checkmate 10.2 2005: Babylon Phoenix Crisis 10.3 2006: MRUUV Incident 10.4 2008: Fallout 10.5 2009/10: The Search for Sam Fisher 10.6 2015: Sea of Okhotsk 11 See Also 12 Notes 13 References

Overview Edit

Third Echelon is a top-secret directorate tasked with spearheading the American information warfare initiative. Its primary goal is to serve as the equivalent of Special Forces in the modern age of information warfare. Its most significant initiative is the "Splinter Cell" program in which lone operatives, called "Splinter Cells", do field work in sensitive areas around the world. Their work is the blackest of black ops, retrieving the most vital intelligence and acting on it in ways that other operatives cannot. Unlike the CIA's field operatives, their identities are kept secret, even from other government agencies. Initiated with a single operative, Sam Fisher, the "Splinter Cell" program had been expanded under the direction of the organization's third and former director, Tom Reed.

When intelligence deemed critical to national security cannot be obtained by traditional means, Third Echelon is granted clearance to conduct physical operations. No longer filtering the world through satellites and antennas, Third Echelon's "Splinter Cell" agents are sent to physically infiltrate dangerous and sensitive enemy locations to collect the required intelligence by whatever means necessary. Their prime directive is to conduct their operations while remaining invisible to the public eye. They're authorized to work outside the boundaries of international treaties, but the U.S. will neither acknowledge nor support their operations. Officially, Third Echelon and its agents do not exist.

Third Echelon marks a return to more "classical" methods of espionage powered by the latest technology for the aggressive collection of information. In other words, it goes back to the grueling world of human spies operating out in the field, risking their lives for the sake of capturing a photograph, recording a conversation or copying a computer hard drive. Splinter Cell operatives are recruited from the U.S. Special Forces communities of the Navy, Army, Marine Corps and Air Force. They are then shaped into the "ultimate covert soldiers": specially-trained individuals capable of not only working alone in hostile environments, but of doing so without leaving a trace. Like a sliver of glass, a Splinter Cell is small, sharp, and nearly invisible. Thus, Third Echelon, a sub-agency of the NSA, consists of an elite team of strategists, hackers, and field operatives that work together as a team to respond to crises of information warfare with the highest degree of secrecy humanly possible.

Background Edit

The NSA is the signals intelligence (SIGINT) and cryptologic establishment of the United States. Primarily tasked with the conduct of SIGINT in all its forms, the NSA can and does intercept and analyze every form of communication known to man, from cellphone signals and e-mail messages, to microwave emissions, to ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) burst transmissions from submarines thousands of feet beneath the surface of the ocean. It coordinates, directs and performs highly specialized activities to protect U.S. information systems and produce foreign intelligence reports. Since it's on the edge of communications and data processing, the NSA is naturally a very high-tech operation. For decades, the NSA has engaged in the 'passive' collection of moving data by intercepting communications en route.

The First Echelon was a worldwide network of international intelligence agencies and interceptors that seized communications signals and routed them back to the NSA for analysis. It was a network vital to the United States' efforts during the Cold War. As the Soviet Union disintegrated and communications evolved, high technology became the name of the game.^[4]

The NSA created Second Echelon, which focused entirely on this new breed of communications technology. Unfortunately, the immense volume of information combined with the accelerated pace of developing technology and encryption overwhelmed Second Echelon. NSA experienced its first system-wide crash.^[5]

As communications became more digital and sophisticated encryption became more expansive, passive collection simply was rendered inefficient. To address this, the NSA launched a top-secret initiative in 2003. Hoping to bridge the chasm between simply gathering actionable intelligence and acting on that intelligence, the NSA was directed by special Presidential charter to form Third Echelon, its own in-house covert operations unit created specifically to physically obtain intelligence in locations where all other means were exhausted.^[6]

"Splinter Cell" Program Edit

The following section is an overview of Third Echelon's black-ops training program. For more informationn, see Splinter Cell):

When critical intelligence cannot be obtained by passive means, Third Echelon resolves the situation by conducting so-called "physical operations" — a euphemism for direct action. To do so, they introduced the "Splinter Cell" program, which was created to produce an elite recon-type unit comprised of highly-trained covert soldiers and deploy them to areas deemed either too sensitive or too risky for traditional entities such as the CIA or standard Special Forces, then utilize them to assess and access information vital to the security of the United States.

