In its supposedly utopian future, Star Trek has had its fair share of evil Starfleet admirals, and here are all the ones who have appeared in the franchise so far. Originally, the admirals of Starfleet were all upstanding figures who followed the Prime Directive to the letter. It wasn’t until Star Trek: The Next Generation that Trek began to explore the possibility that not everyone in Starfleet had a unified vision of the Federation, and how to deal with their many foes.
TNG had a veritable rogues’ gallery of corrupt Starfleet officers across its seven seasons and four movies. When Star Trek: Deep Space Nine entered the Dominion war, Starfleet faced its biggest challenge in centuries and even Captain Benjamin Sisko had a dark moral moment when he misled the Romulans into joining the fight against the Dominion. The corrupt Starfleet admiral has become a real Star Trek trope over the years, continuing to recur in the modern Trek shows, most recently in the Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3 finale. Here’s every one of Star Trek‘s bad admirals from TNG to Lower Decks, and a list of their crimes.
Admiral Jameson
The first corrupt Star Trek admiral to feature on-screen is Admiral Mark Jameson, who appears in TNG season 1, episode 16, “Too Short a Season”. The elderly Starfleet admiral is dispatched to the Enterprise to negotiate the release of hostages on the planet Mordan IV. During an earlier visit to Mordan IV, Jameson had supplied weapons to both sides of an ongoing conflict, which resulted in forty years of civil war.
As well as violating the prime directive, Jameson covered up his involvement in the arms trade and the ensuing civil war. Worse still, to treat his incurable Iverson’s disease, Jameson accepted an age-reversing drug in exchange for successfully negotiating a treaty on the planet Cerberus II. Unlike his successors in Star Trek‘s gallery of evil admirals, the corrupt admiral did feel guilt for his actions, but his attempts to redeem himself only made things worse. He eventually redeemed himself by releasing the hostages on Mordan IV and coming clean to Captain Picard about his arms dealing.
Vice Admiral Haftel
Vice Admiral Haftel made life incredibly difficult for Jean-Luc Picard and Data in TNG season 3, episode 16. An expert in cybernetics, Haftel boarded the Enterprise after Data built his own daughter, Lal, demanding the officer hand her over for analysis at the Daystrom Institute. Given that Data had been classified as a sentient individual in season 2, episode 19, “The Measure of a Man” this amounts to the vice admiral forcibly separating a father from his child.
Haftel flexed his superior authority aboard the Enterprise, warning Picard that he could not obstruct Lal’s relocation to the Daystrom Institute. The stress of the situation caused by Haftel’s arrival was so great that it eventually led to Lal’s neural systems shutting down. Although he tried to save her, Haftel’s cold assertion that “it just wasn’t meant to be” shows his own lack of guilt over causing the very situation that caused Lal’s death.
Admiral Norah Satie
TNG season 4, episode 21, “The Drumhead” is a fantastic morality play about paranoia and prejudice, anchored by an incredible performance by Jean Simmons as Admiral Norah Satie. Setting up Star Trek: Picard‘s Romulan tragedy decades earlier, Satie represents the anti-Romulan feeling within Starfleet. Sent to investigate a serious accident, Satie points the finger at a crew member with Romulan heritage for sabotage. Picard reveals that this accusation is firmly rooted in Satie’s xenophobic and racist views, averting her attempts to ruin a young officer’s promising career.
Admiral Erik Pressman
Another Starfleet admiral whose checkered history with the Romulans influences his behavior is Admiral Erik Pressman (Terry O’Quinn). As the former captain of Will Riker’s old ship, the USS Pegasus, Pressman oversaw an illegal cloaking experiment that led to the deaths of many fellow officers. When the ship is rediscovered, the admiral wants to pick up where he left off, risking the lives of his fellow officers, and hostilities with the Romulan Empire. His single-minded determination to resurrect the experiment was fueled by his desire to protect the Federation, something that would lead many more Starfleet admirals astray.
Admiral Kennelly
Admiral Kennelly took a page from the Mark Jameson playbook when he entered into an alliance with the Cardassians to preserve diplomatic relations and protect Federation interests. Believing that a Bajoran terrorist cell was responsible for the attack on a Federation colony, the admiral entered into a deal with the Cardassians, who had actually orchestrated the attack. Arguably, Kennelly was manipulated by Cardassian intelligence to help them eliminate the Bajoran terrorists. However, the cold hard facts are that he conspired to have an innocent man killed, and dragged the Enterprise into his conspiracy. Given how she was used by Kennelly, it’s unsurprising that Ensign Ro Laren would later betray Starfleet for the Maquis.
Admiral Ross
As one of Benjamin Sisko’s biggest supporters, Admiral William Ross may not seem the most obvious choice for a bad Star Trek admiral. However, his role in the Dominion war led him to make a very questionable decision. In DS9 season 7, episode 16, “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges”, Ross assists Starfleet’s black-ops department Section 31 in a plot to interfere in Romulan politics for the benefit of the Federation. Using Doctor Julian Bashir, Ross deposes the patriotic Senator Cretak, whom he believed would sell the Federation out to the Dominion in order to protect the Romulan Empire. Framing her for treason, Ross’ plot had essentially led a woman to her possible execution. He may have had solid reasons for doing so, but it casts one of Sisko’s closest allies in a bad light.
