To the people who said Keller was too young.

[FallenAngelII]

People who work in high skilled positions tend to make acquaintances with their colleges. Those acquaintances can get suspicious if their colleges suddenly drop of the radar. They can start ask questions. Other people hear those questions and start wondering. Then a reporter, or an intelligence officer hears about. They start probing. That's how a leak can start. Err no. you're not understanding. It's not about having your name in the papers - it's about having your name known among the profession. That comes from years of working with people, and working up a network of acquaintances. Joe Blogg who saw an article in the paper about some young upstart won't care what's she's doing. Dr Jones who worked with Dr Smith at John Hopkins for a couple years might wonder what his old friend is up to, where he's working now and what he's been doing. Imagine his surprise when he finds that Dr Smith has 'dropped off the radar' - that's not like him. He was hell into his work.

And they wouldn't be satisfied with occasional visit from the doctors from Atlantis (they have scheduled breaks)? Or explanations like "They're doing classified work"? And reports flock to "Random doctor is doing classified work with the government" stories since when now?

And you really think none of the people involved with the Atlantis program did any networking or became well-known with their colleagues?

sure... but what they are already doing is just as important isn't it? Why do they want to work on bombs or weapons or some nonsense that the government/military is always up to. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stick with what I'm doing.

Since when do the medical doctors on Atlantis ever work on bombs or weapons (except Carson with that retro-virus)? Let's see... they can choose to save the lives of random people (or some famous somes) or go to Atlantis where people are risking their lives daily to defeat evil Space Vampires. Not only would they be saving important lives, said lives would go on to do very important work.

Joe Schmoopie at John's Hopkins can save good people all day but it's not like it'd be much more important than the work they can do on Atlantis.

[Agent_Dark]

And they wouldn't be satisfied with occasional visit from the doctors from Atlantis (they have scheduled breaks)? Or explanations like "They're doing classified work"? And reports flock to "Random doctor is doing classified work with the government" stories since when now?

And you really think none of the people involved with the Atlantis program did any networking or became well-known with their colleagues?

It doesn't take much to get an educated, intelligent person asking questions. And if they're asking questions, you've got a security problem. Prevention is always better than cure, and in the case of a highly classified project there quite often is no cure.

Since when do the medical doctors on Atlantis ever work on bombs or weapons (except Carson with that retro-virus)? Let's see... they can choose to save the lives of random people (or some famous somes) or go to Atlantis where people are risking their lives daily to defeat evil Space Vampires. Not only would they be saving important lives, said lives would go on to do very important work.

Joe Schmoopie at John's Hopkins can save good people all day but it's not like it'd be much more important than the work they can do on Atlantis.

So... saving someone's life on Earth is less important than saving someone's life on Atlantis? Try arguing that to a medical doctor. And remember, you can't tell them about the project until they're cleared for it and they can't be cleared for it until they decide they want in. It's essentially a blind contract.
And how do you even justify top medical doctors working on a highly classified project? You really can't. Which means the fact that they're working on a highly classified project is classified itself. And that raises suspicions if people start asking around.

[Avenger]

That is a good point. I don't know how many people would be willing to sign an agreement to go do top secret job without being told anything about it before hand. People who are established in their careers working at hospitals might not being as willing to take the job.

[Detox]

The only difference between Carson and Keller medical wise is that Carson also did a lot of research, and was more of a scientist than Keller.

<snip>

[Shan Bruce Lee]

Most neurosurgeons are 250-300 years old?

Duh... everybody knows that - you need to get with the program.

[Skydiver]

guys, again, let's NOT make this personal. Debate the TOPIC, not each other

[FallenAngelII]

It doesn't take much to get an educated, intelligent person asking questions. And if they're asking questions, you've got a security problem. Prevention is always better than cure, and in the case of a highly classified project there quite often is no cure.

You have a security problem because Random Doctor #21 is wondering where the hell their colleague disappeared to? Why would that be a problem? For one thing, you could make it look like they died in an accident and then, when their employment was terminated for whatever reason bring them back claiming they had spent years in the witness protection program.

But even if you didn't and Random Doctor #21 started asking questions, how the Hell would that cause problems? Unless the government agents were cataclysmical imbeciles, there would be trail to lead back to the government. And especially not the Stargate program. How the heck is a reporter or anyone going to be able to discover that the doctor's been whisked away to the Pegasus galaxy based on "Well, they were a great medical doctor and then they disappeared"?

You've got someone asking questions but that happens every day.

So... saving someone's life on Earth is less important than saving someone's life on Atlantis? Try arguing that to a medical doctor. And remember, you can't tell them about the project until they're cleared for it and they can't be cleared for it until they decide they want in. It's essentially a blind contract.
And how do you even justify top medical doctors working on a highly classified project? You really can't. Which means the fact that they're working on a highly classified project is classified itself. And that raises suspicions if people start asking around.

I'm not saying it's less important. I'm saying "It's not like it's unimportant work". Of course, a life is supposed to be worth as much as the next but a lot of people would consider being a part of the Stargate program something of extreme importance (at least 'til the recent defeats of the Ori and the Asurans... now all we've got left is the Wraith threat).

And you know what, that's a pretty lousy excuse. "We're too lazy to go out and look for someone qualified to do this job so we'll just take an unqualified greenhorn and hope she doesn't get us all killed".

[Avenger]

You have a security problem because Random Doctor #21 is wondering where the hell their colleague disappeared to? Why would that be a problem? For one thing, you could make it look like they died in an accident and then, when their employment was terminated for whatever reason bring them back claiming they had spent years in the witness protection program.

