UNIT: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox Organisation
classifed
|name= Unified Intelligence Taskforce
|image=
|leader= <ul><li>[[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart]] ([[British]] division pre-[[1976]], retired, deceased)</li><li>[[Winifred Bambera]] (British division [[1990s]])</li></li><li>[[Sanchez|Lieutenant-General Sanchez]] ([[2000s]], deceased)</li><li>[[The Master (Harold Saxon)]] (as [[Minister of Defence]], later [[British Prime Minister]], [[2007]]-[[2008|8]])</ul>
|aka= <ul><li>UNIT</li><li>United Nations Intelligence Taskforce</li></ul>
|affiliation= <ul><li>[[United Nations]]</li><li>[[Ministry of Defence]] (UK)</li><li>[[C19]]</li><li>[[Torchwood Institute]]</li><li>[[The Doctor]]</li></ul>
|bases= [[:Category:UNIT bases|See list]]
|appearances= [[Unified Intelligence Taskforce - List of Appearances|Full List of Appearances]]
|members= [[#List of UNIT personnel|See list]]
|size=
}}
:''For other uses of UNIT, see [[UNIT (disambiguation)]].''
The '''Unified Intelligence Taskforce''' — formerly known as the '''United Nations Intelligence Taskforce''', and more usually called '''UNIT''' — was a military organisation which operated under the auspices of the [[United Nations]]. Its remit was to investigate and combat paranormal and [[alien|extraterrestrial]] threats to the [[Earth]]. UNIT was not the only alien defence organisation, but it was the one with which [[the Doctor]] had the closest personal involvement.
 
== History ==
=== Roots and predecessors ===
An early [[20th century ]]counterpart to UNIT was [[LONGBOW]]. This world security organisation was set up by the UN precursor, the [[wikipedia:League of Nations|League of Nations]]. LONGBOW dealt with the occasional extraterrestrial incident, but was disbanded after the League and it failed to prevent [[World War II]]. ([[NA]]: ''[[Just War (novel)|Just War]]'')
 
The roots of UNIT itself, however, lay in later alien encounters. The [[Intrusion Countermeasures Group]] headed by Group Captain [[Ian Gilmore]], which got involved in the [[Shoreditch Incident]], served as a specialised military force with scientific assistance would seem almost a trial run for UNIT, though not an international organisation. Though Gilmore did have two scientific advisors serving much as the [[Third Doctor|third incarnation]] of the Doctor and Dr. [[Liz Shaw|Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw]] would later, the [[Seventh Doctor|seventh incarnation]] of the Doctor did most of the work on the technical end. ([[DW]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks]]'')
 
A second incident was the takeover of London by the [[Great Intelligence]], with [[robot Yeti]]s and a deadly cobweb-like [[fungus]]. Assisted by the [[Second Doctor]], another group of British infantrymen, led by [[Colonel]] [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart]] of the [[Scots Guards]] beat back the Yeti from the tunnels of the [[London Underground]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Web of Fear]]'') UNIT themselves would later consider this to be the origin of the organisation. ([[WEB]]: ''[[UNIT website|unit.org.uk]]'')
 
=== [[20th century]] ===
==== Early history ====
===== Formation =====
The United Nations were aware the world faced threats from extraterrestrial sources. Space programmes sent [[space probe|probes]] deeper and deeper into space; mankind was drawing attention to itself. ([[DW]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'') Unable to get the British government to form a permanent special operations force for alien threats, Lethbridge-Stewart went over their heads to the UN Security Council, who proved more receptive. ([[MA]]: ''[[Who Killed Kennedy]]'') The UN established UNIT with the mandate to investigate, monitor and combat such threats. At the suggestion of Gilmore from the ICMG ([[MA]]: ''[[The Scales of Injustice]]''), Lethbridge-Stewart was promoted to the rank of Brigadier and put in charge of the [[United Kingdom|British]] contingent. This contingent was organisationally known as [[Department C19]] within the British government. ([[DW]]: ''[[Time-Flight]]'')
 
===== The Lethbridge-Stewart years =====
 
One of UNIT's first missions was an intensive investigation of [[International Electromatics]] that turned violent. UNIT agents were killed and UNIT launched a helicopter raid to liberate prisoners at an Electromatics' facility. With the help, again, of the [[Second Doctor]], UNIT discovered the company was a front for a [[Cybermen]] invasion and was able to defend against it. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')
 
Lethbridge-Stewart became convinced of the necessity of scientific advice in battling extraterrestrial threats. He recruited [[Liz Shaw]] from the [[University of Cambridge]]. Coincidentally, the [[Third Doctor]] had been [[exile to Earth|exiled to Earth]] by the Time Lords. He agreed to join UNIT as its scientific advisor just in time to help defeat the [[Auton]]s. ([[DW]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'')
 
