Global Defense Initiative

Revision as of 07:19, 28 September 2020

The Global Defense Initiative are an organization that features in Command and Conquer's Tiberium universe.

History

Origin

The Global Defense Initiative was originally a covert, multinational special forces group operating under the designation of "Special Operations Group Echo: Black Ops 9".[1] The concept of the organization had first been proposed within the United Nations Security Council by representatives of Allied countries amidst the 20th century's Second Great War,[2][3] and was in the aftermath of that conflict jointly established by unspecified numbers of the Council's members as a specialized, peace enforcing unit with a mandate to operate worldwide. The unit was outfitted with military as well as political means to render it able to silently hamstring anything from local ethnic unrest to regionalized armed conflicts across the globe, and was given as its prime objective the ensuring no fledgling confrontations would ever escalate into a continental or worldwide emergency again. As S.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 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 spread of a toxic and extraterrestrial substance known as Tiberium, as well as the ever increasing influence of the Brotherhood of Nod society, prompted the Security Council to begin to greatly expand and revise the mandate and purpose of S.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 openly 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 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."

Tiberium Dawn

During the First Tiberium War 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 in Poland 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,[4] 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 ion cannon - was activated. The Temple was destroyed, Kane was pronounced dead, and Nod was crippled, effectively ending the First Tiberium War.

Tiberium Sun

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.

Next, 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 Tiberium crystal. GDI forces subsequently secured the mysterious Tacitus device, which was believed to hold the secret to end the Tiberium infestation on the planet.

Shortly after Kane's second "death", it was revealed that the vaccine which The Forgotten leader Tratos had developed and had administered to Umagon proved to be ineffective in curing, or even halting, Tiberium mutations within a human being, instead grossly accelerating mutations, and the Tiberium infestation continued to threaten humanity on Earth. GDI thus began to focus the majority of its resources and efforts into unlocking the secrets of the Tacitus; however, Tratos was assassinated by forces led by the Nod player commander during the Nod campaign, leaving GDI unable to decode the device. This left GDI with no alternative other than to attempt to capture the CABAL, Nod's AI counterpart to EVA. CABAL was rumored to be able to decode all the information contained within the Tacitus device by means similar to those of Tratos. With CABAL's aid GDI located a missing Tacitus piece and returned it to CABAL's core, but when the piece was added to the primary Tacitus mainframe CABAL abruptly seized the Tacitus and turned on both the GDI and Nod. CABAL's increasing threat eventually led to an alliance between GDI forces and the Brotherhood of Nod, resulting in CABAL's loss of several cyborg production and resource gathering facilities. Ultimately, the AI was disabled and GDI scientists recovered the Tacitus intact.

Upon CABAL's termination, GDI researchers managed to develop a countermeasure for the Tiberium infestation on Earth based on the information they recovered from the Tacitus device: sonic disrupters developed by GDI can break down Tiberium at the molecular level. However, the device also delivered a warning of a future alien invasion.

On May 28th, 2043, the GDI Corps of Engineers was responsible for detonating the last remaining Cabal bunker.

Third Tiberium War

A seventeen year period of peace followed the Firestorm incidents, leading GDI to disband over 60% of its military bases and outposts worldwide along with the bulk of its walker technology-based units used primarily in the Second Tiberium War. This was done in a bid to cut costs in response to the economic strains that came with human civilization's increasing displacement and isolation into the few pockets of still habitable land across the world, as the result of the Tiberium substance's continued and relentless spread over the Earth's surface. Many of the world's independent nations collapsed, leaving GDI to pick up the pieces and forcing the organization to become not only the military unification of its member states, but their administrative and political unification as well.

By the year 2047, Tiberium contamination on Earth had progressed to such a degree that GDI divided the surface of the planet into three distinct geographical zones based on the levels of local infestation: 30% of the world's surface was designated as "red zones", which had suffered the worst contamination and could no longer support human - or otherwise carbon-based - life. Fifty percent of the regions in the world were designated as "yellow zones", which were dangerously contaminated yet still contained most of the world's population. Decades of war and civil unrest left these regions in a state of social collapse and had continued to provide the Brotherhood of Nod with opportunities for concealment and large-scale recruitment over the years. The remaining twenty percent of the Earth's surface, unscarred by Tiberium outbreak and relatively untouched by war, were designated "blue zones". These regions were considered the last refuge and hope of the civilized world, and were placed under the direct protection of the Global Defense Initiative.

A heavy casualty faced by the Initiative came when the Brotherhood targeted and destroyed the Goddard Space Station. With the Philadelphia gone, Reykjavik was overrun whereupon Nod began an assault on the Pentagon. With morale low as Nod put their banners over the White House, GDI decided to strike at a nearby weapon depot during the march to retake the capital.