These units, individually known as "Splinter Cells", are small, elite intelligence-gathering forces consisting of a lone field operative supported by a high-tech remote team. They are used in situations where more than one operative - even though highly secret - would arouse too much attention. They infiltrate secure installations, seize critical intelligence, destroy dangerous data or equipment and neutralize the enemy as needed, without leaving a trace. The doctrine of Third Echelon is that although killing may compromise secrecy, "the choice between leaving a witness or a corpse is no choice at all".

The field operatives of the Splinter Cell program are very unusual people, even when compared with "ordinary" special operators or "ordinary" spies without official cover. They have extraordinary training and skill, are mind-numbingly precise, they deal with grave stress and risk and are aware that a single mistake could be fatal to them. Due to the complexities of their operations, they undergo rigorous and very extensive additional training, beyond their special forces background. Stealth skills and hand-to-hand combat skills are stressed, due to the fact that they must remain invisible while conducting extremely close quarters covert operations. Splinter Cell operatives are capable of moving through areas completely undetected, by both human and electronic means.

Due to political establishment, sometimes triggering a single alarm can mean mission failure, depending on the importance of the particular mission at hand. When an enemy is encountered, these agents need to be able to silence them quickly and quietly. They receive excellent hand-to-hand combat training, which is vital when snatching specific targets or seeking to extract intel from guards. In close combat situations, Splinter Cells express great control and skill when applying such techniques. What can be assumed is that their combat training is centered around remaining silent while engaging.

The original Splinter Cell program was conceived with a single field agent, although as of 2007, an NSA official indicated that at least two-man squads were being used. These agents have the ability to operate in a manner that is referred to as the "Fifth Freedom" - the freedom to do whatever is deemed necessary to protect the Four Freedoms, seen as cornerstones of American moral thought, as defined in one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous speeches. Roosevelt articulated these as "freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear." Under the (unofficial) Fifth Freedom, an operative may disregard any law, agreement or framework of ethical behavior in order to protect the four. For example, the operative may kill in combat or by assassination, torture or kidnap people, deploy on U.S. soil, spy on other U.S. government agencies, et cetera. The downside is that if an operative is captured or killed, the U.S. government will disavow them - either by claiming that the person has gone rogue or by denying that they even existed.

Mission objectives and locations vary, but a Splinter Cell's basic goal is to infiltrate the area of operations (AO), complete any objectives assigned and then extract without being detected. Special Reconnaissance (SR) is their core competency.

As of 2011, the Splinter Cell program was extended under the management of former Tom Reed. Its new role was to turn these covert soldiers into "shock troops" and used them to capture one of their own: Sam Fisher. It is unknown how many members of the program there are after the Indonesian Crisis. Though it is heavily suggested in reports that between the JBA Crisis and the Third Echelon Conspiracy there might be more than a dozen.

Splinter Cells' prime directives are as follows:

• To aggressively collect intelligence vital to U.S. security.
• To protect critical U.S. information systems.
• To keep all operations invisible to the public eye.
• To work outside the boundaries of international treaties, but know that the U.S. will neither acknowledge nor support their operations. Unofficial Fifth Freedom.

The First Splinter Cell Edit

The first official and notable recruit of the Splinter Cell program was former Navy SEAL and CIA operative Sam Fisher, a highly-decorated veteran of numerous armed conflicts during and following the Cold War who returned to active service in 2004 after retiring sometime in 1996.

Name: Samuel "Sam" Fisher

Born: 1957, Towson, Maryland

Rank: Lieutenant Commander (USN-Ret.)

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 170 lbs

Status: Retired.

Main article: Sam Fisher

Profile: Sam Fisher was a decorated Navy SEAL (ST-3, DEVGRU/JSOC) and a CIA operative within the SAD (SOG) when he was selected as the initial candidate for Third Echelon's newly-created "Splinter Cell" program, where he subsequently became the black-ops program's first field operative. In 1985, Fisher fathered his only child, Sarah (born May 31), with his wife Regan Burns; the pair divorced soon after (Sarah retained her mother's maiden name). Regan later died of ovarian cancer sometime after 1991.

Following a highly decorated career in the U.S. Navy, where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, Fisher retired from active duty in 1996 but was drawn back into service by close friend and Third Echelon director Irving Lambert in 2004. The Gulf War veteran is noted as being an expert in the art of stealth and trained in various infiltration and interrogation techniques. Years of combat and espionage have shaped him into a highly intelligent tactician. Although he is not a blind idealist, Fisher has dedicated his life to service in an effort to promote positive change worldwide, even at the expense of his personal life.

