Department of Special Research

Department of Special Research

The Department of Special Research (DSR) is a fictional government agency from the American television series Alias. The DSR is introduced in the first season episode The Prophecy.

The DSR is a division of the National Security Agency. Created during World War II, the DSR investigated the interest of Nazi Germany in the occult. After the war an executive order expanded the mandate of the DSR to include investigation into a myriad of "fringe sciences"(e.g. parapsychology, remote viewing). Nothing further is known of the DSR's activities until the events of season 1.

Doctor Carson Evans headed the team that investigated Sydney Bristow following the discovery of a Rambaldi manuscript which, on its 47th page, has a picture of a woman resembling Sydney and identified as "The Chosen One." The page contains a prophecy which states in part that the woman pictured "will render the greatest power unto utter desolation." The DSR administered a series of tests, including verifying that she has three physical anomalies mentioned by Rambaldi. With Sydney apparently confirmed as Rambaldi's Chosen One, the DSR took Sydney into custody. Aided by Jack Bristow, Eric Weiss and Michael Vaughn, Sydney escaped and traveled to Italy. Another part of the prophecy states that the woman pictured "without pretense, will have had her effect, never having seen the beauty of my sky behind Mt. Subasio." Sydney climbed Mt. Subasio, thus apparently disproving that it refers to her (although this was later revealed to be untrue, as "my sky" meant something entirely different).

In season 3, it was revealed that the DSR has a top secret storage facility in Nevada called Project Black Hole. It is also revealed that former Joint FBI-CIA Task Force director FBI Assistant Director Kendall oversaw this division and was not part of the FBI at all. Marcus Dixon visited Project Black Hole in the episode "Taken" as a pretext to facilitate Sydney's entry into the complex to steal a Rambaldi artifact.

In season 4, Arvin Sloane visited the DSR to research Rambaldi materials in an effort to discern the plans of the man impersonating him ("Arvin Clone"). Later in the series, Project Black Hole was the target of a break-in orchestrated by Elena Derevko to obtain the artifacts she needed to implement her endgame, a genocidal "cleansing" predicted by Rambaldi known as Il Diluvio ("The Flood"). The DSR sent a team to Sovogda, Russia, the site of Elena's endgame, but they were slaughtered by the infected.

The final mention of the DSR comes in season 5, when its facility is burgled yet again, this time off-screen by Renée Rienne, who stole a cryonic case which she believed contained her father but in fact held Doctor Aldo Desantis.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Special Research Units — were covert medical experiment units of the Imperial Japanese Army which conducted biological warfare research and development through human experimentation during the Second Sino Japanese War (1937 1945) and World War II. These units responsible …   Wikipedia

  • Division of Special Research — The Division of Special Research was a subdivision of the U.S. State Department charged with preparing studies in the field of problems post World War II. The department was secretly established February 3, 1941, subsequent to FDR s Four Freedoms …   Wikipedia

  • Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory …   Wikipedia

  • Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University — Seal of the Rabindra Bharati University Established 1976 Type Education and Research …   Wikipedia

  • Department of Police, Delhi — Common name Delhi Police Department Abbreviation DoP Logo of the Department of Police, Delhi …   Wikipedia

  • Department of Business Management, University of Calcutta — Department of Business Management of the University of Calcutta Motto Pursuing Excellence with Ethics Established 1976 Type Public, University Department …   Wikipedia

  • Department of Atomic Energy (India) — Department of Atomic Energy DAE Agency overview Formed August 3, 1948 (1948 08 03) (63 years ago) …   Wikipedia

  • Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi — Department of East Asian Studies = The Department of East Asian Studies is a premier institution of research and teaching in the field of Language, Literature and Area studies. The Department, under the aegis of the Faculty of Social Sciences of… …   Wikipedia

  • Special Collections @ University of Pretoria Library Services — Special Collections is a self contained unit in the University of Pretoria Library Services. The mission of the [http://www.library.up.ac.za/special/index.htm Special Collections] unit is to play a stewardship role in the preservation and proper… …   Wikipedia

  • Special education in the United States — Special education programs in the United States were made mandatory in 1975 when the United States Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) in response to discriminatory treatment by public educational agencies against …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”