Editing Section 31 (section)

===22nd century origins===

Section 31 took its name from Article 14, Section 31 of the Starfleet charter, which allowed certain rules of conduct to be "bent" during times of extraordinary threat. At some point before 2151, a young Ensign Malcolm Reed was recruited by Section 31 or a predecessor of that organization. By the time Reed was posted to the starship Enterprise, he was no longer actively involved in covert operations.

However, in late 2154, when Reed was investigating the kidnapping of Dr. Phlox, he was contacted by Harris, the control operator to whom Reed had previously reported. Harris's organization had entered into a secret agreement with Klingon Admiral Krell: the Klingons abducted Phlox and forced him to aid them with a deadly plague, and Starfleet turned a blind eye.

Harris ordered Reed to slow down the Enterprise's investigation until Phlox could develop a cure. Reed complied, but his tampering was discovered by Captain Jonathan Archer and T'Pol, and Reed was thrown in the brig.

T'Pol reconstructed Reed's communication logs and discovered that he had been in contact with Harris. When confronted with this information, Reed confessed that he had been following Harris's orders. Later, Harris contacted Archer (as per Archer's earlier request of Reed). Later, Reed told Harris not to contact him again. Harris suggested that his organization's "recruitment policy" did not permit agents to quit, but Reed retorted that he had only one commanding officer: Jonathan Archer. (ENT: "Affliction", "Divergence")

In 2155, the organization agreed to provide intelligence on the Earth-based Human terrorist group Terra Prime to the NX-01 crew when it was discovered that Terra Prime was attempting to disrupt the creation of the Coalition of Planets and to drive all non-Humans out of Earth's star system. (ENT: "Demons", "Terra Prime"). Agent Harris implied to Reed that this information would come at a price to be exacted at a later time.

'''''It may be presumed that when the United Federation of Planets was founded in 2161 and the Federation Starfleet established, the agency later known as Section 31 either transferred its purported loyalties to the UFP or was founded as an off-shoot of its Earth Starfleet predecessor – and, possibly, any potential Vulcan, Andorian, and/or Tellarite – counterparts.'''''