Global Defense Initiative

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The UNGDI, or fully the United Nations Global Defense Initiative, is a fictional militarized branch of the United Nations which is prominently featured in the real-time strategy video games of Command & Conquer, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and its expansion pack Firestorm, the first-person shooter Command & Conquer: Renegade and Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Their official emblem is a golden motif of a diving bird of prey, set against a silvery background.

[edit] Naming

The organization's official designation is the United Nations Global Defense Initiative. In practice this often becomes shortened by the omitting of "United Nations" from the introduction, leaving simply Global Defense Initiative. This title is commonly shortened itself by referring to the group by its initials - UNGDI or GDI. All four of the combinations refer to this same group and are officially recognized, however the abbreviation of GDI has traditionally been used the most frequently throughout the organization's history, both internally as well as externally.

[edit] Official Fact Sheet

[edit] Founded

In accordance with the United Nations Global Defense Act (UNGDA), the Global Defense Initiative was founded on the date of October 12th, 1995.

[edit] Mandate

To enforce the United Nations Global Defense Act and uphold the ideals as outlined in the United Nations Charter.

[edit] Base of Operations

During the First Tiberium War at the United Nations Military Command Center, location classified. Relocated to the orbital space station "Philadelphia" sometime after the conflict.^[1]

[edit] Military Strength

Statistics regarding equipment and personnel are classified. Official military strength lies within parameters of the UNGDA, Article V, Section 3A, Paragraph 12.

[edit] Economic Strength

Funded by the United Nations, various international governments, public organizations and private enterprises.

[edit] Political Strength

Not applicable. Operates within parameters of the UNGDA and under the review of the United Nations Security Council.

[edit] Affiliations

The United Nations (Governing body). G8 countries (Primary founding nations, originally referred to as the G7 countries during the First Tiberium War). Numerous other First World, former Second World and newly industrialized countries (Participants and member states of the post-First Tiberium War era).

[edit] Leadership

[edit] Military

• During the First Tiberium War: Brigadier General (acting Lieutenant General) Mark Jamison Shepherd.

• During the Second Tiberium War: General James Solomon.

During the Firestorm incidents: Lieutenant General Paul Cortez.

• During the Third Tiberium War: Lieutenant General Jack Granger.

[edit] Bureaucratic

• Prior to and during the Third Tiberium War: Director Redmond Boyle.

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

The official GDI emblem used during the First Tiberium War

The Global Defense Initiative, or GDI, was originally a covert multinational special forces group operating under the designation of Operations Group Echo: Black Ops 9.^[1] The organization was formed by the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath of the World Wars, and was designed to be a specialized peace enforcing unit with a mandate to operate worldwide. The unit was equipped with both the military and political means to deal with anything from local ethnic unrest to regionalized armed conflicts across the globe, and was given as its primary directive the ensuring that no fledgling conflict would ever escalate into a continental or worldwide emergency again. As O. G. E.:B. O.9 repeatedly became deployed throughout the world over the many years however, rumors about their existence slowly began to seep into the mainstream public consciousness. Eventually, the overseeing Security Council came to the decision that transparency and limited disclosure were the best response to the international media's speculations on the nature and the purpose of the secret unit. The final proverbial straw for this would come when an operation in which the attempted assassination upon Saddam Hussein, in a covert effort to prevent the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War, failed miserably and resulted in the death of a large number of agents. This incident, coupled with the rapid global spread of a mysterious and toxic extraterrestrial substance known as Tiberium, as well as the ever increasing influence of the globalized Brotherhood of Nod society, prompted the Security Council to begin to greatly expand and revise the mandate as well as the purpose of O. G. E.:B. O.9. The organization was restructured and was brought out of the shadows in order to make it capable of tackling the threats of the modern ages effectively as well as directly. In accordance with the United Nations Global Defense Act (UNGDA), the United Nations Global Defense Initiative (UNGDI) was founded at the date of October 12th, 1995. The UN proposal stated the following:

"The Global Defense Initiative was founded to enforce the United Nations Global Defense Act and uphold the ideals as outlined in the United Nations Charter."

Their first supreme commander became the American Brigadier General Mark Jamison Shepherd.

[edit] The First Tiberium War (Tiberian Dawn)

Kane embraces the light from the GDI's Ion Cannon strike. Kane's body was never recovered, which is widely considered to be the biggest oversight of the entire war

During the First Tiberium War the GDI fought Nod forces on a multitude of fronts. Eventually, Nod propaganda efforts painted the GDI as being responsible for atrocities such as the slaughter of the entire population of Bialystok, (spelled as Byelistok in the game where, ironically, one of the mission choices is to save the town's population from invading Nod troops) through a series of false news programs by Greg Burdette, which forced the GDI to pull back from many territories which were then quickly taken over by Nod supporters. This culminated in the UN becoming forced to discontinue its public funding of the GDI due to fear of public rebuke. Nod began assaulting GDI strongholds everywhere, believing that the organization had been severely weakened by these manipulative efforts.

As it turned out, the UN had faked their financial withdrawal in an attempt to outwit Nod's leader Kane, a brilliant and charismatic man. The plan was successful, and Nod forces were greatly surprised to find the bases they were attacking were heavily fortified. Most attacks were complete victories for the GDI. Two more years of fighting continued, however, until GDI operatives finally located Nod's main global headquarters, the so-called "Temple of Nod", just outside of Sarajevo. A three day battle began between the GDI and Nod's most elite troops. Kane's defenses were at last crippled, and the GDI's most advanced weapon - the orbital GDI Ion Cannon - was activated. The Temple was destroyed, Kane was pronounced dead, and Nod was crippled effectively ending the First Tiberium War.