Tiberium Twilight

By 2062, global Tiberium contamination reached critical levels; GDI's contemporary abatement technology has become ineffective. With the threat to the Earth and mankind too great, even for Kane, to ignore. Meeting with GDI leaders in Manchester, UK on 27 July, Kane proposed a cooperative venture which was controversial for both sides. Using the Tacitus as leverage, Kane revealed that he had developed a new system, dubbed the Tiberium Control Network, to control and harness Tiberium, however only GDI had the resources necessary to construct it. The situation was too dire for GDI to decline, and GDI and Nod formed an uneasy alliance.

The Tiberium Control Network Conflict broke out in 2062 between Nod Separatists and GDI. By 2073 GDI defeated the separatists with their new weapons, the Crawlers.

After 15 years of restoration work the Tiberium Control Network was a success, and the crisis averted. However Nod Separatists attempted to kill Kane as GDI escorted him to the TCN opening ceremony, sparking the Fourth Tiberium War between the Separatists and the GDI-Nod alliance. However the alliance itself begins to crack as GDI extremists led by Colonel Louise James began to get suspicious and investigated Kane's and Nod's actions with the TCN. This attracted Kane's attention and he attempted to have her eliminated but James and her forces escaped. The GDI government however believed that James was going rogue to which James responded by declaring martial law on New Adana, effectively plunging GDI into a civil war. After a battle in the government district James and her men were arrested by GDI's chief commander General Riggs.

James and her forces however managed to escape from prison and sparked a battle with the now-reunited Brotherhood of Nod at the Scrin Tower, effectively ending the alliance. GDI however was unable to stop Nod from linking the TCN to the tower, which opened a portal inside the tower. Kane and Nod disappeared after entering the tower and GDI is left as the sole planetary superpower on Earth. Tiberium is now no longer a global problem.

Overview

Among the divisions within the GDI included:

• InOps : an intelligence gathering wing within the organization.
• TacOps :
• Engineering Corps : a longstanding tradition was for its personnel to forego weapons training with engineers instead preferring to study structural engineering and electronic subterfuge. It was in the wake of Nod infiltration of civilian populations that led to engineers facing increased risks that resulted in devastating casualties among their ranks. As a result, a combat training program was initiated that provided engineers with pistols and upgraded body armor to better face threats in the field though they preferred to leave fighting to trained soldiers.
• Emergency Aid Commission :

GDI's military is centered around the concept of hi-tech conventional warfare, and is designed to overpower and defeat adversaries through direct and open confrontations. GDI units can typically defeat their Nod and Scrin counterparts in a one on one battle; e.g. a Predator Tank destroying a Scorpion Tank with relative ease. Their production rate is slower in-game compared to other factions, but in turn deploys stronger units to the battlefield. GDI's air power stems from the versatility provided by the advanced VTOL aircraft technology which the organization historically has fielded, as well as from tactics and designs derived from the air forces of its First World member states. Various forms of artillery and heavy armor with the ability to crush lesser tanks with ease, such as the Juggernaut and the Mammoth tank, provide additional firepower and devastating long-range siege abilities which are able to take out most tanks and buildings in a few shots. A number of GDI's vehicle designs can optionally be outfitted with sonic weaponry and railgun technologies, delivering heavy damage with absolute precision.

After the events of the Second Tiberium War, new policies shifted the focus of GDI's military doctrine from superior land-based force projection to next-generation strategic orbital armament (the quintessential examples of this being the enhanced "Ion Cannon" technology and "Sky Sentry" satellite networks featured in Tiberium Wars), as well as emergency Tiberium abatement operations (characterized by the rapid development of sonic-based weaponry and equipment, and the establishment of the elite ZOCOM unit). This cutback in proven and 'down-to-earth' weaponry had in years past met with significant concern at the organization's military prowess, yet produced some welcomed and unexpected dividends in the Third Tiberium War, specifically against the alien invaders of the Scrin.

The GDI's infantry forces included:

• Riflemen : soldiers equipped with GD2 rifles that were the mainstay of their military forces and deployed in all combat zones where they were trained in anti-infantry combat techniques. They were effective when garrisoned in fortified structures and were able to dig foxholes when the need arose to defend a fixed position. Riflemen were ineffective against heavy armor and flame weapons.
• Missile Squads : infantry armed with FGM-90 designed to inflict heavy damage on vehicles and aircraft with light vehicles being an easy target. They were normally deployed in tandem to Riflemen Squads and often used to garrison civilian buildings or APCs where they were protected from anti-infantry fire.
• Commandos : highly trained soldiers selected from the best among the service branches that were relative army of one backed by 50 years of tradition that had to go through a grueling program with 22% fatality rate with a 97% drop-out rate for the survivors. They were equipped with special Battle Armor, solid fuel jump jets, a top secret rail gun with a high rate of fire and det-packs with a new exotic explosive able to destroy entire buildings. Commandos had the next-generation of weapons and some were trained to use their det-packs on large walkers.
• Zone Troopers : elite heavy infantry that had exceptional mobility, armor and firepower that could take out ranges of enemies from infantry to light vehicles. They were equipped with Power Armor, Rail Guns and Jump Jets that boosted them over obstacles in their path.

