Malcolm Barrett

NID Agent Malcolm Barrett

Summary

Malcolm Barrett is an agent with the National Intelligence Division (NID). Even though there have been several rogue operatives within its ranks, the NID is actually staffed by some honorable people, one of whom is Agent Barrett.

Character Biography

Malcolm Barrett is an NID agent based out of Washington, D.C. He is a loyal servant to the legitimate operations of his agency, actually working to counter and destroy the rogue elements within its ranks.

That’s not to say SG-1 has not been at odds with Barrett. Their first meeting was a gunpoint standoff. (5.12 "Wormhole X-Treme") Both SG-1 and the NID were trying to get an alien spaceship. Barrett received a communique that gave the NID authority over the retrieval. Barrett forced Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter to remain with one of his agents while his team went to retrieve the vessel.

The next meeting with Barrett was more cordial. Sam Carter actually went to him for help in his office in Washington D.C. when Colonel O’Neill was framed for the assassination of Senator Robert Kinsey. (6.14 “Smoke and Mirrors”) Barrett met her outside of his bugged office to propose they investigate the matter together. He had already been assigned by the White House to uncover the rogue NID operation, and had put pressure on Kinsey to get him to testify–which was what likely led to the senator being shot. Using Barrett’s informants in the illegal arms business, the two unraveled the mystery, eventually trusting each other enough to reveal their agencies’ secrets to each other for the good of the mission: Carter explained about the Foothold alien mimicry devices which allowed someone to impersonate O’Neill, and Barrett admitted Kinsey did not die in the shooting, but was only severely wounded. Working together, they apprehended rogue NID agent Mark Devlin when he made a second attempt on Kinsey’s life. Between their efforts and those of the SGC, they also uncovered the Committee, a secret organization made up of businessmen that were behind the operations of the rogue NID. During this mission, Barrett appeared to be attracted to Carter, though it never moved beyond mild flirtation.

Carter stayed in touch with Agent Barrett. With Hammond’s approval, she contacted him for information on Richard Woolsey, the NID representative investigating the mission where Dr. Janet Fraiser died (7.18 "Heroes, Part 2"). To Barrett’s knowledge, Woolsey was clean, but Malcolm provided her with an internal NID report Woolsey wrote on the economics of the SGC, questioning the value of a $27 million rescue operation to save one man.

Barrett called SG-1 in to help with an unusual case involving stray members of the rogue NID. (7.19 "Resurrection") His team discovered a warehouse conducting genetic experiments with several dead scientists and footage indicating a young woman, Anna, killed them all. The experiment’s data involved Goa’uld technology and genetic cloning. His attempts at interrogating the sole surviving scientist, Dr. Keffler, were met with stonewalling. With Teal’c, Sam Carter, Daniel Jackson, and Bill Lee's assistance, they were able to contain the situation and disarm a Goa’uld bomb, unfortunately not before Anna and Dr. Keffler were killed. During this case, Barrett asked Carter out, but to his surprise, she explained she was seeing someone.

Barrett, still involved in tracking down rogue NID operatives, now known as the Trust, worked with SG-1 when Ba’al was found to be on Earth as the new de facto head of the Trust. (9.07 “Ex Deus Machina”) His teams ran surveillance in the Washington D.C. region, trying to track down Ba’al, when Sam and Daniel joined him. Ba’al caused them to abort their planned snatch-and-grab operation by holding a public press conference. Barrett asked about Pete Shanahan by name, and was pleased to discover Sam had broken up with Pete. Sam however again rejected his advances by explaining cryptically that she was “not exactly” single. Later, she was beamed to Seattle to counter a bomb threat while Barrett and Daniel raided Ba’al’s compound. They were too late to apprehend Ba’al but found a clone lab.

Agent Barrett notified General Landry in person when the NID discovered the Goa'uld infiltrated Trust had been to Atlantis and planted a bomb that would destroy the city when it dialed Earth (Stargate Atlantis: 2.13 "Critical Mass" ). When Lt. Col. Carter returned from an offworld mission, she worked with Barrett and the team of scientists to try and track down where the bomb could be.

Barrett next arrived at the SGC when Ba'al literally fell right into their laps (10.04 "Insiders"). With Ba'al the ostensible head of the Trust, Barrett and the NID were very interested in interrogating the Goa'uld. Barrett became increasingly frustrated at Landry's refusal for him to do anything but observe. He even became hostile towards Carter. Barrett took matters into his own hands and went to question one of the Ba'als himself. The Ba'al overcame him and started an escape with his clones, using Barrett, Carter, and others as hostages. Ba'al later used Barrett as leverage to convince Carter to give him the information he needed before escaping. Barrett's out of character actions put him under suspicion for being brainwashed by the Trust, and Landry ordered the NID agent placed into custody.

Apparently Malcolm made a full recovery from the brainwashing. When Col. Mitchell discovered an NID agent spying on he and Gen. Landry using a Sodan cloaking device, they contacted Barrett (10.05 "Uninvited"). His team has detained everyone who had security clearance to the lab where the devices were being held. Although cleared for duty, he still confided that he felt responsible for what happened in the SGC. On another occasion, he provided good information on remaining Trust safehouses when Vala was kidnapped by the group. (10.08 " Memento Mori").

Malcolm Barrett once again came to SGC with intelligence that the Ba'al clones would be meeting on P3R-112 (10.19 "Dominion"). He had an inside source which was very reliable.

Episodes

• 5.12 "Wormhole Extreme"
• 6.14 "Smoke And Mirrors"
• 7.18 "Heroes Part Two"
• 7.19 "Resurrection"
• 9.07 "Ex Deus Machina"
• Stargate Atlantis: 2.13 "Critical Mass"
• 10.04 "Insiders"
• 10.05 "Uninvited" (by reference only)
• 10.08 "Memento Mori" (by reference only)
• 10.19 "Dominion"

Related Characters

• Col. Jack O'Neill
• Dr. Daniel Jackson
• Mjr./Lt. Col. Samantha Carter
• Teal'c
• Gen. George Hammond
• Gen. Hank Landry
• Anna
• Ba'al
• Agent Mark Devlin
• Dr. Keffler
• Sen. Robert Kinsey
• Dr. Bill Lee
• Pete Shanahan
• Richard Woolsey

Related Articles

• Atlantis Expedition
• Cloning
• The Committee
• Goa'uld
• Mimicking Device
• NID
• P3R-112
• Sodan Cloaking Device
• The Trust

Actor

• Peter Flemming

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--Aurora Novarum 17:35, 15 Oct 2005 (EDT)