Star Trek: 10 Times The Federation Was The Bad Guy
1. Resorting To Biological Warfare
Speaking of Section 31...they may have started this atrocity, but the Federation sure as heck finished it.
Things were, admittedly, looking grim towards the end of the Dominion War. While the crew of Deep Space Nine never wavered, the Federation were facing the very real possibility of defeat. But that is no excuse for making a decision that goes against all Federation values.
Section 31 used Odo's willingness to assist Starfleet Medical with their research as an opportunity to infect him with a deadly virus. Unknowingly, Odo became the carrier that would infect the Changelings with a biological weapon.
Our man Bashir managed to create a cure to save Odo, but in one of the darkest turns in Federation history, the Council decided not to give the cure to the dying Changelings.
To recap...the upstanding Federation chose to withhold a cure for a deadly biological weapon...that was created by a Starfleet Intelligence affiliated agency...and was slowly killing an entire species...to gain an advantage in war.
Odo cured the Changelings anyway, and it became a crucial factor in the Founders' surrender. Essentially, Odo offering the cure helped bring an end to the war...not the Federation's decision to withhold it.
And like many terrible decisions, it would echo down the years. In Star Trek: Picard, the Changeling Vadic cites it as a prime example of how solids ruin worlds. Worse still, she reveals the horrendous experiments she and others were subjected to whilst prisoners of war at Daystrom Station.
It's rare for a government to come out of war entirely unblemished, but this was surely one of the Federation's ugliest chapters.