Off-Base Personal Security

[Dave2]

After watching Citizen Joe, Season 8, it struck me how lax the SGC is with off-base security for their personnel.
This happened when Kinsey broke into O'Neill's home and when Samantha was kidnapped. Shouldn't these people have had personal bodyguards and special surveillance on their homes?

Of course this could not possibly have encompassed all staff at Cheyenne Mountain, but presumably the main characters should have enjoyed that basic protection. Just my 2 cents on this issue......

[fems]

Considering they're all basically doing special ops at the SGC I highly doubt they'd require personal protection. It would also look very strange to outsiders to see USAF personnel, who work in deep space radar telemetry analysis having their own bodyguards... And how would they justify those costs? The SGC has been struggling with its budget since season one so I seriously doubt they could afford bodyguards for all the important personnel.

Not to mention I doubt the people themselves would appreciate a bodyguard. Sam was snatched once in all her years at the program, in broad daylight from a public place; I think she'd have still been taken if she'd had her bodyguard with her when going to the gym (only he'd probably end up dead). Jack just has to lock his door when he's not home.

[hedwig]

After watching Citizen Joe, Season 8, it struck me how lax the SGC is with off-base security for their personnel.
This happened when Kinsey broke into O'Neill's home and when Samantha was kidnapped. Shouldn't these people have had personal bodyguards and special surveillance on their homes?

Of course this could not possibly have encompassed all staff at Cheyenne Mountain, but presumably the main characters should have enjoyed that basic protection. Just my 2 cents on this issue......

I could see them possibly having high tech security stuff in their homes, but nothing beyond that. Plus, it would have to apply to all SG teams, not just SG1. SG1 is the focus of the show, but what about all the rest of the teams that do the same kind of work, or perhaps the scientists within the SGC, or maybe Janet Frasier, since she has an "alien" daughter? It would be impossible to provide off base security/safety for all of them.

It would be like trying to protect every military person in the United States. It just can't be done.

Jack's problem is that he apparently doesn't lock his front door, thus allowing anyone who turned the door knob at his house to find that out. He simply needs to be more diligent about such things.

Or they could have a bunch of those alert buttons installed in their homes where if they pushed one, it would notify security forces immediately that they needed help. Sort of like, "Help, I'm being attacked/kidnapped/restrained/??? ... and I can't defend myself!".

[Dave2]

I wonder what would be the fate of Joe now that he is another outsider who knows so much, as does his wife. I also noticed that their son grew about 10 years in a very short period of time. I am surprised that Joe never tried getting to O'Neill's home, or Hammond's long before he did.

Speaking of O'Neill, I know that in Season 9 Landry takes over as general without any introduction or explanation in a storyline. What was the reason for that?

[hedwig]

I wonder what would be the fate of Joe now that he is another outsider who knows so much, as does his wife. I also noticed that their son grew about 10 years in a very short period of time. I am surprised that Joe never tried getting to O'Neill's home, or Hammond's long before he did.

Speaking of O'Neill, I know that in Season 9 Landry takes over as general without any introduction or explanation in a storyline. What was the reason for that?

Joe undoubtedly was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement, as was no doubt his wife.

His son didn't grow up over a short period of time. He grew up from the boy to the teenager in 8 years, the same length of time that Joe had the stone and been experiencing the missions and trials and tribulations of SG1. It just seemed short since we were given clips of Joe's life that aligned with whatever year he of SG1's he was experiencing via the stone. Clear? And he probably didn't find out where Jack lived until shortly before he "broke into" Jack's house, which would be why he didn't do that prior to when he did.

Watch the first episode of S9 in regard to Landry. There's a scene between he and Jack at Landry's house, where they're playing chess on Landry's deck.

As to explanations for him being there, you did know Jack was promoted and sent to Washington, D.C., didn't you? There had to be a replacement to be in charge of the SGC, and Landry is that person.

[morrismike]

[SF_and_Coffee]

By way of explanation, a couple of items:

1) The existence of the Stargate and the work of the SGC would likely be classified as Special Access, which is the classification above Top Secret. There are real-life people, both military and civilian, who have Top Secret and Special Access clearance, and they don't have bodyguards and special home security. How do I know? Well, I have military and ex-military friends with this type of clearance, and my father was an aerospace engineer who worked on DoD projects and had what I'm pretty sure was a Top Secret clearance. He never had a bodyguard, nor did we have anything special in our home for a security system -- just a normal deadbolt lock on the door, same as anyone else.

