Tom Reed

Tom Reed
Information
Nationality	American
Nicknames	Tom
Born	1971
Died	2011 Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C.
Cause of death	Shot in the head by Anna Grímsdóttir.
Hair	Black
Eyes	Brown
Affiliations	United States Air Force (AFCYBER) Megiddo Irving Lambert Third Echelon (National Security Agency) Black Arrow Jeremy Prentiss Shawn Robertson Anna Grímsdóttir Lucius Galliard
Occupation	Third Echelon Director (Last Known Position)
Rank	Colonel
Voice Actor	James A. Woods
Appearances	Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction

"There is no walking away from us, Fisher! We made you, we own you, and we always will!"

― Tom Reed on Sam Fisher's resigning from Third Echelon.

Thomas "Tom" Jeffrey Reed (1971–2011) was the last Director of Third Echelon and an instrumental person involved in the Third Echelon Conspiracy in 2011. He replaced Lawrence Williams as Third Echelon Director, who briefly became director after the death of Irving Lambert, 3E's very first Director.

Reed was voiced by James A. Woods.

Biography

Reed accesses Sam Fisher's personnel file at Third Echelon Headquarters.

Early life

Thomas Jeffrey Reed was born in 1971 and attended the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he specialized in cyber warfare. Upon graduation, he went to work for Air Force ISR. He was then transferred to AFCYBER immediately following reorganization. He was instrumental in preventing multiple 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. He transitioned from AFCYBER to a new Third Echelon initiative under then-Director Irving Lambert. After Lambert was killed in the field, Reed positioned himself to ascend to the Director position in Third Echelon. He has expanded the organization’s head count and mission, moving aggressively into preemptive information warfare approaches.

2011: Third Echelon Conspiracy

Prior to the conspiracy, Reed was promoted to Director after the death of Irving Lambert. When President Patricia Caldwell tried to shut Third Echelon down, because she felt the agency was not justifying its funding anymore, Reed responded by planning a coup that involved of using stolen Russian EMP devices in Washington, D.C. to disable the power and the electronic security measures. Then, Reed would use the downtime to attack the White House and assassinate Caldwell using his Splinter Cells, security forces from Third Echelon and the mercenaries from the PMC Black Arrow.

Reed revealing his plan to kill the President to Sam in the Oval Office, fake captured by Grim

However, things did not go as planned: Anna Grímsdóttir brought Sam back in the game by blackmailing him with Sarah and simultaneously tricked Reed into believing Sam knew about Kobin and the stolen Russian EMPs. After meeting up with Grim at the White House, Sam let her pretend to capture him so that he could enter the Oval Office without Reed immediately killing Caldwell. While Reed was gloating, Sam attacked him and, together with Grim, shot and killed all Splinter Cells in the office. After Grim secured the President, Sam interrogated Reed about the nature of the shadowy group known as Megiddo. Although Reed revealed little, he did admit of being the mole that Lambert was looking for. He then revealed that threatening Sarah was just a way to get to Sam, leveraging him was a way to get to Third Echelon and Third Echelon was a way to get what Megiddo wanted out of the White House.

Reed's corpse after being killed. Note the iconic trifocals symbol created by the three bullet holes.

After the interrogation (during which Sam left two bullet holes in each of Reed's shoulders), Sam spares Reed, who brags to Sam about having him as a character witness for his trial. This prompts Grim to tell Reed "there won't be a trial" and shoots Reed in the head. As a result of Reed's treasonous actions, Caldwell disbanded Third Echelon and stripped all of its operational capabilities, laying the ground work for the creation of Fourth Echelon under the leadership of Fisher.

Profile

File:Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction - Character 2

Reed's psychological profile indicates strong adaptive thinking with some narcissistic tendencies. He prefers hands-on operation and places a great store in personal loyalty. Reed replaced most of Lambert’s appointees in Third Echelon with his own people. However, even his own men may be punished by death if they fail him, he does not tolerate failure. Despite this, he does show some trust and respect to Grim, probably due to her previous history with Third Echelon, furthermore she was the interim director of 3E before Reed took over.

As head of Third Echelon, Tom Reed has a very clear idea as to what the agency – and make no mistake, it’s his agency – could (or should) be doing to protect the United States. Equally at home in the field or testifying in front of Congress, Reed is an operator in every sense of the word. Fast, cunning, and deadly, he’s exactly what Third Echelon needs to lead it in a brave new world of terrorism and information warfare. Reed is a ruthless, efficient, and energetic individual who has revitalized Third Echelon and extended its reach in ways his predecessor never would have imagined – or been willing to do. Then again, Irving Lambert was the man who brought Tom Reed into Third Echelon, a decision with consequences that still occur years later.

Gallery

Concept art of Tom Reed.

Developer commentary

"Tom Reed was sort of the anti-Sam. He’s smooth, he’s a big picture thinker, he knows how to leverage technology and the media to get what he wants. He’s also ambitious. He’s looking to the future and seeing Third Echelon’s place in it.

Part of that is that he doesn’t have a plan. He has an agenda, and he has responsibilities, and he’s got resources – including himself – that he’s willing to use to in service to that agenda. He’s got things he believes in very strongly, and one of those things is that Third Echelon needs to keep adapting and evolving. The agency that he’s in charge of doesn’t have a place for Sam Fisher – it left him as much as he left it – and in some sense the conflict between these two characters is as much about this as it is anything else."

― Richard Dansky, Splinter Cell: Conviction Game Script Writer

Quotes

Main article: Tom Reed/Quotes

Trivia

• A person named "Reed" was one of Sam Fisher's contacts for the 2007 build of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction.
• 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.
• Like Lucius Galliard, he is affiliated with Megiddo, which plays a very small role in the next game, Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
• During Reed's interrogation in the Oval Office, if the player chooses to have Sam shoot Reed twice instead of bashing him, the final bullet hole in his head plus the ones in each shoulder make a triad that resembles the trifocals pattern of the Splinter Cell series (and the trifocals goggles).
  • The same applies to bashing Reed twice; it is less noticeable, but the bruises on his cheeks and bullet hole in his forehead still form the pattern.
• 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.
• The SMI database in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist confirmed that Sam shooting him is the canon ending.
• Fisher's departure from Third Echelon and Reed was seen in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Echoes.
• Coincidentally, there is an email in a data stick in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell with the recipient with the first name "Tom" and the sender of the email as "Reed". The data stick is located in the CIA HQ level.

Appearances

• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Echoes (Flashback)
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist (SMI database only)

See also

• National Security Agency
• Third Echelon
• Megiddo