The Doctor continued to assist UNIT. Liz and he helped them fight such foes as [[Silurian|The Silurians]] and the [[Primord]]s. Liz Shaw left UNIT ([[DW]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'', ''[[Inferno (TV story)|Inferno]]'') and was replaced by Jo Grant as the Doctor's assistant, though she only had managed to get her A-levels in science. When he met her, UNIT made an enemy out of [[The Master (UNIT years)|The Master]]. UNIT locked up the Master after several attempts to destroy Earth. ([[DW]]: ''[[Terror of the Autons]]'', ''[[The Dæmons]]'')
 
When the Doctor's exile was ended ([[DW]]: ''[[The Three Doctors]]''), his association with UNIT became more sporadic, especially after his [[regeneration]] into his [[Fourth Doctor|fourth incarnation]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[Planet of the Spiders]]'', ''[[Robot (TV story)|Robot]]'')
 
[[File:MODUnitFiveDoc.jpg|thumb|Ministry of Defence, UNIT headquarters. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'')]]
The Doctor did return to Earth with [[Sarah Jane Smith]], but would work less with the Brigadier and more with such other officers as Colonel [[Faraday]] (the Brigadier having gone to [[Geneva]]) ([[DW]]: ''[[The Android Invasion]]'') and Major [[Beresford]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Seeds of Doom]]'') The Doctor, however, never officially left UNIT. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'')
 
As a United Nations group, UNIT often served as security at peace conferences ([[DW]]: ''[[Day of the Daleks]]'', ''[[The Mind of Evil]]'') and the British contingent had foreign soldiers such as Sergeant [[Zbrigniev]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[Battlefield]]'')
 
UNIT often faced hostility to its operations when investigating research facilities and companies. A common tactic against them was an appeal to any contacts in the Westminster government. These forced Lethbridge-Stewart either to back down or go over the government's heads to Geneva. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'', ''[[The Green Death]]'', ''[[The Claws of Axos]]'')
 
==== After Lethbridge-Stewart ====
Lethbridge-Stewart retired in [[1976]] to teach [[mathematics]] at [[Brendon Public School]]. His successor was Colonel [[Charles Crichton]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'') Benton and medical officer Harry Sullivan also left. ([[DW]]: ''[[Mawdryn Undead]]'')
 
The Doctor re-united with UNIT in his [[Seventh Doctor|seventh incarnation]] against an invasion by [[Morgaine]] and her armoured knights. The British contingent was commanded by a new, female brigadier [[Winifred Bambera]]. Lethbridge-Stewart was called out of retirement to assist them. ([[DW]]: ''[[Battlefield]]'') This version of the Doctor would help UNIT officer [[Muriel Frost]] in the late [[1990s]] in their struggle against the [[Mandragora Helix]]. ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Mark of Mandragora]]'', ''[[Evening's Empire]]'')
 
At some point in the late 20th or early [[21st century]], a book on the history of UNIT was published. It is not known how much, if any information on the organisation's activities was included. ([[SJA]]: ''[[Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?]]'')
 
=== The 21st century ===
==== [[2000s]] ====
===== General trends =====
In the name of "homeworld security", UNIT adopted a controversial attitude towards [[wikipedia:civil rights|civil rights]] and [[wikipedia:civil liberties|liberties]] which the [[Tenth Doctor]] found disquieting. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'') UNIT maintained a secret prison. Detainees could be held without charges being pressed or without the usual rights of prisoners. This suggested UNIT had a more malevolent side than other recorded encounters may suggest. Among those kept at one time as a prisoner by UNIT was [[Toshiko Sato]] in [[2005]] or [[2006]]; she was only released when [[Jack Harkness]] and [[Torchwood Three]] convinced her to work for them. ([[TW]]: ''[[Fragments (TV story)|Fragments]]'')
 
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, UNIT maintained a small division based in the [[United States]], led by Brigadier General [[Adrienne Kramer]]. ([[EDA]]: ''[[Vampire Science]]'')
 
At sometime prior to the [[Sontaran invasion of Earth|2009 Sontaran invasion]], UNIT changed its name from United Nations Intelligence Taskforce to Unified Intelligence Taskforce. UNIT retained its traditional logos, even though they displayed the now-technically incorrect initialization "U.N.I.T." ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'')
 
===== Specific events =====
At some point, the UK division of UNIT faced being shut down and replaced with domestic group ICIS ([[Internal Counter-Intelligence Service]]). When it became clear ICIS were brutal and dangerous, Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel [[Emily Chaudhry]] deliberately revealed UNIT's remit to the press (stating UNIT had faced over two hundred invasions) and the existence of [[Silurian]] ambassadors. This was viewed as a hoax, but it forced the government to leave UNIT in charge of alien matters, leading to uneasy co-existence with ICIS. ([[BFU]]: ''[[The Coup]]'')
 
Unknown to UNIT, their leader, Colonel [[Brimmicombe-Wood]], was an ICIS plant who had been groomed to assume leadership of their rival. ([[BFU]]: ''[[The Wasting]]'') ICIS' involvement in an attempted coup ([[BFU]]: ''[[The Longest Night]]'') and murderous attempts at framing UNIT ([[BFU]]: ''[[The Wasting]]'') led to their shutdown; UNIT thwarted the coup and stopped a worldwide pandemic, unfortunately losing temporary commander [[Robert Dalton|Colonel Robert Dalton]] in the process. Colonel Chaudry was given command of the UK contingent. ([[BFU]]: ''[[The Wasting]]'')
 
:''The position was later handed to Colonel [[Alan Mace]] under unknown circumstances.''
 
