William Iqbal

Doctor William Arthur Iqbal is a civilian scientist working at the Department of Xenoarchaeological Studies at the University of Edinburgh. In 2553, after the end of the Human-Covenant War, he and many of his colleagues were hired by the Office of Naval Intelligence to study Forerunner relics discovered on various worlds such as Coral, Reach, Heian and most notably, The Artifact on Earth.

Letter
In January 31, 2553, he sent a message to his colleagues in which he addressed the classified nature of their research and informed that they now worked for the ONI, regardless of their original post and designation. In the letter, he also discussed the post-war situation and the relations with former Covenant races, suspecting humanity would continue to compete with them for information about Forerunner relics. Iqbal also discussed some details concerning their research of Forerunner artifacts, especially the Slipspace portal generator in Africa which he referred to as the "Excession at Voi". He announced that the investigation of the Ross-Ziegler Blip would be re-opened due to its connection with the mass extinction event that coincided with the activation of the Halo Array.