"Let Vigilance Be Our Sword"

Third Echelon is a top-secret initiative within the various intelligence branches of the National Security Agency (NSA) established in 2003. Its position within the U.S. intelligence community was at the forefront in the War on Information.

The NSA gave Third Echelon the "green light" to create a black-ops project and training program in which they called it: the "Splinter Cell Program". It produced and deployed operational units of highly-trained forward operators - code named "Splinter Cells" - as the ultimate intelligence gathering force, with the support of a cutting edge technological team to retrieve information through traditional espionage techniques, but with 21st century military technology.

When critical intelligence could not be obtained by passive means, Third Echelon resolved the situation by conducting so-called "physical operations" — a euphemism for direct action. To do so, they introduced the "Splinter Cell" program, which was created to produce an elite recon-type unit comprised of highly-trained covert soldiers, who were then deployed to areas deemed either too sensitive or too risky for traditional entities such as the CIA or standard Special Forces. These agents then assessed and accessed information vital to the security of the United States.

Like a sliver of glass, a Splinter Cell was small, sharp, and nearly invisible. These units operated while remaining completely undetected, from human and electronic means.