Van Zandt

General Van Zandt was an officer in the United Nations Space Command Marine Corps during the Human-Covenant War. After the war, he served as a representative of the Marine Corps to the Office of Naval Intelligence on at least one occasion.

Biography
During the war, Van Zandt was one of a minority of people who believed that the only hope for ending the conflict and ensuring humanity's survival was through diplomatic means, and so he lobbied for years to engage the Covenant in peace talks. He contended that the Covenant were far too advanced and powerful to be defeated through feats of arms, leaving diplomacy as the only viable solution to the crisis, even as the Covenant were engaged in systematic genocide on a galactic scale. Zandt's advocacy received very little support and was not adopted by UNSC leadership. However, the events of late 2552 would ultimately prove Zandt to have been correct, and the UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios subsequently concluded a formal peace treaty in early 2553.

By 2555, he had been appointed as a representative of the Marine Corps to the Office of Naval Intelligence. In March of that year, Zandt was among the officers and scientific consultants present at an emergency ONI conference held at HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6 after it was discovered that all intact Halo Installations were counting down to activation. After Dr. William Iqbal advised that the countdown could only have been activated from Installation 00, the Ark, the conference decided to send an expedition there to attempt to deactivate the array. Zandt voiced his opinion, supporting that of Lord Hood, that the Sangheili's help, specifically that of the Arbiter, would be instrumental to the success of the mission, overriding Serin Osman's objections. Consequently, a joint UNSC-Swords of Sanghelios operation was dispatched to the Ark; it would ultimately be successful in its mission.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Hunters in the Dark