Before 2005, UNIT had been involved in multiple situations without the Doctor, including the Fourth Reich, the Guatemala "big locust" Problem, Operation Plainsong, the Skaniska Incident and the Jersey Tollgate Situation. 2005 saw the organisation increase its New York presence centred around a New York Liaison Office for immediate briefing of the UN General Assembly. They also had been hosting annual conferences for several years. An officer named Major Jenny Maguire had had previous experience with the Doctor, who had annoyed her in unknown circumstances. ([[WEB]]: ''[[UNIT website|http://www.unit.org.uk]]'')
 
In 2006, UNIT sent a delegation to a gathering of experts to [[10 Downing Street]] in response to a spaceship crash in the [[River Thames]]. All of the experts were electrocuted by the family [[Slitheen]]. The identities of the advisors killed were not known, although one woman officer bore the name "Frost" on her jacket. ([[DW]]: ''[[Aliens of London]]'') By this time, UNIT and the Torchwood Institute were aware of each other. UNIT asked for the assistance of [[Torchwood Three]]'s [[Owen Harper]] during this incident ([[TW]]: ''[[Fragments (TV story)|Fragments]]''). [[Toshiko Sato]] would fill in for him. ([[TW]]: ''[[Fragments (TV story)|Fragments]]'')
 
:''The female officer killed in action may or may not have been [[Muriel Frost]]. See her entry for details.''
 
In 2006, a group of at least three [[Groske]] were stranded on Earth. UNIT found and recruited them. ([[SJA]]: ''[[Death of the Doctor]]'')
 
In [[Christmas]] 2006, UNIT had a command centre in the [[Tower of London]] under the command of [[Richard Blake|Major Richard Blake]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Christmas Invasion]]''). UNIT maintained contact with Torchwood Three, even after the [[Battle of Canary Wharf]]. Torchwood Three's leader, [[Jack Harkness]], would occasionally confer with the heads of UNIT and once asked for and received the help of [[Martha Jones]], a medical doctor and former companion of the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s, whom he and the Doctor had suggested for a position with UNIT. ([[TW]]: ''[[Reset (TV story)|Reset]]'')
 
By 2008 UNIT operated an aircraft carrier airship, the ''[[Valiant (aircraft carrier)|Valiant]]'', which was mainly designed by British [[Minister of Defense]] (actually [[The Master (Harold Saxon)|the latest incarnation of the Master]]) [[Harold Saxon]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sound of Drums]]'' / ''[[Last of the Time Lords]]'')
 
Sarah Jane Smith remained in friendly contact with UNIT, leading to its involvement in cleaning up a Slitheen plot. ([[SJA]]: ''[[Revenge of the Slitheen]]'')
 
Prior to the 2009 Sontaran invasion, [[Martha Jones]], an ex-[[companion]] of the [[Tenth Doctor]] was tasked with alerting him about it when the preparations for the invasion were discovered. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'') Apparently, now-Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart still had some involvement with UNIT at this time, though he had gone to [[Peru]] for undisclosed reasons. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
 
Following the defeat of the Sontarans, UNIT began reverse-engineering technology scavenged from the aliens, and launched [[Project Indigo]] to create a backpack-sized [[teleportation]] device. Jones was seconded as medical advisor for the project (it was top secret, although Harkness found out about it), and stationed at UNIT's base in [[New York City]]. UNIT also developed a contingency plan called the [[Osterhagen Project]]; in the event of global conquest that seemed unending, any three out of five UNIT facilities would end humanity's suffering by destroying the planet with nuclear weaponry under Earth's crust. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Stolen Earth]]''/''[[Journey's End]]'')
 
Following the relocation of the Earth and [[missing planets|two-dozen other planets]] to the [[Medusa Cascade]], UNIT went on high alert, and then a war footing as the [[Dalek Invasion of Earth (2009)|Dalek invasion]] began. Both the ''Valiant'' and the New York headquarters were overrun by Daleks and destroyed, and the United Nations surrendered soon after. Martha Jones escaped using the Project Indigo device, maintaining possession of an [[Osterhagen key]] in the process. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Stolen Earth]]'') She reached the Osterhagen Station in Germany. The [[Chinese]] and [[Liberia]]n stations had been already activated. She was teleported away by the Daleks before the bombs could be triggered. The Doctor later asked her to have the Project dismantled (though whether she was successful is unknown). ([[DW]]: ''[[Journey's End]]'')
 
UNIT and Torchwood made a joint effort to investigate the voices coming from the [[Mariana Trench]]. UNIT supplied the submarine, the ''[[Octopus Rock]]'', and the ship to transport it, the ''[[USS Calvin]]''. ([[BBCR]]: ''[[Submission]]'')
 