SHADOWNET Edit

The following section is a overview of "SHADOWNET", which is now part of the Splinter Cell program. For more information, see SHADOWNET.

In 2006, a team-based program called SHADOWNET was launched by NSA analyst Dermot Paul "D.P." Brunton. Usually, field teams were composed of two field operatives sent to complete objectives impossible for one operative to achieve alone. They operated laterally, shifting command structure in the field as the situation demands. Occasionally, SHADOWNET operatives performed missions in the same general AO as those completed by Splinter Cells, but direct contact is prohibited to prevent agents from being compromised. SHADOWNET operatives generally carry the same equipment as a Splinter Cell agent (SC-20K (later SC3000) and Five-seveN respectively), however, occasionally they are not allowed to carry lethal weapons and are instead issued P190s, P90s modified to shoot rechargeable sticky shockers attached with 40mm multi-purpose launchers for their gadgets. As of 2008, the agents are under the direct command of Third Echelon instead of SHADOWNET. The SHADOWNET operatives were deployed (as a Splinter Cell team) for field operations during the Cyber Attacks of 2007, and continued to do so during the JBA Crisis in New York.

During the JBA Crisis, their equipment and general outfit changed dramatically. The way the team operates has also changed to a limited extent. The team members operating during missions have been increased from two to three and they are no longer allowed to use their projectile weapons to discourage enemy contact. However, with the lighter load the agents of Third Echelon have acquired much higher agility and new acrobatic maneuvers for missions.

Personnel Edit

Third Echelon's specialists have been recruited from every branch of intelligence and the armed forces, some even culled from civilian life. They are the elite of America's strategists, hackers, and field operatives.

Third Echelon Team Edit

Each field operative (or "Splinter Cell") works with a remote support team of roughly a dozen members.

Operations Coordinator Edit

The Operations Coordinator is the main point of contact and source of information for 'on the job' Splinter Cell agents who oversees the remote team of researchers, hackers, and strategists. In espionage parlance, he would typically be described as the field operative's "handler". When traveling, the operative carries a portable transmitter wherever he goes. The operative also has subdermal microchips and at least one cochlear implant, designed to help him stealthily communicate with his handler. Irving Lambert was Operations Coordinator until the JBA Crisis when he went on leave (later pronounced KIA) and was briefly replaced by Lawrence Williams. Reports suggest that Tom Reed held the title in 2011.

Communications Lead Edit

The Communications Lead heads a small team of programmers responsible for providing technological, cryptographic, and data support for Splinter Cells while they are 'on the job'. They will assist in interfacing with mission-essential equipment. Anna "Grim" Grímsdóttir had been the Communications Lead since the Georgian Information Crisis until she became Acting Director in 2010 and was promoted to Chief Technical Advisor sometime between then and 2011.

Field Runner Edit

Field Runners are mainly responsible for coordinating the transportation and equipment for Splinter Cells. Transportation is usually procured (stolen) from an area of operations (AO) and abandoned afterwards. They are also responsible for maintaining an operative's equipment and munitions. Field Runners brief field operatives on any new equipment or weaponry as it becomes available.

Since 2004 there have been three Field Runners:

• Vernon Wilkes, Jr. (KIA) (2003 - 2004)
• Frances Coen (2004 - 2006)
• William Redding (2007)

Other Field Runners Edit

• Sergei Luchenko ^[7]

Other Third Echelon personnel Edit

• Carly St. John (technical director) (KIA)^[8][9]
• Mike Chan (research analyst, mole)^[8][9]
• Carl Bruford (director of research)^[8][9]
• Chip Driggers^[8]
• Louis Moreau (technical operations manager and handler/mole))^[10][7]
• Perez (document engineer)^[7]
• Bird (Osprey pilot)^[11]
• Sandy (Osprey co-pilot/special operations)
• "Franco" Franklin (Osprey engineer/navigator/loadmaster)^[12]

Base of Operations Edit

Main Article: Third Echelon Headquarters

Third Echelon has had at least two headquarters; the original was an ultra-secure command bunker-type facility located in a subterranean area deep within the confines of the National Security Agency Headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland^[13][14]. The latest one was a nondescript building located somewhere near the National Mall and White House in Washington, D.C. (the location is routinely moved around every few years for security reasons)^[15]. However, Third Echelon still often utilizes the NSA's headquarters to station its employees (usually signals intelligence analysts). The reason for this separation is because technically Third Echelon doesn't exist and most NSA employees will have never heard of Third Echelon.^[16] As one of the most classified, top-secret organizations in the U.S. government, only those on a "need to know" basis are aware of the agency. In 2011, Third Echelon's main headquarters in D.C. was destroyed by a self-destruct mechanism known as "Protocol 2319" after one of its former agents breached its security.