Faking someone's death is approaching absurdity. Off to do top secret research is more than adequate.

[Agent_Dark]

You have a security problem because Random Doctor #21 is wondering where the hell their colleague disappeared to? Why would that be a problem? For one thing, you could make it look like they died in an accident and then, when their employment was terminated for whatever reason bring them back claiming they had spent years in the witness protection program.

Oh right, and I'm sure the family would appreciate being told that their husband/mother/son/daughter was killed.

But even if you didn't and Random Doctor #21 started asking questions, how the Hell would that cause problems? Unless the government agents were cataclysmical imbeciles, there would be trail to lead back to the government. And especially not the Stargate program. How the heck is a reporter or anyone going to be able to discover that the doctor's been whisked away to the Pegasus galaxy based on "Well, they were a great medical doctor and then they disappeared"?

You don't really understand security issues do you? The best way to keep something secret is to avoid anything that could get people asking questions in the first place. One thing leads to something, someone else overhears that and asks their own questions and before long someone has pieced together enough information that they can start making some quite good guesses at what's going on. Every security officers nightmare is for one of the 'good guys', who's not in on the secret, to have pieced together enough information from their sources to figure out what's going on. If one of the good guys can do it, you can bet other people can too (namely, the media or foreign intelligence services. Both are undesirable.).

And you know what, that's a pretty lousy excuse. "We're too lazy to go out and look for someone qualified to do this job so we'll just take an unqualified greenhorn and hope she doesn't get us all killed".

Come back to the discussion when you stop distorting canon to fit your arguments. There is nothing in canon to suggest that Keller is unqualified. And if there was, then you should be raging at Beckett for accepting her onto his staff and Weir for putting her in charge.

[Orion's Star]

Dude, guys, seriously. All this talk about covering up the disappearance of a famous scientist is just dragging on. The SG Program suffers countless numbers of casualties every year. If they can cover up all these dead and wounded soldiers, not to mention civilian scientists (often when there is not even a body afterwards to ship home), then the government can successfully disappear a famous doctor or scientist every once in a while.

It's not realistic, it never has been, and arguing that the SG Program is more likely to take an inexperienced, young, unknown scientist simply because fewer people would notice them missing seems kind of ridiculous.

[Avenger]

The military will make something up if someone (special forces) on a top secret mission is KIA.

[Agent_Dark]

If they can cover up all these dead and wounded soldiers

rather easy to do I would imagine, given the number of conflicts around the world that the US is involved in.

It's not realistic, it never has been

shot yourself in the foot there - if it's not realistic, why do you care about the age or potential experience of a doctor?

[FallenAngelII]

Come back to the discussion when you stop distorting canon to fit your arguments. There is nothing in canon to suggest that Keller is unqualified. And if there was, then you should be raging at Beckett for accepting her onto his staff and Weir for putting her in charge.

You see, I've never said she' unqualified for being a doctor. I said she's unqualified for being CMO. Unless the writers are gonna claim she's really 35-40-ish, she's too young to have the experience and skill needed for the job (but not to be a good doctor).

Carson hired her as a doctor, not his replacement.

rather easy to do I would imagine, given the number of conflicts around the world that the US is involved in.

And the good doctors and scientists that have fallen? How come no one's asked about any of them? Or were they all "uknown n00bs"?

And what happened to people "asking questions"? As long as the person in question isn't dead or has been pronounced dead, shouldn't there be people asking questions about the hundreds of people on Atlantis, soldier or not? Shouldn't foreign intelligence bureaus be on our tail on it? Shouldn't security be failing all over the place because we all know that when someone asks "Hey, where'd my friend go", Stargate Program information will automatically leak.

[Orion's Star]

rather easy to do I would imagine, given the number of conflicts around the world that the US is involved in.

Ummm...the US would have to be in a full scale war, like at least the size of Vietnam, to cover up the number of people who have died on either show. Even then, I really doubt that they could justify all these deaths as "training accidents" or "covert missions" to a significant degree that people wouldn't ask questions. This doesn't even get into the countless civilians who have died (as FallenAngelII also alluded to). Wouldn't it seem very suspicious if all these civvies were getting themselves killed in "conflicts"? Like nobody would wonder why they were there in the first place?

For Pete's sake, Anubis's fleet supposedly destroyed a carrier battle group in Lost City. Do you have any idea how unbelievable it is to think nobody would notice the sudden disappearance or destruction of a freaking aircraft carrier? Let alone a battle group?

shot yourself in the foot there - if it's not realistic, why do you care about the age or potential experience of a doctor?

Uh, no. I never made any comment in this thread about the realistic nature of Keller being the CMO (or any other character/person). I was simply disagreeing with your assertion that a younger, more inexperienced doctor would be better for the SG program because they'd be less likely to be missed. That doesn't even seem to track logically, especially considering all the other insane stuff that has taken place on the show and nobody has ever seemed to notice.

[Mitchell82]

Most neurosurgeons are 250-300 years old?

Ok so I exagerated a bit.

Yeah, I thought that would have been better too. Much like Mitchell - he lacked any gate experience which makes one wonder why he got to be in charge of the highest ranking SG team. There's no reason why TPTB have to automatically shove new characters into high ranking positions, especially if they're going to point out their lack of experience.

Ok I'm going to use your point to make mine. Mitchell lacked gate experience but so does every other soldier that is selected for the program. He earned the postition on SG-1. Keller had medical experience but was not ready for the responsibilty as CMO. She proved herself however just like Mitchell did.