Star Trek: 10 Dumbest Decisions By Starfleet Officers
9. Holding A Summit At Starfleet HQ With A Terrorist On The Loose - Admiral Marcus
There is any number of officers who can take the blame for this one, though Admiral Alexander Marcus is getting the hot seat in this entry. After John Harrison, who is certainly not Khan, organizes a bombing on Earth, targeting Section 31, the top brass of Starfleet is called to a meeting at HQ to discuss the threat.
Starfleet HQ is a high-rise building that seemingly has next to no security protecting it, yet contains some of the brightest minds in the fleet. So, the policy of calling them all to a vulnerable location is risk enough. The fact that, as the film reveals, Marcus is aware of the danger that Harrison poses to Starfleet yet still allows the meeting to go ahead puts every single life in the room at risk.
If, potentially, this was a calculated risk by Marcus to take out the commanders who may oppose him and his plan to take the Federation to war, then this is a thought that actor Peter Weller disagrees with. He sees Marcus as a sympathetic albeit ruthless character who is not a bad guy. Good or bad, his military mind must have been on a day off when he allowed this meeting to go ahead.
Not sure? Ask Christopher Pike and see how he feels.