Training Edit

Main Article: Third Echelon Training Facility

As of 2007, Third Echelon has utilized computer-based simulation programs for testing the skills of (as well as training) Splinter Cell agents at the National Security Agency Headquarters and the Third Echelon Training Facility on the grounds of Fort Meade.

Transportation Edit

Main article: V-22 Osprey

Billed as both a VTOL (vertical-takeoff and landing) and STOL (short-takeoff and landing) craft, the V-22 Osprey was not only Third Echelon's workhorse, used for quick insertion and extraction missions in "denied areas", but had over the years saved the lives of Splinter Cells' (especially Sam Fisher's) many times.

Cyberterrorism/information warfare Edit

Information warfare is an attack against computers, networks, or information systems to coerce or intimidate a government and its people. These attacks result in violence against people or property and generate fear. Attacks that disrupt nonessential services or create a costly nuisance are not considered information warfare. Cyberterrorism results in severe effects such as death, bodily injury, explosions, plane crashes, water contamination, severe economic loss, and so on.

Information warfare is easily and most effectively waged against civilians. Because of its size and reliance on technology, no nation is as vulnerable to information warfare as the United States. Information warfare can be waged anonymously, or with all the publicity in the world. Due to the circumstances in which it was conceived and the major crisis operations it has been involved in, Third Echelon specializes in countering information warfare (put it simply, Third Echelon is a counter-"cyber" terrorist unit).

OperationsEdit

1999: NATO bombings of Yugoslavia Edit

Note: The date of founding of Third Echelon is 2003 in the original Splinter Cell and the 1990's in Splinter Cell Essentials[1] and novels. No explanation from Ubisoft has been given (see Notes).

In February of 1999, during NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia, Sam Fisher was sent on a mission for Third Echelon^[17] to Belgrave City, Yugoslavia, to destroy SAM missiles being supplied to the Serbs. His first objective from Irving Lambert^[18]was infiltrate a cargo ship, and destroy several missiles on board. After destroying the missiles he infiltrated the hideout where the launcher was being kept. His next objective, from Anna Grímsdóttir, was to find evidence showing how the Russians were supplying the weapons.

2004: Georgian Information Crisis Edit

Shortly after its formation, Third Echelon was activated and tasked with preventing the information attacks coming out of the Republic of Georgia. In order to gather more information on sight, they sent in Agent Sam Fisher of the newly-created "Splinter Cell" program to investigate the situation. Through this investigation, they found out that Kombayn Nikoladze, the President of Georgia, was behind the attacks. Third Echelon continued operations as they tried to stop more attacks on U.S. soil. However, much political red tape prevented the U.S. government from gaining the proper intelligence about these attacks. This caused Third Echelon to send Fisher within the CIA to find out about Nikoladze's plan for America. It soon led Third Echelon to the Masse Kernels and eventually to Nikoladze's palace where he was assassinated to end the information attacks. The success of the operation prompted the NSA to continue the Third Echelon initiative.

2006: Indonesia Crisis/Biological Warfare Edit

Third Echelon sends in Sam Fisher to East Timor to prevent Darah Dan Doa leader Suhadi Sadono from gaining access to private information. It leads them to Israel to track down the ND133 and eventually suprising everyone that a biological attack was underway on U.S. soil with the use of smallpox.

2007: NYC Cyber Attacks/East Asian Crisis Edit

Third Echelon is once again needed to prevent further attacks from the Masse Kernels that are now being used by Displace International. World War III was nearly on the brink as the USS Walsh was destroyed by an anti-ship missile. Blackouts were in New York and Japan as Third Echelon further finds out about the I-SDF situation. Third Echelon was successful from preventing further attacks as they eliminated "Chaos Theory".

Hallucinogenic ExperimentsEdit

In the fall of 2007, Sam Fisher had been somehow "kidnapped and detained in a old German bunker in Normandy, France". Since CIA agent Hisham Hamza of the D.O.D's Interdepartmental Operative and Third Echelon had managed to "track Fisher's position" and contact him via his subdermal implant, they monitored Agent Fisher while he was on an unknown hallucingenic drug for one week. During that time, he barely escaped his captors and saw Agent Hamza. In reality, Agent Fisher was still at Third Echelon Headquarters in Fort Meade undergoing an hallucingenic/drug resistance testing after he had signed himself up a few days before, even though Director Lambert had tried to persuade him not to take part in the experimental exercise. Agent Fisher claimed that he had no memories about that but hoped that his memory would come back.