During [[Easter]] 2009 UNIT was called out to a tunnel near Brixton after a bus carrying the Doctor and other passengers had gone through a [[wormhole]]. The [[Tenth Doctor]] contacted the senior officer on site, [[Erisa Magambo|Captain Erisa Magambo]] and also spoke with their scientific adviser [[Malcolm Taylor (Planet of the Dead)|Professor Malcolm Taylor]]. He managed to get the bus back to its original location but [[Stingray|the Swarm]] arrived on Earth. Magambo and UNIT fought the stingrays. The Doctor recommended to Magambo that there might be two more potential UNIT recruits from the bus, namely [[Barclay (Planet of the Dead)|Barclay]] and [[Nathan (Planet of the Dead)|Nathan]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'')
 
When the Master turned every human into a copy of him on [[Christmas Day]] 2009, UNIT came under his command. When the Doctor piloted the [[Hesperus (spacecraft)|Hesperus]] to [[Joshua Naismith]]'s mansion, the [[Master Race]]-controlled UNIT fired missiles at him. [[Wilfred Mott]] and [[Rossiter]] the [[Vinvocci]] destroyed them. When [[Rassilon]] and his [[Time Lord]] guard arrived at the mansion, his first act was to reverse the Master race back to their human forms. ([[DW]]: ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'')
 
On [[4 May]] [[2010]], after the [[Eleventh Doctor]] had destroyed an awaking [[Cyberman]] army, he predicted that a lot of questions would be asked by UNIT. He advised [[Chisholm]] to simply mention his name. ([[VG]]: ''[[Blood of the Cybermen]]'')
 
Later that year, rogue Colonel [[Tia Karim]] leagued with [[Claw Shansheeth]] to gain [[the Doctor's TARDIS]]. They created a ruse that the Doctor had died and prepared his funeral in [[UNIT Base 5]] so they could drain the life force of [[Sarah Jane Smith]] and [[Josephine Jones]] through their memories of the Doctor. They attached them to the [[Memory Weave]] and began the process to conjure a TARDIS key. The machine was overloaded by the many memories of Jo and Sarah Jane and it self-destructed, killing the group. ([[SJA]]: ''[[Death of the Doctor]]'')
 
In [[2011]], after the [[Miracle Day]] phenomenon was negated, UNIT sealed off the [[Blessing]]. ([[TW]]: ''[[The Blood Line]]'')
 
=== Rivals ===
One division within the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] headed by a man known only as [[Control (CIA)|Control]] was a rival of sorts to UNIT. ([[PDA]]: ''[[The Devil Goblins from Neptune]]'') A few years later, another American, [[Bill Filer]], worked on friendly terms with UNIT. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Claws of Axos]]'')
 
In Britain, UNIT would come into conflict with a domestic anti-alien agency named ICIS ([[Internal Counter-Intelligence Service]]), who had a nationalist agenda. While not running into conflict with them, they were viewed with contempt by both [[the Forge]] (who investigated alien incidents for the purposes of reverse-engineering xenotechnology) and MI6. Under Director Woodrow, MI6 became aware of an alien incursion in London, but deliberately did not mention it to UNIT and tried to handle the situation themselves; this led to the agency being massacred by [[Cybermen]] and an unprepared Earth being assaulted. ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Flood (comic story)|The Flood]]'')
 
An internal conspiracy within UNIT, the [[Cortez Project]], attempted to massacre ''any'' alien, hostile or not, that arrived on Earth. Its existence was exposed in [[1997]], and UNIT began hunting down its cells. ([[PDA]]: ''[[Bullet Time]]'')
 
UNIT appeared to share some of the goals of the [[Torchwood Institute]]. The extent of their working relationship, if any, prior to the Battle of Canary Wharf remains unclear, although Jack Harkness negotiated the release of [[Toshiko Sato]] from a UNIT prison ([[TW]]: ''[[Fragments (TV story)|Fragments]]'') and later sent her to investigate an apparent alien presence near No. 10 Downing Street ([[DW]]: ''[[Aliens of London]]''). There is little if any record of interaction between Torchwood and UNIT during the time the [[Third Doctor|Doctor]] was most closely associated with UNIT.
:''As the Torchwood Institute's primary standing order was to capture the Doctor, it would have been in UNIT's interests to protect him from the Institute.''
 
Before the [[2050s]], unknown to humanity, a [[Korven]] from the [[Far future]] known as [[Lomax (K9)|Lomax]] manipulated the [[British government]], warping it into a fascist paradigm that dominated the British Isles, the Americas and the Pacific Union. [[The Department]], a totalitarian government agency, was created to protect Earth from alien aggressors, with the [[Cyborg]] [[CCPC]] acting as the Department's army. The Department set up [[Dauntless Prison]], a detention facility for aliens, in the [[Tower of London]], which had previously been used by UNIT. Given this, the status of UNIT or at least, its UK branch, whether it was replaced by the Department or was affiliated with it, is unknown in this time period. ([[K9TV]]: ''[[Liberation (TV story)|Liberation]]'', ''[[The Eclipse of the Korven]]'')
 