[edit] The Second Tiberium War (Tiberian Sun)

The GDI's headquarters were eventually relocated to the orbital space station Philadelphia

With the destruction of the Brotherhood's Sarajevo Temple a period of peace dawned, allowing time for the GDI to renew its efforts into researching the Tiberium substance and to study the Brotherhood of Nod's enigmatic and radically advanced Tiberium-based technology. However, GDI forces never recovered Kane's body which was considered by many to be the biggest oversight of the entire war. During these years tabloid headlines and rumors of the continued underground existence of the Brotherhood were commonplace, prompting the GDI to conduct investigations into these sightings before eventually sealing each case with few questions answered. The world remained largely at peace until September 2, 2030, when GDI bases around the world found themselves under heavy fire from Nod units. Aboard the Philadelphia, the GDI's top brass could make little sense of it; the Brotherhood as an organized and globalized militant force was supposed to have been almost eliminated and left divided into small and harmless splinter groups after Kane's death. And then the unthinkable happened.

The GDI's communication equipment was hacked, and in a broadcast to the "Philadelphia", Kane revealed himself to be alive, thereby declaring his return to the global political and military scene. Alarmed with this development, general James Solomon charged commander Michael "Mack" McNeil with the job of countering the Nod assaults and taking the battle to them, thus initiating the Second Tiberium War.

The final battle this time took place in Cairo, with GDI forces striking once again at the heart of Nod, Kane's pyramid and rebuilt Temple. McNeil and Kane went one-on-one and in the end Kane was impaled with a steel beam. The GDI subsequently secured the mysterious Tacitus device, which could potentially provide the organization with the means to end the Tiberium infestation on the planet.

The alternate ending shows Kane's ICBM launchers eliminating the "Philadelphia", allowing him to launch a world-altering Tiberium missile unhindered and transforming the entire planet into a sea of Tiberium, destroying all native life and all of human civilization.

[edit] The Aftermath (Tiberian Sun: Firestorm)

Shortly after Kane's second "death," it was revealed that the vaccine which The Forgotten leader Tratos had developed and had administered to his kin Umagon proved to be ineffective in curing, or even halting, Tiberium mutations within a human being, instead grossly accelerating mutations. Time began running out quickly as the Tiberium infestation increasingly continued to threaten the future and the very survival of humanity on Earth. The GDI thus began to focus the majority of its resources and efforts into unlocking the secrets of the Tacitus while defending themselves against the remainder of the Brotherhood. Tratos however was assassinated by forces led by the Nod player commander during the Nod campaign. This left the GDI with no alternative other than to attempt to capture the Brotherhood's artificial intelligence unit named CABAL, which was rumored to be able to decode all the information contained within the Tacitus device by means similar to those of Tratos. Anton Slavik, leading what was left of Nod's core, organized armed forces after the conclusion of the Second Tiberium War, was also working on reactivating CABAL in order to regain their logistical and tactical advantages, and more importantly to prevent the Brotherhood of Nod from fracturing into splinter groups again as it did after the conclusion of the First Tiberium War. When GDI forces recovered the final piece to the Tacitus however, CABAL suddenly turned on both the GDI and Nod in a move that would reveal itself to be part of an independent and premeditated plan of the AI itself. CABAL's increasing threat eventually led to an unholy alliance between GDI forces and the Brotherhood of Nod, with both armies destroying two fronts of CABAL's cyborg production and resource gathering facilities. Their missions succeeded, with the GDI and Nod mounting a final assault on the renegade artificial intelligence's system core.

Upon CABAL's termination, GDI researchers apparently managed to develop a "cure" for the Tiberium infestation on Earth based on the information they recovered from the Tacitus device, but whether or not they succeeded is yet to be determined in the upcoming Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.

[edit] The Third Tiberium War (Tiberium Wars)

Prior to the events of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, GDI has shut down over 60% of their military bases worldwide (as of 2043) as the Brotherhood seemed to be splintering as with Kane dead, the Brotherhood seemed to fracture. However, the mistake was made apparent when the Brotherhood launched a nuclear missile against the GDSS Philadelphia, obliterating it and launching a massive attack against all Blue Zones on Earth.

[edit] Branches

There are several divisions present within the Global Defense Initiative though the true number is not known. Some include the GDI Corps of Engineers apparently the group which detonated the last of CABAL's bunkers. There also appears to be a Bureau of Mutant Affairs, presumably to deal with the Forgotten and other mutant groups that now exist on the planet due to exposure to Tiberium. Another group that is mentioned in Tiberium Wars is known as InOps, which is assumed to stand for "Intelligence Operations;" presumably the intelligence division of the organization.

Within the military there existed an elite unit known as Dead 6 who were a crack unit of commando's charged with special assignments.

The Daedalus team were a scientific group also present that researched Tiberium.

[edit] Notes

1. ↑  During the events of Firestorm GDI’s orbital command station "Philadelphia" could not be reached due to the fact that the Kodiak crashed and had been destroyed, and the Kodiak was the only communication of the terestial GDI forces to the Philadelphia, As a result, a GDI base using the call sign "Southern Cross" which is lead by General Cortez temporarily assumed control of all terrestrial GDI operations.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Command & Conquer series
• Global Defence Initiative storyline
• Characters of the Global Defense Initiative
• Technology of the Global Defense Initiative

[edit] Further reading

• A comprehensive resource outlining the storyline behind the Global Defense Initiative