Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Section 31
2. Deep Space 9 Executive Producer Ira Steven Behr Created The Idea
When he created Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry thought of the Federation as a utopia where violence, prejudice, poverty, crime, and other social ills had been overcome. His Starfleet was a combination of NASA and the Coast Guard rather than a military force. And while their starships were armed, they never struck the first blow but only acted in defense of Federation ideals.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine executive producer and writer Ira Steven Behr was inspired to add Section 31 to Star Trek lore by a line in the Star Trek: Deep Space 9 episode The Maquis Part II, “It’s easy to be a saint in paradise” which made him wonder why the Federation was a paradise.
Behr reasoned that some organizations similar to the CIA and other intelligence agencies around the world, kept it that way by doing the things respectable people didn’t want to know about. Behr and his fellow writers, including Ronald D. Moore, held lengthy discussions about Section 31 and its history.
Once the details were worked out, Section 31 and its nefarious operative, Luther Sloan, debuted in the episode Inquisition, the first in an arc about Dr. Julian Bashir's involvement with the clandestine organization.