=== Beyond the 21st century ===
Following human expansion into [[Mutter's Spiral|the galaxy]], UNIT evolved into the [[Foreign Hazard Duty]]. [[DWM]]: ''[[The Mark of Mandragora (comic story)|The Mark of Mandragora]]'', ''[[Echoes of the Mogor (comic story)|The Echoes of Mogor]]'')
 
By the [[26th century]], UNIT has become a [[secret society]] called the [[Unitatus]]. ([[MA]]: ''[[Cold Fusion]]'') Unitatus survived at least until the [[30th century]] ([[NA]]: ''[[So Vile a Sin]]'')
 
:''Also in the 26th century, [[Bernice Summerfield]], who had assisted the original UNIT, encountered an organisation called the [[Knights of Jeneve]]. The Knights may or may not be connected with UNIT, given that "Jeneve" appears to be a corruption of "Geneva". The Knights were founded in the [[23rd century]].'' ([[BNA]]: ''[[Dragons' Wrath (novel)|Dragons' Wrath]]'')
 
== Headquarters and command centres ==
UNIT had a command centre in the cargo hold of a [[C-130 Hercules]] military transport aircraft and could use the plane itself as a mobile base. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'').
 
The British branch of UNIT later operated out of an office building in London ([[DW]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space]]''). It also maintained a mobile headquarters in the form of a large bus-like vehicle that could be driven to the site of an incident. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Dæmons]]'') The HQ subsequently moved a number of times, finally settling in a building in the country that had been built over the ruins of a [[priory]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Pyramids of Mars]]'').
 
In late [[2006]], UNIT had a base in the [[Tower of London]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Christmas Invasion]]'') It was still in use in [[2009]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'')
 
From around 2008 on, UNIT possessed at least two flying carrier ships, the ''[[Valiant (aircraft carrier)|Valiant]]'' ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sound of Drums]]'') and the ''[[Starling]]'' ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Age of Ice]]''), which could be used as bases. The ''Valiant'' was destroyed in the 2009 Dalek invasion.
 
=== Branches outside of [[Great Britain]] ===
* [[UNIT Central Control]] was in [[Geneva]], [[Switzerland]]. Martha Jones was briefly attached to Geneva when UNIT was tasked with handling security for the CERN project ([[BBCR]]: ''[[Lost Souls]]'')
* The [[French]] division of UNIT was known as [[NUIT]] (or Nations Unies Intelligence Taskforce). ([[NA]]: ''[[The Dying Days]]'')
* The [[Russia]]n division was named [[OGRON|ОГРОН]] or OGRON. This stood for Operativnaya Gruppa Rasvedkoy Obyedinyonnih Natsiy, which roughly translated as United Nations Reconnaissance Operations Group.([[PDA]]: ''[[Emotional Chemistry]]'')
* South-East Asia possessed a multi-national UNIT contingent, [[UNIT-SEA]], headquartered in [[Singapore]]. ([[PDA]]: ''[[Bullet Time]]'')
** UNIT had a [[Japan]]ese division by [[2010]]. ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Golden Ones]]'')
* [[Germany]]'s [[Kriegeskind Castle]] was converted into a UNIT base when the organisation was formed, serving as both a research centre and military outpost. It was destroyed following a paranormal outbreak. ([[CC]]: ''[[Old Soldiers (CC audio story)|Old Soldiers]]'')
* UNIT has Osterhagen Stations in Germany, [[Argentina]], [[Liberia]] and [[China]].
* UNIT had a Liaison Office in [[New York City]], which began expanding in [[2005]]. ([[WEB]]: ''[[UNIT website|http://www.unit.org.uk/press/newyork.shtml]]'') By 2009 this had become a major base in the heart of the city, carrying out projects like [[Project Indigo]]. The base was later heavily damaged, if not destroyed, by the [[Dalek]]s. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Stolen Earth]]'')
* [[Australia]]'s [[UNIT]] base was underwater, in the [[Sydney]] harbour; it contained a museum of alien relics. In [[2010]] it came under attack by the [[Skith]]. ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Age of Ice]]'')
 
== Organisation ==
In the early [[1970s]], UNIT was overseen by a Commander-in-Chief in [[Geneva]]. ([[REF]]: ''[[The Making of Doctor Who]]'')
 
UNIT's status was supported by enabling legislation that allowed it to assume emergency powers when necessary. Although it operated under the authority of the United Nations, its members were seconded from the host country's military and were still bound to obey that chain of command. Lethbridge-Stewart, for example, reported to the [[Ministry of Defence]] and the [[Prime Minister]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[Terror of the Zygons]]'') However, when such orders conflicted, appeals could be made to Geneva.
 
Due to the international nature of the organisation, it was viewed with suspicion by local military and national security agencies, who felt that it might impinge on their sovereignty. UNIT's existence was known to the public, but mainly as a security organisation; its actual agenda was classified. Some believed it to be a kind of covert counter-terrorist unit.
 
