Third Echelon - Splinter Cell
Third Echelon: What is Third Echelon?
The NSA launched a top-secret Initiative - Third Echelon - to return to a more shall we say "classical" methods of espionage powered by the latest technology for the aggressive collection of stored data. In other words it was back to the nitty-gritty world of human spies out there in the field risking their lives for the sake of taking a photograph or recording a conversation or copying a computer hard drive.
Thus Third Echelon a sub-agency of the NSA consists of an elite team of strategists hackers and field operatives. We respond to crises of information warfare - a war that is hidden from the media and the ordinary man on the street. You're not going to see our battles on CNN. - Splinter Cell p51-52
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Third Echelon was tasked with handling covert missions either too sensitive or too risky for traditional entities such as the CIA or standard special forces. - Checkmate p7
Splinter Cell: What is a Splinter Cell?
Third Echelon agents are called Splinter Cells and I was the very first one. We physically infiltrate dangerous and sensitive enemy locations to gather the required intelligence by whatever means necessary. Our prime directive in a nutshell is to do our jobs while remaining invisible to the public eye. We're authorized to work outside the boundaries of international treaties but the U.S. will neither acknowledge nor support our operations. - Splinter Cell p52
Training/Experience: What does it take to become the worlds finest soldier?
"Colonel the cost to recruit train and pay one single Splinter Cell is immense. Losing one in the field amounts to the military losing a handful of million-dollar missiles." - Operation Barracuda p56
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Third Echelon operatives known individually as Splinter Cells were recruited from the special forces communities of the Navy Army Marine Corps and Air Force then shaped into the ultimate lone operators men and women capable of not only working alone in hostile environments but doing so without leaving a trace. - Checkmate p24
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Despite his not being accepted into Third Echelon's Splinter Cell program Sergei like Hansen had received some of the best training in the world compliments of the CIA. The average citizen had no idea of the length the breadth the sheer scope and magnitude of such schooling and the areas it encompassed. Both men had been given courses on advanced military technology; military strategy and tactics; computer security; countersurveillance; the art of disguise; etiquette and arts in foreign cultures; languages; explosives; fake IDs and secret banking; hand-to-hand knife combat: incendiary devices; international and local law; lock bypassing techniques; photography and videography; poisons; phycology; drugs; sniper techniques; and finally surveillance.
Third Echelon's training had taken those areas to the next level by incorporating more unconventional warfare techniques borrowed from American special forces as well as hand-to-hand combat techniques like krav maga borrowed from the Israelis. The French-born art of parkour was also studied as a technique for deftly navigating around obstacles while fleeing. And then of course was the newer more controversial training conducted by a pair of world famous Chinese acrobats seeking political asylum in the United States. Those lithe men taught Hansen to hook his arm and legs around pipes and other objects in ways he had never considered. That they were contortionists helped if not frustrated the rest of the recruits. - Endgame p51-52
Third Echelon recruits from the best soldiers/agents in American forces and then makes them even better.
Suit: Mark V Tactical Operations Suit
- Codename Rhinoplate. A one piece matte black coverall outfitted with all the pouches pockets and harness attachments a Splinter Cell could ever need. It's made of mixture of Dragon Skin Kevlar and Gor-Tex. Dragon Skin - the worlds first "move when you move" body armor. Can stop bullets as heavy as an AK-47's 7.62mm rounds. Gor-Tex - maintains the wearers internal body temperature down to 10 degrees - accurate as low as 15 degrees and as high as 110. The wearer can "go from Alaska to the Sahara and stay comfortable". Kevlar - light and flexible bullet and knife resistant material. It's coated with a polymer that's traps and absorbs light. Making it easy to blend into shadows. It has a light meter that can measure how visible the wearer is. The suit uses disruptive pattering to find the human form it does with specially arranged the pouches and harness points making it hard to spot in low light conditions. The suit is totally waterproof and has temperature control that can heat or cool the wearer. It also has internal bladders for drinking water storage enough to last 12 hours. All of this and the suit only weighs 4lbs - can be fit under casual business clothes - and is flexible enough for any gymnastic stunt the wearer would need to do. The suit comes with the Ospray backpack - which can hold medical equipment as well as various explosives and more tools.