2) Not only would the presence of personal bodyguards and extra security precautions incur both additional cost and the necessity of an explanation, but can you really see someone like Jack O'Neill or Samantha Carter being amenable to that sort of babysitting? I sure can't.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Also, a note to other posters: If you post something and then notice that the Post-Eating Monster has eaten it, PLEASE have the courtesy to either repost what you wrote, or to delete the empty post. It's really annoying to have gaps in the conversation.

[gateraid]

It sounds good (giving them bodyguards) but it'd be impractical. For one thing, it'd make a mockery of their cover story. Imagine how suspicious Pete would have been of Sam if she still maintained she was working on deep space radar telemetry but had a bodyguard. Considering (based on what Pete said) they basically scrubbed her service record clean it'd be pretty obvious she was working on something fairly secretive.

For another, as has been pointed out, they're capable of looking after themselves. And again, where do you draw the line on who to 'protect'? Aside from having to shadow every team member when they're off duty, there's also the time that Hammond was forced to resign. The NID 'borrowed' his grandkids for a few hours. Regardless of whether Hammond had his own protection or not, it would never have been extended that far out through his family.

The 'in-show' reason is probably that it would also mean more extras

[AlexanderD]

Military personnel assigned to highly sensitive posts are only given a one man security detail when moving classified material via civilian air. I say this as a former service member.

[hedwig]

It sounds good (giving them bodyguards) but it'd be impractical. For one thing, it'd make a mockery of their cover story. Imagine how suspicious Pete would have been of Sam if she still maintained she was working on deep space radar telemetry but had a bodyguard. Considering (based on what Pete said) they basically scrubbed her service record clean it'd be pretty obvious she was working on something fairly secretive.

The good thing about if Sam had a bodyguard is that he (or she) would have caught Pete in his own suspicious behavior and we wouldn't have had to endure him "stalking" Sam and busting up SG1's op to catch Osirisi.

[gateraid]

The good thing about if Sam had a bodyguard is that he (or she) would have caught Pete in his own suspicious behavior and we wouldn't have had to endure him "stalking" Sam and busting up SG1's op to catch Osirisi.

Yeah, I don't know what they were thinking with that. I liked the idea of Pete, but that soured me against him.

[hedwig]

Yeah, I don't know what they were thinking with that. I liked the idea of Pete, but that soured me against him.

Me too.

[fems]

I maybe could have lived with it if he:

A) Had been scared off after that and left
B) Hadn't gotten clearance to learn about the program - hello, distrusting, background check-running and stalking cop here!
C) Had been more seriously injured/had died (Sam already had Jack breaking the BW curse - or at least surviving all his deaths!), his actions had led to Osiris getting away and/or someone of the team getting seriously injured.
D) A combination of the above mentioned options.


Anyway, if you look at the few planet-bound incidents our main characters have been involved with over more than ten years, I don't think you could justify the costs for any personal protection (if we'd keep blowing their covers and ruining their personal lives out of it).

[gateraid]

Me too.

I maybe could have lived with it if he:

A) Had been scared off after that and left
B) Hadn't gotten clearance to learn about the program - hello, distrusting, background check-running and stalking cop here!
C) Had been more seriously injured/had died (Sam already had Jack breaking the BW curse - or at least surviving all his deaths!), his actions had led to Osiris getting away and/or someone of the team getting seriously injured.
D) A combination of the above mentioned options.

Yeah, I found it hard to believe that someone who had proven to be a security risk would be given the 'all clear' to find out more. Then again, they pretty much did the same thing with cadet Hayley

Anyway, if you look at the few planet-bound incidents our main characters have been involved with over more than ten years, I don't think you could justify the costs for any personal protection (if we'd keep blowing their covers and ruining their personal lives out of it).

And given that they'd likely be more qualified (with respect to fighting/combat) than their bodyguards, it was probably just another expense that couldn't be justified. And probably yet another potential security leak, perhaps