Despite the change of name to the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, the United Nations commanded and funded UNIT. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]''/''[[The Poison Sky]]'', [[TW]]: ''[[Children of Earth: Day One]]'')
 
== Equipment and uniforms ==
=== Equipment ===
Its personnel had a wide range of weaponry to call on, some custom-made to combat specific threats. Standard weaponry of UNIT ca. 2010 consisted of G36 and G36C assault rifles, M4A1 assault rifles, limited numbers of K23B-styled M4s seen in the episode, [[The Poison Sky]]. SIG-Sauer P226 pistols are seen as their main sidearm, as well as heavy weapons such as the FIM-92A Stinger and the AT4 rocket launcher. The standard issue firearm in the 1970s was the L1A1 SLR, a British version of the FN FAL, which was the current rifle used by the British Army. In the late 1990s, UNIT troops were armed with the Steyr AUG assault rifle.([[DW]]: ''[[Battlefield]]'') As the Brigadier explained to the Doctor, these were armour-piercing munitions for use against [[robot]]s, explosive rounds for Yetis, silver-tipped rounds and gold-tipped rounds for use against Cybermen. ([[DW]]: ''[[Battlefield]]'') UNIT had a [[laser rifle]] at its disposal to deal with a [[Krynoid]], though the weapon did not manage to kill it. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Seeds of Doom]]'')
 
UNIT had access to the ''[[USS Calvin]]'' (a ship) and ''[[Octopus Rock]]'' (an advanced deep-sea [[submarine]]). They also had experimental diving suits made of [[dwarf star alloy]] capable of surviving miles below the surface. ([[BBCR]]: ''[[Submission]]'')
 
=== Uniforms ===
==== [[20th century]] ====
Early in its history, UNIT troops and officers wore one-piece beige coveralls with a green/grey shirt and and silver/green tie with sand-coloured berets not unlike the British Special Air Service. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'' through [[DW]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'') Apart from Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who retained his regular uniform, the exceptions to this were new futuristic-looking uniforms, which consisted of a zip-up jacket without lapels worn over a rolled-neck sweater, ([[DW]]: ''[[The Ambassadors of Death]]'') and combat gear, as worn by the troops stationed at the [[Inferno Project]] in [[Eastchester]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[Inferno]]'')
 
They reverted to uniforms not unlike that worn by the [[British Army]], but with the addition of UNIT badges. ([[DW]]: ''[[Terror of the Autons]]'' through ''[[The Seeds of Doom]]'')
 
:''This may apply only to UNIT troops stationed in [[Great Britain]], where the [[Third Doctor]] worked as [[scientific advisor]].''
 
In the [[1990s]] they retained the standard military look, with the addition of a blue cap (with blue representing the United Nations). ([[DW]]: ''[[Battlefield]]'')
 
==== [[21st century]] ====
By [[2006]], UNIT troops had adopted a paramilitary all-black look, with scarlet berets. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Christmas Invasion]]'') Officers wore service dress (Such as British Army No2 Dress or US Army Class A). ([[TW]]: ''[[Fragments (TV story)|Fragments]]'', [[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'',''[[The Stolen Earth]]'') As an alternative, officers could wear a black version of service dress with the UNIT Beret. ([[DW]]: ''[[Turn Left]]'')
 
== Divisions ==
UNIT maintained a number of specialised departments. One, the Paranormal Division, in which Lieutenant [[Hamlet Macbeth]] investigated [[psychic power]]s and phenomena. ([[NA]]: ''[[The Left-Handed Hummingbird]]'') [[UNIT Broadsword]] was [[UNIT]]'s intelligence wing and Special Ops division. ([[NA]]: ''[[No Future]]'')  It also maintained the Warehouse, a place to store [[alien artefact]]s; security breaches at this and similar facilities were handled by the Containment Team. ([[BBV]]: ''[[Auton (BBV video)|Auton]]'') Internal affairs were handled by the Internal Security Division. ([[BBV]]: ''[[Auton 2: Sentinel]]'') UNIT also maintained a warehouse known as the [[Black Archive]]. ([[SJA]]: ''[[Enemy of the Bane]]'')
 
== Call signs ==
UNIT used a variety of call signs and code words for their agents. The most common call sign was 'Greyhound'. By convention the senior officer (usually Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart) was Greyhound One ([[DW]]: ''[[Invasion of the Dinosaurs]]''), or Greyhound Leader. Other Greyhounds included Mike Yates as Greyhound Two ([[DW]]: ''[[The Dæmons]])'', Martha Jones as Greyhound Six, ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'') and [[Ross Jenkins]] as Greyhound Forty ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]''). The commander of operations was often called 'Trap 1', with both Lethbridge-Stewart (''[[DW]]: [[Invasion of the Dinosaurs]]'') and Colonel Mace ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'') using the call sign at times. An alternative term was 'Watchtower'. ([[DW]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'')
 
More unusual were the call signs used during the first [[World Peace Conference]] which were based on [[planet]]s of the [[Sol system]], with the Brigadier as "[[Jupiter]]" and [[Mike Yates]] as "[[Venus]]". ([[DW]]: ''[[The Mind of Evil]]'') Lieutenant Richards, commanding a missile convoy, was designated 'Salamander Six-Zero'. Brigadier Bambera, in the same operation, was 'Seabird'. ([[DW]]: ''[[Battlefield]]'')
 
Helicopter call signs included 'Windmill 347' ([[DW]]: ''[[The Mind of Evil]]''), 'Eagle' ([[DW]]: ''[[The Green Death]]'') and 'Uniform November Nine-Zero' ([[DW]]: ''[[Battlefield]]''), whilst the ''Valiant'' was 'Hawk Major' ([[DW]]: ''[[The Poison Sky]]'').
 
