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| “ | There is no walking away from us, Fisher! We made you, we own you, and we always will! | „ |
| ~ Tom Reed on Sam Fisher's retirement from Third Echelon. |
Thomas "Tom" Jeffery Reed was the main antagonist of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction.
He was the final director of Samuel "Sam" Fisher's workplace and the National Security Agency's top secret initiative, Third Echelon, after its previous director, Irving Lambert, died in New York City in 2008.
Reed was voiced by James A. Woods.
History
Early Life
Thomas Jeffery Reed was born in 1971 and attended the United States Air Force Academy, specializing in cyber warfare. Upon his graduation, Reed then worked for the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency (AFISRA) before his immediate transfer to the Air Force Cyber Command (AFCYBER) to prevent cyber attacks against U.S. interests from non-governmental organizations. Reed was later chosen to testify before Congress on AFCYBER activities; attracted patronage of several senior legislators as a result and his career advanced rapidly, eventually being promoted to Colonel.
Third Echelon career
Reed was later transferred to the NSA's top-secret initiative, Third Echelon, under then-Director Irving Lambert. After Lambert was killed in the field, Reed positioned himself as the new and final Director of Third Echelon. He then expanded the organization with more Splinter Cells and more brutal tactics. Because of this, Third Echelon ultimately turned into a rogue intelligence agency.
Splinter Cell: Conviction
Reed was first seen at Price Airfield in Virginia along with Colonel Jeremy Prentiss and Major Shawn Robertson after Sam was captured by a team of Third Echelon Splinter Cell operatives from Andriy Kobin's mansion in Valletta, Malta. He told Anna Grímsdóttir to interrogate Sam about his involvement with Andriy Kobin and his 'knowledge' of the stolen Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) devices before leaving the airfield (unaware that she is a undercover agent for President Patricia Caldwell).
Later, he met with a businessman and Chief Executive Officer of a private military company called Black Arrow named Lucius Galliard at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., talking about a shadow organization called Megiddo. After the meeting, Sam interrogated Galliard about Megiddo and got some information out of him before being killed by a man that was speculated to be working for Megiddo.
It was later revealed from Kobin that Reed is working for Megiddo and he was using EMPs to disable electricity in the U.S. capital to fool the civilians into believing that nothing suspicious is going on, so this would provide cover; attacking the White House with a large force of Black Arrow mercenaries, security forces and Splinter Cells from Third Echelon itself at night and assassinate President Caldwell for unwilling to corporate with Megiddo and match her politics with their own.
When Sam was brought to Reed in the Oval Office, he and Grim crippled Reed's mission by killing all of his Splinter Cells. After securing the President and injuring Reed, Sam learned that Reed was the mole Lambert was looking for as he would threaten Sam's daughter, Sarah, in order to leverage him to get inside Third Echelon. After Reed's interrogation, it could either Grim promptly kills him with two gunshots to the chest and one to the head or Sam kills him with a head-shot.
Before Splinter Cell: Blacklist
| “ | Gentlemen, the Blacklist is real. Rogue intel agencies like Third Echelon are the problem here, not the solution. I want every single operation related to them grounded and gutted, now! I'm shutting Third Echelon down, effective immediately. | „ |
| ~ President Caldwell orders the termination of Third Echelon. |
Due to Reed's treachery, Third Echelon was disbanded by President Caldwell for good after a full investigation into the agency and labeled it as a terrorist organization. A new mobile clandestine and counter-terrorism unit, Fourth Echelon, was formed in response to an attack on Anderson Air Force Base in Guam instigated by a terrorist group calling themselves The Engineers.
Gallery
Trivia
- Reed admits that he voted for Caldwell in the presidential election; this is revealed when the player chooses to ignore two opportunities to grab Reed.
- If the player chooses to ignore three opportunities to grab Reed, he will shoot Sam and kill him.
- The SMI database in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist confirmed that Sam shooting him is the canon ending.
- Reed bears striking similarities to NSA's deputy director Nicholas Andrew Kovac.
- Both graduated from the Air Force Academy,
- both had a high rank inside within the NSA,
- both had framed Sam Fisher and sent Splinter Cells to kill him,
- both were, in fact, moles for a shadow organization,
- both had their real status discovered by Sam Fisher and Anna Grímsdóttir,
- and both were under suspicion of being a mole within the NSA.
- Reed was the last director of Third Echelon, as the agency was terminated by President Caldwell in the aftermath of the EMP terrorist attack on Washington, D.C. and the failed assassination attempt.