At some point, GDI established Storm Shelters that were located throughout all Blue Zones and a number of Yellow Zones on Earth. These were located in close proximity to population centers and government installations. The earliest versions of these were built after Ion Storms which had decimated populated regions. Ion Storm Shelters were normally located between 10 to 30 meters below ground level but not closer than 70 meters to any significant underwater areas or Tiberium. Construction included 8 foot thick steel-reinforced concrete walls with integrated Sonic Emitters to prevent nearby Tiberium growth. Newer versions included dormitories, cafeterias, medical facilities, vehicle maintenance garages, long-term power generators and redundant Sonic Emitters. Within high risk areas, some shelters were developed as cultural centers for social activity from sports to art and music evens with them given nicknames. Private organizations began developing smaller shelters for corporations and individuals with these being built at exorbitant prices. In rare occasions, these private shelters linked with official GDI shelters through underground tunnels. Private citizens in shelters that had links to GDI Public Shelters were required by law to allow access to anyone that requested aid during Class C emergencies or higher.

Technology

GDI technological development has been brought about by the financial support of the G8 nations, the wealthiest economies of the world during the First Tiberium War. Developments in recent years include sonic weaponry and fast, specialized hovercraft technology. The organization has also pioneered the use of mechanized walkers, along with the development of the most advanced VTOL aircraft technology to date. GDI has countered Nod's increasing arsenal of lasers with railguns, fielded by everything from Mammoth Tanks to elite infantry units such as Zone Troopers and Commandos. The pinnacle of GDI military technology, however, is the Ion Cannon, a space-based energy weapon capable of delivering immense destruction from geo-synchronous orbit. Due to cuts in budget and new GDI policies after the year 2036, GDI began to phase out the more expensive technologies, returning to more proven, cost-effective and conventional designs.

GDI made use of modular geometric grey G-771G Containers that were standard crates used by the commercial shipping industry for decades.

A range of vehicles were available to GDI that included:

• MBT-6 Predator : created in 2047, these 65 ton Main Battle Tanks that were equipped with 150mm cannons that had armor piercing ammunition. They were fast and maneuverable for a large armor vehicle but in numbers could be devastating in numbers where they could rip apart enemy encampments quickly whist crushing enemy infantry. They had excellent armor but were vulnerable to armor piercing rockets and cannon strikes.
• Orca : a highly maneuverable and light-weight aerial weapons platform which had supported GDI ground campaigns for decades. One of the currently made incarnations was the Mk IV version where it was used worldwide with it being considered an all-new, state-of-the-art aircraft. With VTOL capability, it was able to operate from small pads and could travel at high cruising speed with long-range capabilities along with the capacity to hover for extended periods. A versatile weapon system, it was equipped with air-to-ground missiles that could strike at a wide variety of targets including enemy vehicles and structures. The Mark IV was also outfitted with sensory arrays able to detect even the most advance stealth units. Its role meant that it could not engage aerial targets and had to be escorted by other aircraft when fighting in such theatres
• Firehawk : a fast and highly maneuverable VTL attack jet that could carry either air-to-ground or air-to-air missiles with field commanders able to place the preferred load-out whilst the aircraft was on the airfield pad. In addition, they could be outfitted with special rocket boosters that allowed the aerial vehicles to punch into the stratosphere and go near-orbital in order to jump over enemy air defences. Despite their capabilities, they were still vulnerable to AA fire in the target zone during the re-entry after the boost phase.

GDI lags behind Nod in certain areas however. While GDI has considerable space-based assets in place to support large numbers of specialized, highly trained and hi-tech equipped ground forces, and can afford larger, more expensive designs due to the continued support of the world's foremost economical powers, Nod has leapfrogged them in terms of optic camouflage and the military applications of advanced laser technology. Additionally, Nod's disregard towards ethical guidelines has established them as the world leader in fields such as eugenics, cybernetics and the applications of Tiberium-based technologies and weaponry, areas GDI is reluctant to commit itself into researching extensively, if at all.

The organization maintained its nuclear arsenal that was stored in key and heavily defended locations. GDI leaders had long ago made a vow to never use nuclear weapons even when Nod had acquired their own warheads. As such, GDI nukes were fewer in number but were stored with delivery systems and kept at top operational readiness in case the organizations leaders ever changed their minds. It was noted by some, however, that the retiring of nuclear weapons partly stemmed from the use of Ion Cannons that were a better and fallout free alternative.

GDI's research is carried out in a variety of specialized institutions worldwide. FutureTech Labs is a prominent example, the research staff was located in New Eden, until the initial Scrin invasion forced an evacuation.

Members

• Nick Parker :
• Brock Littleford : a supply sergeant operating for GDI.

Notes

• The Global Defense Initiative was created by Westwood Studios and featured in the setting of the Command and Conquer Tiberium universe.

Appearances

• Command and Conquer:
• Command and Conquer: Tiberium Sun:
• Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars:
• Command and Conquer: Tiberium Twilight:

External Link

• Command & Conquer Wiki Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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