Third Echelon is the name of a fictional organization featured in the Splinter Cell series of games and novels from author Tom Clancy.

Overview

The NSA is the nation's cryptologic organization. It coordinates, directs, and performs highly specialized activities to protect U.S. information systems and produce foreign intelligence information. In response to the growing use of sophisticated digital encryption to conceal potential threats to the national security of the United States, the NSA has ushered forth a new dawn of intelligence-gathering techniques. This top-secret initiative, dubbed Third Echelon, marks a return to classical methods of espionage, enhanced with leading-edge surveillance and combat technology for the aggressive collection of stored data in hostile territories.

Since the NSA is a branch of the U.S. government that is tasked with breaking codes and intercepting signal traffic, its operatives typically monitor transmissions sent all over the world, scouring them for anything that could pose a threat to national security. When intelligence deemed critical to national security cannot be obtained by traditional means, they call upon their black ops division, Third Echelon. Third Echelon is granted clearance to conduct physical operations.

Denied to exist by the U.S. government, Third Echelon deploys units known as Splinter Cells: elite intelligence-gathering forces consisting of a lone field operative supported by a remote team.

The members of Third Echelon are of a different breed entirely. They're trained to work alone, and they're trained very well. They're usually sent in to take care of business in situations where a group of operatives--even secret ones like the NSA's--would arouse too much attention. They're taught to infiltrate high-security strongholds, seize critical intelligence, destroy threatening data or equipment, and neutralize the enemy--all without leaving a trace on the physical or political map. Although killing may compromise secrecy, the choice between leaving a witness or a corpse is no choice at all.

The ability to operate in this manner is called the "Fifth Freedom." That is the freedom to do whatever it takes to protect the four cornerstone American values: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear. The Fifth Freedom means an operative can kill without regard to sociopolitical consequences. The downside is that if an operative is ever caught during a mission or worse yet, killed, the US government will disavow the operative as a rogue or a "splinter cell." Like a sliver of glass, a Splinter Cell is small, sharp, and nearly invisible. The first Splinter Cell was Sam Fisher, the main character of the video game and novel series.

Mission objectives and locations vary, but a field operative's general goal is to infiltrate and escape undetected. Reconnaissance represents the core of a field operative's missions. On the un-bordered battlefield of modern warfare, national security depends wholly on the control of information. Equipped with the latest technology and obsessive training, an operative must collect the intelligence that will ensure a nation's safety.

The link between the field operative, and Third Echelon's team of researches, hackers, strategist, and commanders is the Operations Coordinator. The Coordinator represents the main source of information via communicator, debriefing the objectives to be completed in a constant contact via subdermal microchips and a cochlear implant.

It is the "Field Runners" that are mainly responsible for coordinating the transportation and equipment for field operatives. Transportation is usually procured (stolen) from an area of operation and abandoned afterwards. Field Runners are responsible for maintaining an operative's equipment and munitions. They debrief the field operatives on any new equipment or weaponry as it becomes available. The Communications Lead heads a small team of programmers responsible for providing technological, cryptographic, and data support for the field operative. The Comm Lead will assist the field operative in his interface with the high-tech components of his missions.