== Alternate timeline versions ==
* The [[Seventh Doctor]] visited one timeline in which [[human]]s had made peace with the [[Silurian]]s after the [[Wenley Moor]] affair. In this universe, [[United Races Intelligence Command]] or URIC had replaced UNIT. An alternative version of Muriel Frost headed the organisation, following the death of the Brigadier in a bomb attack; this world's Doctor was killed in the same attack. ([[DWM]]: ''[[Final Genesis]]'')
* Another alternate outcome of the Wenley Moor incident saw the Silurians conquer Earth, with the remnants of UNIT fighting a vicious insurgency against them. ([[NA]]: ''[[Blood Heat]]'')
* The [[Republic of Great Britain|fascist Britain]] the Doctor visited during the events of [[DW]]: [[Inferno (TV story)|Inferno]] had it's own version of UNIT: The [[Republican Security Forces]].
* In another timeline, the [[Third Doctor]]'s [[the Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] materialised in Hong Kong in [[1997]] where a retired Brigadier was now living. The absence of the Doctor had left UNIT alone to face off against threats to Earth; while Earth had not fallen, the damage and chaos on Earth had been extensive, and the Brigadier was seen as a paranoid joke. For a number of years, a trapped [[The Master (Unbound)|Master]] had acted as a UN Scientific Advisor. ([[BFDWU]]: ''[[Sympathy for the Devil]]'')
* A deliberately altered timeline saw UNIT fighting a counter-insurgency against a British anarchist terrorist group named [[Black Star]]. A plainclothes division named Broadsword had been created. ([[NA]]: ''[[No Future]]'')
* In several possible future timeline, UNIT is replaced further into the 21st Century. In one, it's replaced by the more militant UNISYC (United Nations Intelligence Security Yard Corps). ([[EDA]]: ''[[Alien Bodies]]'') In another, it is superceded by the global military [[PRISM]]. ([[PDA]]: ''[[The Indestructible Man]]'')
* In [[Donna's World]], UNIT soldiers retrieved the dead body of the Doctor following the [[Christmas Star]] incident, and later a division of UNIT worked with [[Rose Tyler]] to reverse-engineer the TARDIS and allow [[Donna Noble]] to go back in time and restore the proper timeline. ([[DW]]: ''[[Turn Left]]'')
 
== List of UNIT personnel ==
* [[Field Marshal]] [[Thatcher (The Invasion)|Thatcher]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')
* [[Lieutenant-General]] [[Sanchez]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Stolen Earth]]'' / ''[[Journey's End]]'')
* [[Major-General]] [[Billy Rutlidge|Rutlidge]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')
* [[Brigadier]] Sir [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart]] ([[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart - List of Appearances|Appearances]]) (Brigadier, retired)
* Brigadier [[Winifred Bambera]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Battlefield]]'', [[NA]]: ''[[Head Games]]'', [[MA]]: ''[[Downtime (novelisation)|Downtime]]'')
* Brigadier General [[Adrienne Kramer]] ([[EDA]]: ''[[Vampire Science]]'') (American officer, [[2000]])
* [[Colonel]] [[Ross Brimmicombe-Wood]] ([[BFDWU]]: ''[[Sympathy for the Devil]]'')
* Colonel [[Faraday]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Android Invasion]]'')
* Colonel [[Charles Crichton]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'') (director of UNIT circa [[1983]])
* Colonel [[Robert Dalton]] (''[[Time Heals]]'', ''[[Snake Head]]'')
* Colonel [[Emily Chaudhry]] (''[[Snake Head]]'', ''[[The Longest Night]]'', ''[[The Wasting]]'')
* Colonel [[Alan Mace]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]''/''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
* Colonel [[Tom McKay]] ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Age of Ice]]'')
* Colonel [[Augustus Oduya]] ([[TW]]: ''[[Children of Earth: Day One]]'', ''[[Children of Earth: Day Three]]'', ''[[Children of Earth: Day Five]]'')
* Colonel [[Tia Karim]] ([[SJA]]: ''[[Death of the Doctor]]'')
* [[Major]] [[Walton]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'')
* Major [[Cosworth]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Mind of Evil]]'')
* Major [[Beresford]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Seeds of Doom]]'')
* Major [[Husak]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Battlefield]]'')
* Major [[Richard Blake]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Christmas Invasion]]'')
* Major [[Cal Kilburne]] ([[SJA]]: ''[[Enemy of the Bane]]'')
* [[Captain]] [[Jimmy Turner]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')
* Captain [[Jimmy Munro]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'')
* Captain [[Hawkins]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'')
* Captain [[Mike Yates]] ([[Mike Yates - List of Appearances|Appearances]]) (dishonourably discharged)
* [[McCrae]] ([[PDA]]: ''[[Heart of TARDIS]]'')
* [[Slater]] ([[PDA]]: ''[[Heart of TARDIS]]'')
* Captain [[Muriel Frost]] ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Mark of Mandragora]]'' onwards)
* Captain [[Cavendish]] ([[MA]]: ''[[Downtime (novelisation)|Downtime]]'')
* Captain [[Marion Price]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'' / ''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
* Captain [[Erisa Magambo]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Turn Left]]'', ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'')
* Captain [[Cudlow]] ([[BBCR]]: ''[[Submission]]'')
* [[Lieutenant]] Richards ([[DW]]: ''[[Battlefield]]'')
* Lieutenant [[Will Hoffman]] ([[ST]]: ''[[The Terror of the Darkness]]'')
* [[Flight Lieutenant]] [[Françoise Lavel]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Battlefield]]'')
* [[Sergeant]] [[Zbrigniev]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Battlefield]]'')
* Sergeant [[Calhoun]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'')
* Sergeant [[Wikowsky]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'' / ''[[The Poison Sky]]'',''[[The Stolen Earth]]'')
* Corporal/Sergeant/[[Warrant Officer]] [[John Benton]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'')
* Corporal [[Carol Bell]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Mind of Evil]]'',''[[The Claws of Axos]]'')
* Corporal [[Manning]] ([[DWM]]: ''[[The Age of Ice]]'')
* [[Private]] [[Pandofski]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'')
* Private [[Harris (The Sontaran Stratagem)|Harris]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'' / ''[[The Poison Sky]]'', ''[[Turn Left]]'')
* Private [[Steve Gray]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'' / ''[[The Poison Sky]]'', ''[[Turn Left]]'')
* Private [[Jenkins (The Dæmons)|Jenkins]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Dæmons]]'')
* Private [[Jalandra]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Stolen Earth]]'')
* Private [[Ross Jenkins]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'' / ''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
 
