Office of Naval Intelligence

The Office of Naval Intelligence, often abbreviated as ONI (pronounced o-ni), is the intelligence service of the UNSC Navy.

Introduction
The Office of Naval Intelligence is a division of the UNSC Navy that is responsible for UNSC intelligence, including electronic intelligence, naval intelligence, counter-espionage, and propaganda.

Although it is under the jurisdiction of the Navy, ONI appears to report directly to HIGHCOM, and is responsible for intelligence matters that are handled across the UNSC, and are not restricted solely to the Navy.

Many of its functions and subdivisions, like the Beta-5 Division and the SPARTAN-III Program, are enigmatic, and its personnel are regarded as mysteries to mainline naval officers, who often refer to ONI personnel as "spooks". ONI personnel appear to enjoy a significant amount of liberty in their duties, oftentimes violating moral boundaries to achieve their ends or acquisitioning from a large number of UNSC resources.

Operations
The Office of Naval Intelligence is often isolated from other UNSC branches, and often carries out its operations in isolation. However, they appear to have a surprisingly large amount of military equipment for an intelligence service, and have a strong fleet presence, possibly because of ONI's association with the Navy. The Office of Naval Intelligence possesses a destroyer-class prowler starship, the, which is used as a command vessel and a secure conference location. ONI also maintains the UNSC's force of Prowler craft, a major source of Covenant deployment intelligence, under the UNSC Prowler Corps. Surprisingly, ONI also operates field intelligence, with units such as ONI Recon 111 liaising with mainstream UNSC military units.

However, intra-ONI dynamics are often tense with severe competition amongst its own personnel. Personnel are oftentimes heavily scrutinized by commanding officers, and are given notably low chances for error under pressure of demotion or otherwise.

Section 0
The most secretive section of ONI. Almost no one knows that it even exists, let alone exactly what they do. From the records of an AI named Melissa, it is thought to be ONI Internal Affairs, charged with rooting out and eliminating illegal programs.

Section I
The main intelligence-gathering section, and the foremost provider of electronic intelligence for the UNSC. Covenant ship movements and force deployment, evacuation notices for colonies, deletion of data for secrecy purposes, and much more are all done by Section 1.

Section II
The propaganda branch of ONI. They handle communication to and from colonies to reduce the level of rumors and information that would cripple morale. They were responsible for going public with the SPARTAN-II program. Even after the release of this information to the public, the Spartans were still viewed as near-mythological figures. Most Marines and ODSTs didn't believe they even existed until they saw them for themselves. Because of the low morale among the colonies, the Spartans are always listed as Missing In Action or Wounded in Action instead of Killed In Action upon death. This gives the illusion that Spartans cannot and do not die.

Section III
The top-secret projects division of ONI. They are responsible for the SPARTAN-II project, the NOVA project, and many other "black op" programs. The secrets possessed by ONI are the key to Earth's continued survival, for the Covenant cannot be beaten with military forces alone. Though a few of Section III's programs are well known for their success, most are treated with contempt by the Marines and brass of the UNSC. This is especially true of the Spartans, who are generally regarded as "freaks." The Beta-5 Division is the sub-cell of Section III that operates the Spartan-III project.

Underneath Section III is Naval Special Warfare/Naval Special Weapons, the section which coordinates special operations. Also under Section III is the ORION Project. Section 3 also ran the operation to replace the Spartan II children with clones that would later die in mysterious "accidents."

UNSC Prowler Corps
The ONI branch that handles the Prowlers and their electronic intelligence gathering.

ONI Signal Corps
The Signal Corps is tasked with broadcasting radio signals in order to confuse Covenant fleet and troop movements, diverting attention from UNSC Colonies.

Known ONI Personnel

 * Vice Admiral Margaret O. Parangosky
 * Rear Admiral Rich
 * Captain Gibson
 * Colonel James Ackerson
 * Colonel Herzog
 * Commander J. G. Ortega
 * Lieutenant Commander Fhajad-084
 * Lieutenant Commander Jilan al-Cygni
 * Major Standish
 * Lieutenant Elias Haverson
 * Lieutenant Wagner
 * Corporal Jason Morelli
 * Codename: SURGEON
 * Codename: COALMINER
 * Kowalski
 * Mrs. Lawson
 * Rani Sobeck

ONI Ships

 * STARS
 * - Retired
 * UNSC Prowler
 * - Retired
 * Stealth Cruiser
 * Stealth Cruiser

Reach

 * CASTLE Base
 * ONI Medical Facility
 * HIGHCOM Armory Omega

Onyx

 * Zone 67
 * Camp Currahee

Earth

 * Chawla Base
 * HighCom Facility Bravo-6

ONI Units

 * ONI Recon 111

NavSpecWar

 * Beta-5 Division
 * Spartan-II
 * Spartan-III Battalion

Trivia

 * ONI is probably a reference to an older Bungie game, Oni.
 * The Office of Naval Intelligence is a real life existing organization within the U.S. Navy.
 * The organization's initials are often pronounced as "own-ee", which is perhaps a reference to a mythical Japanese monster called "oni."
 * ONI's motto, "Semper Vigilans", is the same motto of the United States Civil Air Patrol Air Force Auxiliary.

Related Links

 * United States Office of Naval Intelligence on Wikipedia