Admiral Toddman
Given the heightened political climate and the moral sacrifices made during DS9‘s Dominion war, it’s unsurprising that the show had its fair share of bad admirals. The first to feature in Deep Space Nine is Admiral Toddman, who puts the lives of the entire crew of the USS Defiant at risk in season 3, episode 21, “The Die is Cast”. Another Starfleet admiral who was acting for his perceived greater good, Toddman forbade Sisko from rescuing Garak and Odo from the Cardassian-Romulan fleet in the heart of the Gamma Quadrant.
As a fallback, Toddman ordered Michael Eddington, who would later betray Starfleet for the Maquis, to deactivate the Defiant’s cloaking device, leaving them exposed to the Jem’Hadar. After they’re rescued by the Cardassian-Romulan fleet, Sisko confronts Toddman, who is clearly impressed by the DS9 commander, which suggests Toddman isn’t completely villainous. Interestingly, Toddman was played by Leon Russom, who also portrayed the corrupt Starfleet commander Bill in Star Trek 6‘s conspiracy against the Klingon peace process.
Admiral Leyton
Like Admiral Pressman, Leyton was the former captain of a key Star Trek protagonist – Benjamin Sisko. Sisko was Leyton’s first officer aboard the USS Okinawa, and it was the admiral who suggested Ben for the posting on DS9. However, the two former colleagues were torn apart by Admiral Leyton’s increasing paranoia about the threat to Earth posed by the Dominion. Leyton’s concern that Earth wasn’t prepared enough for an attack led to him attempting a military coup to wrest control of the Earth to better prepare for infiltration by the Dominion and the villainous Changelings.
Leyton’s attempted coup, falsified evidence of hostile Dominion activity, and framing of Benjamin Sisko as a changeling infiltrator puts him up there with the conspirators in Star Trek 6. However, Leyton stayed true to his Starfleet principles, and honestly believed that he was acting in the interests of the greater good. When his conspiracy was revealed by Sisko, Leyton resigned his post, accepting his failure, suggesting that there would be repentance and redemption in the admiral’s future.
Admiral Dougherty
During the Dominion war, the Enterprise-E largely remained outside the conflict, until the movie Star Trek: Insurrection introduced them to the Son’a, suspected allies of the Dominion. Admiral Dougherty was working with the Son’a to relocate the peaceful Ba’ku from their planet in an attempt to secure precious metaphasic particles for the Federation. Although this was a contravention of the Prime Directive, Dougherty’s mission was approved by the Federation, and he attempted to prevent the information about the Ba’ku from reaching the Federation council. Discovering Dougherty’s plot, Picard and his crew defied orders to stop the Ba’ku from losing their home.
Dougherty later had a crisis of conscience when he realized that he’d been duped by the Son’a. His allies were allowing the Federation to mine for metaphasic particles and make the planet uninhabitable because they had originally been Ba’ku before being exiled for an attempted coup. Horrified at his part in this revenge mission, Dougherty attempted to halt their plans, but was killed in the process.
Admiral Buenamigo
Admiral Buenamigo was exposed as the latest in a long line of corrupt admirals in Lower Decks’ season 3 finale. Although he claimed to be improving Starfleet with his new fleet of robotic Texas-class starships, it was really an attempt by Buenamigo to stand out from the crowd. Buenamigo had been covertly working on the ships for years, and his experiments had badly wounded Rutherford. It was revealed that Buenamigo was the one responsible for installing Rutherford’s implant to cover up his illegal activities. To convince Starfleet to authorise the use of the AI ships, Buenamigo set the Cerritos crew up with a disastrous second contact mission.
Buenamigo’s plot backfired when the ships outgrew their creator and launched a devastating attack on Starfleet, killing Admiral Buenamigo in the process. The attack was foiled by the USS Cerritos, deemed to be the Enterprise of the California-class starships, proving the value of organically staffed vessels. Buenamigo’s illegal activities, robot rebellion, and his risking of Rutherford’s life puts him up there with the very worst of Star Trek‘s evil admirals, but there are two more from the movies that put him in the shade.
Admiral Marcus
Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller) was one of the worst of Star Trek‘s evil admirals, not least because he employed the services of Khan Noonien-Singh. In the wake of the destruction of Vulcan, Star Trek‘s Kelvin timeline became more militaristic as various figures within Starfleet sought to better protect the Federation from threats like Nero. Star Trek into Darkness is essentially a Wrath of Khan remake, but interestingly reimagines the story of Khan’s revival in a more militaristic future from Roddenberry’s utopia.
Admiral Marcus used Khan’s superior skills as a tyrant and warlord to start a war with the Klingon Empire, using Khan’s designs, when Khan was captured he ordered Kirk to execute the tyrant. Marcus believed that the Federation would be destroyed in an inevitable war with the Klingons and wanted to preemptively strike against the Empire, but his plans were foiled when Khan murdered the admiral for betraying him.
Admiral Cartwright
Released four years into TNG’s run on TV, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country deployed the show’s bad admiral trope to great effect in a political thriller about the Klingon peace process. Admiral Cartwright’s conspiracy framed Kirk and McCoy for murdering a Klingon chancellor to derail the peace process and weaken his sworn enemies. It was thanks to Spock’s determination to achieve peace that this huge conspiracy was revealed. Spock and the Enteprise crew saved the lives of countless Klingons and Federation members, including the president himself, who was saved from the assassin’s crosshairs at the last minute. Spearheading such a huge conspiracy, conspiring with Klingon hardliners, sanctioning two political assassinations and framing two Starfleet legends means that Admiral Cartwright is surely the worst of Star Trek‘s evil admirals.
