Michael Stanforth

Vice Admiral Hieronymus "Harold" Michael Stanforth was a flag officer of the UNSC Navy and the head of Naval Intelligence Section Three, its clandestine intelligence gathering group.

Early career
By 2503, Hieronymus Stanforth had risen to the rank of Admiral. On June 13 of that year, Stanforth sent a message from his ship, the, to then-Captain Preston Cole. The Office of Naval Intelligence had discovered that Cole's wife Lyrenne Castilla was in fact an Insurrectionist and the commander of the Bellicose. Stanforth broke regulations by warning Cole three hours before Reach Central Command transmitted the orders for Castilla's arrest and Cole's recall. Stanforth told Cole:

In 2507, Stanforth held the rank of Captain, possibly due to demotion or because his position as an admiral was temporary. During this same year he noticed the potential of Dr. Catherine Halsey, as she corrected Elias Carver's work while she was still a young upstart. This was the start of Stanforth's continuous aiding of Dr. Halsey with her project as her military counterpart and protecting her and the project from those that wanted to see it disbanded. During the next three years, the captain would rise in rank to become a vice admiral by December 2510.



ONI projects
Stanforth was head of Section Three of Office of Naval Intelligence from 2512 to 2530. He was involved with many classified projects including GUNGNIR, SPARTAN and MJOLNIR. During the Human-Covenant War, he was also involved in other highly classified projects such as the SPARTAN-III program. Although protecting Halsey and her SPARTAN-II program, he also prevented her from accessing classified information such as information on the SPARTAN-III program.

In 2517, he refused to allow Dr. Halsey to use the diplomatic shuttle Han on her study for the SPARTAN candidates unless she had a military escort. Halsey chose then-Junior-Grade Lieutenant Jacob Keyes for the assignment.

In 2525, Stanforth gave the SPARTAN-IIs their first briefing on the Covenant. Stanforth's briefing included diagrams of Unggoy and Kig-yar, as well as information on the Battle of Harvest.

In May 2531, then-Vice Admiral Cole sent a message from the to Admiral Stanforth, who had become the UNSC Region One Commander at Reach CENTCOM. Cole outlined a series of recommendations intended to safeguard the location of Earth and other human colonies. These recommendations would form the foundation of the Cole Protocol. A nearly identical message, known as Hypodermic FXT-J, was sent to Admiral Margaret Orlenda Parangosky.

By 2535, Stanforth had entered a committee discussing ONI budget on several projects, including the MJOLNIR project, forcing the project to take on a generational "Mark" system to categorize, prioritize and serialize the project in budgets.

By 2552, Stanforth commanded FLEETCOM Sector Three, which included the Sigma Octanus System. He was the first person who then-Commander Jacob Keyes informed via SATCOM of the impending Covenant invasion of Sigma Octanus IV. He led UNSC forces during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV from the UNSC Leviathan. Following the battle, Stanforth promoted Commander Keyes to the rank of Captain. To his later regret, Stanforth had given Dr. Halsey the after-action report on the battle. Later he was afraid that she might find out about the Forerunner crystal found there.

After the UNSC victory at Sigma Octanus, he died during the Fall of Reach on August 30, 2552.

Trivia

 * Vice Admiral Stanforth suffered from "space walk" due to his long terms in microgravity.
 * The original printing of Halo: The Fall of Reach states that Stanforth was a vice admiral in 2517, but that he was a rear admiral in 2525. Dr. Halsey's personal journal and the 2011 Definitive Edition of The Fall of Reach correct this discrepancy.
 * The memorial at ONI Alpha Site lists Stanforth's date of birth as July 03, 2486. However, this would have him reaching the rank of Admiral at seventeen years of age. Thus his birth date on the memorial is, much like the birth date of Preston Cole, likely an error.
 * He enjoyed whiskey and Sweet William cigars.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole
 * Halo: Fall of Reach
 * Boot Camp