Michael Stanforth

Vice Admiral Harold Michael Stanforth was a flag officer of the UNSC Navy. He served as the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence's Section Three, its clandestine operations group, in the early years of the Human-Covenant War.

Early career
By 2503, 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 J. 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 the Office of Naval Intelligence from 2512 to 2530. He was involved with many classified projects including GUNGNIR, SPARTAN and MJOLNIR. 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-II 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 fall of Harvest.

In May 2531, then-Vice Admiral Cole sent a message from the to 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 Parangosky, Commander in Chief of the Office of Naval Intelligence.

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, Vice Admiral 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

 * Stanforth suffered from "space walk" due to his long terms in microgravity.
 * He enjoyed whiskey and Sweet William cigars.

Name
The memorial in Halo 3: ODST gives Stanforth's first name as "Hieronymus", while The Possible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole identifies him as "Harold". This was likely due to a lack of communication between Bungie and the short story's author, Eric Nylund. Simply put, both parties gave differing explanations for the H in his service number: he is referred to by his middle name, Michael, in Halo: The Fall of Reach, while his service number is 00834-19223-HS. As the Data Drop written by 343 Industries reiterates his first name as Harold, this article follows suit. Given the ONI memorial's Easter egg-heavy nature, it should not be considered a wholly reliable source, as elaborated below.

Age
The memorial lists Stanforth's date of birth as July 3, 2486. However, if the timeline of his life from Halo: Evolutions were taken at face value, this would mean he reached the rank of admiral at seventeen years old. Thus, his birth date on the memorial should be, (like the name Hieronymus and the birth date of Preston Cole), considered erroneous. According to the short story, Admiral Stanforth commanded a vessel known as the Leviathan in June 2503. However, as the Marathon class was designed as a replacement for the Halcyon class, (itself designed in 2510), this particular vessel was likely the namesake of Stanforth's later flagship: see here for more information.

As mentioned above, the 2486 figure cannot be considered factually accurate, as it would make Stanforth far too young. However, if he were an admiral in 2510, he would most likely have been middle-aged at the time. If this were the case, Vice Admiral Stanforth would have been nearly a century old near the end of the Human-Covenant War. This is not out of the question, however, as 26th-century medical advances very well may extend human longevity decades beyond what modern science allows. For example, Admiral Margaret Parangosky, the former Commander in Chief of ONI, served at least until the age of 92.

Rank
Perhaps the strangest incongruity in Stanforth's background is his rank. While he was presumably demoted between 2503 and 2507, it is extremely unlikely that his rank would be decreased four grades (from O-10 to O-6) for any reason. No source suggests a disciplinary infraction of any kind, and even if his rank of admiral were temporary (acting admiral), he probably would not have received such a prominent ad hoc position. Dr. Halsey's personal journal makes no mention of Stanforth's past as a flag officer: he is referred to as "the Captain" in entries dated between 2507 and December 2510, after which he is called "the Vice Admiral".

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