2008: JBA Crisis/Red Mercury Incident Edit

As Sam Fisher heads into a downward spiral of destruction after the death of his daughter, Third Echelon demotes its most veteran Splinter Cell and sends him undercover as a double agent within a homegrown terrorist organization known as the JBA (John Brown's Army). They prevented a nuclear attack on U.S. soil but at the same time, losing both Agent Fisher and Director Lambert to the cause. Fisher abruptly leaves the NSA and goes into hiding.

2009: The Fisher Investigation Edit

On January 3^rd, former Third Echelon agent Sam Fisher visited his daughter's gravesite at Elysian Fields in Washington, D.C. before being apprehended by NSA officials. He was then taken back to Third Echelon Headquarters at Fort Meade and interrogated. Sam was forced to explain himself over several key points of career before and during his time in the "Splinter Cell" program which didn't seem to match up with Third Echelon's records. With Anna Grímsdóttir's help, Sam learns that his records had been tampered with by Lawrence Williams, Third Echelon's acting director, in order to frame him for being a rogue agent, with each of the aforementioned events being rewritten to make Sam appear as if he had completely disobeyed orders or was involved in committing treason against the United States. Director Williams discovered that his hacks to the record had been discovered, and stole the evidence from Grímsdóttir. Sam escaped his captors by hiding in Redding's office and then snuck into Williams' office and recovered the evidence. He confronted Williams, explaining he would expose him, and then escaped, taking the evidence with him.

2011: Third Echelon Conspiracy Edit

After learning that his daughter's death may not have been an accident, Sam Fisher goes to Malta. In turn, Third Echelon hunted Fisher on orders from the (then-)new Director Tom Reed. However, this mission failed in the death of Reed and numerous unnamed Third Echelon operatives.

At the end of the conspiracy, Third Echelon had been crippled as an intelligence agency. Many, if not all, Splinter Cell operatives had been killed, and the agency's main headquarters had been destroyed. It is unknown at this time if the agency is being investigated by the U.S. government for its involvment in a near coup against President Caldwell, according to certain officials. However, it is known that Anna Grímsdóttir rebuilt the organization after she was promoted to become Third Echelon's fourth official director^[19].

Operations (novels) Edit

Third Echelon operations that took place in the novel series.

2003: Checkmate Edit

While preparing to test a new DARPA product, code-named the Goshawk, Splinter Cell agent Sam Fisher is called to intercept a cargo freighter speeding towards the eastern seaboard. The freighter, named the Trego is loaded down with radioactive material. Fisher boards the ship and quickly reaches the bridge to find one Middle-Eastern crew member. Fisher attempts to disable the man and does so, but not before the man enters the command to speed the boat up further. Fisher proceeds to slow the ship by disabling her engines. Meanwhile the residents of Slipstone, New Mexico begin showing the symptoms of and then dying from radiation poisoning.

2005: Babylon Phoenix Crisis Edit

An Iranian terrorist group known as "The Shadows". Led by Nasir Tarighian, planned to use a weapon of mass destruction codenamed "The Babylon Phoenix" against the city of Baghdad as revenge for the actions taken by Iraq against Iran during the 1980s. While there really isn't much benefit to the group today, Tarighian attempts to sell the scheme to his organization by claiming that it would also create further disorder in Iraq and in the Middle East, which would inevitably cause the people to turn against the "West", namely the United States since Iraq is currently under their watch. Tarighian, a former "great warrior" during the Iran-Iraq War and often proclaimed hero in Iran, hoped that by doing this the Iranian people would rejoice and urge the Iranian government to invade and conquer Iraq after the U.S. is forced out of the region. Most of the members of the Shadows disagree with the course of action, feeling that the result is extremely unlikely and that the scheme is nothing more than a 20-year-old vendetta by Tarighian to get back at Iraq for the death of his wife and children during the war. These members feel the same effect of destabilization in the region can be achieved by attacking either Tel Aviv or Jerusalem in Israel.

