Starfleet Command
From Hidden Frontier
Starfleet Command is the operating authority of Starfleet, the exploratory, scientific, and military department of the United Federation of Planets. The organization's primary management center is located at Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco, Earth. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Besides the fleet, Starfleet Command also oversees the other Starfleet agencies, which include Starfleet Medical, Starfleet Science, Starfleet Intelligence, Starfleet Security and the Starfleet Corps of Engineers.
Because of the time delays involved in many subspace communications, Starfleet Command also includes a network of administrative and support outposts known as starbases throughout the Federation. Starfleet's starships operate out of these starbases under the supervision of various admirals, the senior officers of the fleet.
By 2364, Starfleet Command had been infiltrated by neural parasite aliens, who had physically infiltrated the bodies of several high-ranking Starfleet officials. The aliens were prevented from taking over Starfleet Command by Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Commander William Riker of the USS Enterprise-D, who, by destroying the mother creature, killed all alien parasites on the planet. (TNG: "Conspiracy")
These parasites were revealed in 2381 to have been instruments employed by the Grey Confederacy to infiltrate Starfleet, possibly to prevent the Federation from encroaching on the Grey's haven within the Briar Patch. ("Entanglment, Part 2")
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