10 Dumbest Things In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Aside from assigning a guy who runs the transporter room and a total newbie doctor to the most remote outpost in the Federation, Starfleet lets the USS Enterprise do a runner while leaving the former mining platform with less defence than the 2024 Manchester United squad. 

Decked out with just six photon torpedoes and minimal phaser power this - and we quote "remote outpost" at the "edge of the final frontier" - gets a cheery wave and is left to its own devices only for the Cardassians to turn up in a matter of minutes. Kira even stamps this very clearly on the hull when confronting the Cardassian trio of Galor Class ships stating that the Federation wouldn't leave them defenceless. A risky gambit that does at least pay off.

While the first meeting between Sisko and Dukat isn't phasers at dawn, it does bear ominous tones and the subsequent discovery of the wormhole only adds to the tensions in the quadrant.

Even when confronted with the potential of contact with new and possibly hostile life from the Gamma Quadrant, it takes another three years before DS9 receives any form of additional installed protection. The Borg-busting USS Defiant is present from season three but it does spend a large amount of time away from its home base. At no point are there any other starships offering to provide backup should everything go south. 

It does eventually receive an upgrade with more than standard defensive armament following its elevation from "remote" to "most important location in the quadrant." Still, that was a precarious three years before that time!