Public Security Section 9

Public Security Section 9
Public Security Section 9
	File:Section9.jpg Section 9
Publication information
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics (US)
First appearance	Ghost in the Shell manga
Created by	Masamune Shirow
In-story information
Base(s)	Japan
Member(s)	Daisuke Aramaki; Motoko Kusanagi; Batou; Togusa; Pazu; Borma; Ishikawa; Saito; Proto; Azuma; Hiragi (Solid State Society) ; Soma (Solid State Society); Yano (Deceased)

Public Security Section 9 (Japanese: 公安9課, Kōuan Kyūka), also referred to as Public Safety Section 9 in some translations, is a fictional intelligence department under the Ministry of Home Affairs from Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell anime and manga series.

Location

Public Security Section 9 is located in the fictional Japanese city of Niihama-shi (also known as New Port City). The exact location of Section 9's headquarters is held as top-secret and is only known by the Japanese government and Section 9 employees.

Section 9 Headquarters facilities include a rooftop helipad, underground car park, Operator-managed control room, cyber-warfare and information gathering room, holding cells, meeting rooms and Tachikoma/Fuchikoma/Uchikoma workshop.

History

Public Security Section 9 was established as a search and rescue organization. Officially billed as an international organization, it is actually a counter-terrorist wetworks and anti-crime unit operating in the Japanese National Public Safety Commission. In particular, Section 9 and its members are among the best cyber warfare operatives in the country, and as a result usually end up involved in case relating to the internet, such as hacking and cyber terrorism.

Ghost in the Shell

Major Motoko Kusanagi was dispatched by Section 9 to spy on a building in the city New Port City. A foreign power is conspiring to recruit a domestic engineer to fix the Project 2501 "bug". The team moves in while Major activates her therm-optic camouflage. The foreign official refuses to return the engineer, while Kusanagi moves in and kills him.

Stand Alone Complex

During the investigation of the Laughing Man case, Major Kusanagi posed as the Laughing Man in order to uncover a conspiracy held against the Micro Machine company by the Japanese government. After higher-ranking government officials uncovered information about the investigation conducted by Section 9, the government disbanded the agency and declared war on them.

In preparation for an attack on their headquarters by the Umibozu's shock troopers and their Type 303 Armed Suit robots, all remaining Section 9 members barricaded themselves into the building and fought the invaders with all the heavy weaponry they could muster. Failing that, they assembled a diversion and escaped through a passage located in the sewers of New Port City. They are all eventually captured, with the Major apparently killed.

Togusa spent the next three months wondering what happened to the rest, before suddenly meeting up with Batou. The whole thing turned out to be one of Aramaki's brilliant plans, sacrificing Section 9 in order to leave the prime suspect wide-open to arrest, investigation and prosecution. Everyone, including the Major, is perfectly fine, and Aramaki is in the process of rebuilding and securing funding for the newly-reborn Section 9, which does not happen until 2nd GIG.

2nd GIG

Solid State Society

The ranks of Section 9 have increased to 20 operatives, right after Motoko Kusanagi had left the unit after the events that lead to the end of 2nd GIG.

Members

File:Kusanagi combat suit.JPG

Major Motoko Kusanagi

#	Agent	Speciality	Description
1.	Daisuke Aramaki	Lieutenant Colonel/Section Chief	Head of Section 9 and advisor to Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki.
2.	Motoko Kusanagi	Major/Field Commander	Is a female cybernetic squad leader. She is a highly skilled melee fighter and one of the world's most skilled hackers and net divers. She is also the tactical leader of Section 9.
3.	Ishikawa	Covert Intelligence and Technology/Executive Officer	Ishikawa is the covert intelligence and technology specialist. Like Togusa and Saito, he does not appear to be fully cyberised.
4.	Buttetsu Batou	Lead Investigator	Batou is the second best melee fighter in Section 9, a master of the boxing style. He served in the military with Motoko, and has obviously advanced vision due to his cybernetic eyes, and also contains other unlisted parts.
5.	Togusa	Investigator/Director Field Operations (SSS)	Togusa is mostly human, having only cybernetic memory upgrades and other small brain implants. To Section 9, Togusa is a reminder to them all of true humanity.
6.	Pazu	Investigator	Before joining the Public Security Commission, Pazu was rumored to been involved with several yakuza gangs.
7.	Borma	Sniper's spotter, Investigator, and bomb specialist	Borma usually handles rear support for the rest of the unit and handles heavy weaponry during assignments.
8.	Saito	Tactical Sniper	Saito is Section 9's primary tactical sniper, known to have been a mercenary in the South American campaign. Saito possesses a long-range cybernetic eye [also known as a hawkeye] that can be used for extreme accuracy by making use of satellite linked imaging data.
9.	Azuma	Recruit	One of Section 9's newly recruited field operatives.
10.	Yano-kun	Recruit	One of Section 9's newly recruited rookie and field operatives.

AI Personnel

#	Unit	Speciality	Description
1.	Tachikoma	Think Tanks	These experimental tanks are used during combat missions and are equipped with a 7.62x51mm light machine gun built into the right arm and an optional 50mm grenade launcher or 12.7mm rotary cannon mounted on a central hardpoint. They can be ridden in like a vehicle and controlled from inside, or remotely through the net. Their systems are universally lined through a central satellite where they develop AI traits similar to young girls. Many a paradox has arisen from their musings. They eventually learn to love and sacrifice.
2.	Fuchikoma	Think Tanks	These tanks are covered with ultra-heavy armor (unlike the Tachikoma units) and are depicted in various colours, usually red or brown in the manga and green in Stand Alone Complex, in which they appear at the end of the second season and during the Solid State Society film.
3.	Operators	Operators	Are an advanced line of gynoids designed to handle the day-to-day matters within Section 9.
4.	Proto	Tachikoma's Maintenance Technician / Rank: Field Agent in Solid State Society	Proto can also be used as an Operator. It is later discovered that he is in fact an experimental bioroid.