=== Scientific advisors ===
* [[Elizabeth Shaw]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'')
* [[The Doctor]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Invasion]]'' unofficially, [[DW]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'' onwards officially)
* [[Iris Wildthyme]] ([[EDA]]: ''[[The Scarlet Empress]]'')
* [[The Master (Unbound)|Ke Le]] (alternate timeline, [[BFDWU]]: ''[[Sympathy for the Devil]]'')
* [[Malcolm Taylor (Planet of the Dead)|Professor Malcolm Taylor]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'')
 
==== Assistants ====
* Dr. [[Elizabeth Shaw]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'')
* [[Jo Grant]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Terror of the Autons]]'')
* [[Katharine Delbane]] ([[PDA]]: ''[[Heart of TARDIS]]'')
 
=== Medical officers ===
* Doctor Sweetman ([[MA]]: [[The Scales of Injustice]])
* Surgeon-Lieutenant [[Harry Sullivan]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Robot (TV story)|Robot]]'')
* Doctor [[Martha Jones]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'')
 
=== Others ===
* [[Sarah Jane Smith]] was a civilian journalist, but closely associated with UNIT. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'') She kept a book of her years with UNIT in her attic. Her files were said to be top secret. ([[SJA]]: ''[[Enemy of the Bane]]'')
 
== See also ==
* [[UNIT dating controversy]]
 
== Behind the scenes ==
* In [[1984]], a comedic stage play titled ''[[Recall UNIT: The Great Tea-Bag Mystery]]'' was produced, written by [[Richard Franklin]] (Captain [[Mike Yates]]) who also reprised his character in the play. The cast included [[Nicholas Courtney]] as the Brigadier and [[John Levene]] as [[John Benton|Sergeant Benton]] and was performed between [[20 August]] and [[24 August]] as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
* [[BBV Productions]] have made a [[Auton Trilogy|trilogy]] of videos featuring the [[Auton]]s and UNIT, although they feature none of the original members.
* Following the broadcast of the 2005 series, in his regular column in ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' [[DWM 360|#360]] ([[August]] [[2005]]), executive producer [[Russell T Davies]] explained that the United Nations were no longer happy to be associated with the organisation, and its full name could not now be used. However, the "UNIT" and "UN" abbreviations could still be used, as long as it was not explained what the letters stood for. The modified "Unified Intelligence Taskforce" name was first uttered on-screen in ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'', although the same episode includes a line of dialogue indicating the United Nations still supports UNIT with funding; in addition, the acronym as shown on the organisation's insignia still nearly defines U.N.I.T. as separate words.
* The UNIT vehicles and the mobile headquarters used in many of the adventures from (1969-1975) were BBC Outside Broadcast vans used by the BBC production unit, with the BBC logos on the vehicles covered up.
 
== External links ==
* [http://www.unit.org.uk/ The BBC's UNIT website]
 
{{UNIT stories}}
 
[[Category:United Nations Intelligence Taskforce| ]]
[[Category:United Nations Intelligence Taskforce| ]]
[[Category:Military]]
[[Category:Military]]
[[Category:Collectors of alien artefacts]]
[[Category:Collectors of alien artefacts]]

Revision as of 15:54, 16 July 2012

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