Meanwhile an arms dealing organization known as "The Shop" has taken the liberty of assassinating Splinter Cells whenever possible thus to increase their profit margin by keeping the shipment of arms from falling into unwanted hands. The Shop is one of the few organizations in the world that is aware of Third Echelon, who deploys Sam Fisher to the Middle East to uncover the truth about the murder of a Splinter Cell and track down the source of a shipment of arms seized by the Iraqi police. There he surveys and infiltrates numerous locations relating to both the Shop and the Shadows, all the while unaware that the Shop has targeted him and his daughter, Sarah.

2006: MRUUV Incident Edit

Taking place almost a year after the Babylon Phoenix Crisis, the plot picks up with Third Echelon attempting to search and bring to justice the members of The Shop, an international arms dealing ring that played a large part during the crisis. While Sam Fisher is working to collect information on The Shop in Ukraine and Russia, Third Echelon is continuing its investigation into how The Shop had previously managed to gain the identity of a number of Splinter Cells and assassinate them as well. However, when a German scientist named Jeinsen, who defected to the United States from East Germany long ago, goes missing and then reappears dead in Hong Kong, heads begin to turn. Jeinsen had developed a new submarine vehicle for the United States Navy, that could theoretically carry a nuclear weapon. Sam Fisher is sent to learn why the scientist was in Hong Kong and who killed him; it is suspected that a local group of Triads named "the Lucky Dragons" had involvement. What Third Echelon does not yet realize is that Jeinsen, the Lucky Dragons, The Shop, and a traitor inside their own government are all part of a much larger picture involving a rogue Chinese general named Lan Tun, with ambitions to invade and conquer Taiwan. With Fisher not even aware that he is the world's only hope of stopping an international crisis, he has to balance his job and a new romantic relationship that he is hoping will finally bring happiness to his life. Ultimately, General Tun threatens to use the submarine vehicle to detonate a nuclear weapon off the coast of California, destroying Los Angeles. with a massive tsunami, unless America abandons Taiwan when it is invaded by China. Fisher manages to foil the plot, and all the conspirators involved including the traitor, the general, and The Shop are killed. However, no one realizes that the true mastermind behind the entire plot to weaken America was none other than the head of the Senate Oversight Committee, Senator Janice Coldwater.

2008: FalloutEdit

Soon after undergoing unfamiliar espionage techniques training in the streets of San Francisco in a joint exercise between the CIA and Third Echelon, Sam Fisher is summoned to Maryland by Director Lambert. Turns out, Sam's estranged brother, Peter (real name Pyotr Limonovich), has been found barely alive off the coast of Greenland. Sam is told that Peter has developed a strange disease and has few days to live. It is soon revealed that Sam's brother died of poisoning caused by plutonium hydride-19, or PuH-19. This deadly powder is 1,000x finer than flour and is capable of wiping out New York's entire population with just a cup's worth of the chemical.

Although driven at first solely by vengeance, Sam soon realizes that Peter's death should be the least of his worries as a network of Kyrgyz Islamic fundamentalists have toppled the moderate government of Kyrgyztan and, with the help of the North Korean government, have devised the ultimate antidote against the pervasive influence of the West and its technology: they will try to mutate a species of petroleum-eating Chytridiomycota fungus into a strain capable of making the whole world's oil supply disappear, a threat Fisher and Lambert continually refer to as Manas, in reference to the Kyrgyz epic poem. In order to do this, the terrorists snatch some of the world's leading scientists and force them to cooperate. Sam gets his final lead by tracking one of the abducted scientists in a search that will lead him to a place such as the streets of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, an isolated Kyrgyz community in Cape Breton Island, the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, Pyongyang, North Korea and a Kyrgyz complex hidden in the Tian Shan mountain range.

2009/10: The Search for Sam FisherEdit

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2015: Sea of OkhotskEdit

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See Also Edit

• National Security Agency
• First Echelon
• Second Echelon
• Third Echelon Headquarters
• Splinter Cell Program
• Third Echelon Training Facility

Notes Edit

• Essentials founding of Third Echelon in the 1990s seems to follow the chronology of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (novel) and Operation Barracuda. Checkmate implies that Third Echelon had been around quite a bit longer than 2003 (though Sam Fisher was still the original Splinter Cell). The Field Runner program was new plans to expand upon the previous program within the 2005/2006 era (previously most missions were completed by lone agents). Third Echelon's headquarters had been moved around D.C previously (every couple of years) to 2005-2006's location near the White House. Sam Fisher and Irving Lambert had known Anna Grímsdóttir for years (from the time she was brought into Third Echelon).

References Edit