Weaponry:
All told Fisher's gear which weighed over forty pounds allowed him to see hear move kill and incapacitate better than any covert soldier on the planet. - Fallout p62
Gone over in good detail here: Black Widow vs Sam Fisher (Splinter Cell) - Battles - Comic Vine
Marksmanship:
They came within a hundred yards of Zahm and his two men. He gave her the hand signal to take the man on the left. She nodded. Set up. Took aim. The Groza felt perfect in her hands. - They would do it just like training. She waited for his shot. The instant she heard it she squeezed the trigger. Her target could not react in time. Both of Zahm's men dropped. One two. Textbook head shots. - Endgame p448
- Flawless 100 yard headshot with assault rifle. This was done against 2 Ex-SAS Soldiers. SAS Being the highest quality soldier from England.
From around the corner of the next apartment building came two Spetsnaz troops - They were but fifty meters away - George dropped to the ground and shot one guy in the face with his pistol while the other ducked and George did likewise - Endwar: The Hunted p160
- Flawless 50 meter headshot with handgun. And this was done against a Spetsnaz the highest quality soldier from Russia.
Stealth/Skill:
As trained Noburu and Valentina moved with exaggerated slowness pausing between each heel-to-toe step until they were within ten feet of the guards. In unison they stopped. Stepped forward. Stopped. When they stood up took a fluid step forward... Hands clamped over mouths and knives came up. The guards slumped down dead. - Conviction p362
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Valentina took no pleasure in killing the guard and she sensed that Noburu felt the same. - She thought about this even as she held her blade in a reverse grip and approached the guard. Her hand rose to the man's mouth and at exactly the same time Noburu's did for his guard. Holding her breath she drove the blade down into the guard's neck to make the perfect kill shot to the spinal cord. - Endgame p437-438
The same showing from two books told from different point of views. Shows great teamwork because two SCs moved as one and dispatched their targets at the same time. And these guys were Ex-SAS as well.
He wrenched himself forward driving the heel of his palm into the man's nose while reaching out with the other hand to seize the Bear's pistol. Voeckler ignored the fact that he'd failed Third Echelon's training program three times. He ignored the fact that hand-to-hand combat was argueably his weakest skill. - Voeckler went for the gun with both hands now driving a knee into the Bear's groin. - Voeckler tore one hand free of the man's grip and punched him in the face three times targetting each eye then his nose again - Voeckler lunged for the weapon but he faked the move drawing quickly back as the Bear kept falling forward. - Voeckler exploited the misdirection to both wrench free the Bear's gun and deliver a roundhouse to the man's jaw. The barrel chested thug fell backward onto his rump. He lay there for a moment sprawled out wheezing. - End War: The Missing p146-148
Notably the worst Splinter Cell in the history of Third Echelon. Thomas Voeckler got special privilege because his twin brother was a Splinter Cell. After his brother dies - Thomas finishes the joint mission with the Ghosts. then becomes a successful solo operative. Still noted that he thinks his physicals and hand to hand skill aren't up to par yet despite that he beats a 250lb man who towered over him in a hand to hand fight. He showcased great skill by targeting several body weak points as well as using a fake move to get the edge over his opponent.
That was when Ames leapt off the car and tackled him. The thick scent of mud and wet grass wafted into his face as they rolled over and Ame's drove his elbow into the main's nose immediately breaking it. Then he found the correct pressure point on the man's wrist forcing him to release the pistol which he tossed aside. - Endgame p21-22
Again a Splinter Cell's target weak spots like the nose and they are skilled enough to utilized pressure point attacks.
In Action:
During the last mission in Conviction the Rogue Splinter Cell's were easily able to gun their way through all the Secret Service guards in the White House. SS member's usually being ex Special Forces or at least very highly trained if they weren't military.
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