The Prime Directive

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The Prime Directive
Case Studies


The following is pulled from the Starfleet Academy command school curriculum for Command 101: The Prime Directive


General Order 1.  The Prime Directive.  The Federations most sacred regulation.  It prohibits Federation citizens from knowingly or willfully interfering in the natural evolution, development and internal affairs of other cultures, especially those less advanced than the Federation (for planets or cultures who have not yet developed warp travel, all contact is prohibited).  The consequences short term and long term of interference to a civilizations cultural development and evolution are unimaginable, and often irreversible.  

Consider these two incidents:


Omega IV

On stardate 4732.4 Captain Ronald Tracey of the USS Exeter NCC-1672 beamed down to the surface of Omega IV after his crew contracted and succumbed to a viral infection brought aboard by an away team.  Captain Tracey exposed himself and his advanced Starfleet technology (communicator, phaser) and provided Starfleet weapons (phasers) to the Kohms, one of the two main factions of the planets roughly iron-age native population.  The USS Enterprise having investigate the derelict Exeter beamed an away team down to the surface and find Captain Tracey, who had used his phaser to assist the Kohms in a fight against the Yangs, and had set himself up as their leader.  During one attempt to stop Captain Tracey, Tracey attacked and subdued captain Kirk and killed Lt. Galloway.  Dr. Leonard McCoy would later determine the nature of the virus that had hilled the crew of USS Exeter while Kirk and Spock would turn the Kohms against Tracey, and eventually discover certain interesting parallels between the Yangs and Kohms factions and certain 20th century Earth conflicts.  See USS Exeter NCC-1672 mission logs stardate 4732.4 and USS Enterprise NCC-1701 Mission Logs stardate 4733.2 for more information.  After eventually being subdued Captain Ronald Tracey was arrested by Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise and transported to Starbase 1 where after an investigation he would face court martial for charges of:

  • Violation of General Order 1 (the Prime Directive), 
  • Assault on Starfleet personnel (Captain Kirk), 
  • Murder of Starfleet personnel (Lt. Galloway), 
  • Hazarding his ship the USS Exeter NCC-1672 by leaving it abandoned in orbit of Omega IV after the crew had died, 
  • Dereliction of his duty to safeguard the lives of his crew, 
            and
  • Bringing harm and death to the native population of Omega IV (by using Starfleet phasers against the native Yangs)  

On stardate 4733.9 a court martial board consisting of Admiral Theodore Fitzpatrick, Commodore Jose I. Mendez, and Captain Nensi Chandra would find Captain Tracey guilty of all charges.  He would be stripped of his rank, dishonorably discharged from Starfleet and sentenced to a term of no less than 25 years imprisonment at the Tantalus V penal colony.  

Further investigation by Federation historians would reveal a previous visit to planet Omega IV, by a pre-Federation Earth Cargo Service ship, the ECS Philadelphia in 2142.  The Philadelphia's crew, finding the two conflicting factions of the planets population similar in many respects to faction from Earth's past provided the natives with certain artifacts from old Earth: a 50-star American flag, copies of the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence and a book containing information about American history from the 18th to 20th centuries.  The Omegans patterned their society and their conflict roughly after these items (hence the designations "Yangs" and "Kohms" for the two factions).  The interference by Captain Tracey, on top of the Philadelphia's contact led to irreparable damage to the planet's development and evolution.  After reviewing all of this information the Federation Council would place the Omega system under an indefinite quarantine and travel injunction, enforced by monitoring via a series of sensor beacons placed in the systems Kuiper belt.


Mordan IV

In 2319 Commander Mark Jameson, then first officer of the USS Gettysburg was assigned on a special mission as a mediator to negotiate for the release of 63 passengers of a Federation starliner being held hostage on planet Mordan IV.  The passengers were taken hostage by one of the faction leaders, Perator Karnas as leverage to obtain weapons from the Federation in exchange for their release.  Karnas intended to use the weapons against his rival Perator Sain, whom he blamed for the death of his father.  As part of the negotiations between Commander Jameson and Karnas, Jameson agreed to supply Federation weapons to Karnas to use against Perator Sain.  Jameson then without Karnas knowledge supplied identical Federation weapons to Karnas rival.  Years later Jameson would try to explain this as his "interpretation of the Prime Directive, maintaining the balance of power on the planet".  This would however have the opposite effect, as the sudden arming of both sides and Karnas perceived betrayal by Jameson in arming his rivals led to a global scale civil war on Mordan IV.  The civil war would last for 40 years, not ending until a ceasefire was called in 2359.   As Jameson falsified his logs and reports to Starfleet regarding the negotiations and weapons transfers, the truth would not be revealed until 2364 when Admiral Jameson would be requested by the new Mordanite leader, Governor Karnas to return to Mordan IV to negotiate for the release of a Federation diplomatic team being held hostage.  Although the hostage situation would be successfully resolved the mission would end with Jameson's death (see USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D mission logs stardate 41309.5).  The revelation of Jameson's violation of the prime directive and the results of that violation leave an unfortunate stain on the career and legacy of Admiral Mark Jameson, longtime commander of the USS Gettysburg and once commander-in-chief of Starfleet.


As one can see from these examples, while the intentions may be noble from an ethical and moral standpoint, the potential risks to a civilization and even perhaps to oneself ultimately far outweigh the ethical arguments.  It is a struggle that many even of the greatest captains in Starfleet history have struggled with.  Violating the Prime Directive and imposing Federation ideals or agendas or technology on a less developed civilization is tantamount to playing god with that civilization, something that it is not the Federation or Starfleet's place to do.  

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