ADVENT: Dossier
Former Marshal Helsa Betos
"There is no place for idealists in this war."
- The Commander of XCOM
Saudia,
I have completed my preliminary investigation of Helsa Betos due to recent events, and it paints a pretty clear picture of what exactly could have happened to trigger her defection. The earliest records were from her service in the Israeli Army and with what I have learned, I am questioning why she even joined, let alone for so long, if she held views like this.
Granted, Israel was well aware her views were problematic to their overarching goals, and she had been marked by the Kidon as a potential liability. She quite clearly believed that the military should only be used as a last resort, and more as a deterrent, than anything offensive. When Israel annexed Palestine, she was openly opposed to it because she felt it wasn't justified and it would hurt Israel's standing in the world.
As you've probably also guessed, she wasn't a fan of the Commander or his tactics, but that particular opinion was more accepted, especially later in the war. Despite being a fairly high-ranking member, she didn't participate that much in the war proper; likely an intentional choice by Israel to reduce the chances she did something detrimental to the war effort.
What is especially relevant to this situation is that Betos is a highly charismatic leader, and that is likely the reason she managed to rise as high as she did, despite her more passive tendencies. She treats her soldiers with respect and care, and receives it in return. Soldiers who have served under her call her 'fair', which we would call 'restrained'. While certainly not an overall bad thing, it is not always the right response to a situation, and Betos incorporated that into her own strategies.
In the latest conquest of the Middle East, she was especially lenient to all opposing forces, delaying advances and giving generous amounts of time for opposing cities in Saudi Arabia to surrender, or what actually happened, prepare. Not that it helped them, but Betos has a tendency to believe the best of people, even our enemies, even when shown that is clearly not the case.
I am still unsure how she developed this outlook, as her parents weren't especially outspoken one way or another, and she has no siblings. The additional person that has some amount of influence over her is her second-in-command and closest friend Pratal Mox, who was a Palestinian who lived through the annexing and befriended Betos at an unknown time soon after.
Mox is also someone that requires further investigation, as he is one of the few that is close to Betos and who has definite influence over her. If Mox is helping make decisions as to what Betos is doing, that is something we need to determine quickly.
As for Betos posing an additional threat to us, that is minimal. Her outlook is passive, and I do not expect her to interfere aside from a misguided and futile attempt at reducing our influence. Recent reports indicate she is moving towards Africa, and I can only speculate that she will ally herself with one of the rulers there, and it might not be a bad idea to observe for a time.
Despite many of her soldiers leaving with her, the vast majority of ADVENT sees her as a traitor and rightfully so. But Betos is clearly unfamiliar with the situation in Africa and if she really wants to ally herself with the warlords and tyrants there, it will one day give us reason to annex the continent into ADVENT.
With any luck, Betos might just do the majority of legwork for us. Watch her for a time, but unless the entirety of Africa somehow rallies behind her, her impact can be easily controlled.
Elizabeth Falka, Director of ADVENT Intelligence
XCOM Profile 3266
Authorization Level: XCOM Intelligence
Subject: Helsa Betos
Threat Level: Medium
Assessment Author: XCOM Psychologist Haley Yates
Approved by: XCOM Intelligence Director Shaojie Zhang
SECTION 1: Physical Characteristics
Hair: None (Bald)
Eye color: Brown
Skin color: Light Tan
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 167 lbs.
Age: 36
Scars or markings: None known.
Physical condition: Her position has typically been in a command position, so her physical stamina is likely less than that of a baseline ADVENT or Israeli soldier, but still far above that of a civilian. This is likely to increase as she becomes more involved in whatever her current plans are.
SECTION 2: Assessment
Helsa Betos is a woman who should not have been put in command of anything remotely related to the Middle East. Why this didn't raise any red flags with ADVENT (especially as the Kidon had a file on her detailing these exact concerns), is beyond me, and while I know it is impossible to review potentially problematic soldiers in a timely manner, such a highly ranked soldier should have been an exception.
She should have been placed either in areas that were directly exposed to the alien threat, to keep her focus on it, or to place her in areas that are not affected by any current or former conflict. While Betos would have undoubtedly disapproved if she had merely been an observer to the war, directly participating in it at the exclusion of seeing the alien threat was the catalyst that ended with her desertion.
If anything Betos highlights the risk within ADVENT of soldiers losing sight of the main objective, which is the defeat of the aliens. While it is easy for us to keep our eyes focused ahead, it is clearly different for soldiers who have only heard of the aliens, and are only interacting by subversive human elements. In this light, it is not so surprising that so many defected with Betos, and it isn't that they are willing traitors per-se, but because they don't see ADVENT as something worth supporting, which is reinforced by the fact that they are unaware of just how extensive the alien threat is.
There is a noticeable change in outlook between soldiers who have encountered the aliens personally, and those who have not. This is why her defection, which she likely sees as noble and justified, is receiving complete condemnation from the majority of the ADVENT military, especially American, Korean, Japanese, and French Legions. That sentiment is spreading, and I would not want to be her when she is ultimately captured and executed.
There is another issue that this highlights, namely that we cannot rely on orders alone to disentangle the previous morality of the old governments. It is important to understand that people are not as practical nor ruthless as you or Saudia. They cannot see necessity and justification, but only emotional reactions that are based on concepts like 'right' and 'wrong'. Soldiers are not immune to this, and cannot be as controlled as civilians. I am currently unsure how easily that can be changed, but that is a job for ADVENT to figure out. With Betos's defection, I suspect they will be working to solve it as soon as possible.
SECTION 3: Psychological Profile
Betos is, quite bluntly, an idealist. She always prefers to see the best in people, and seems to not be able to understand that some people are incapable of empathy, understanding, and other traits that she values. I don't think she truly comprehends the potential Humans have for what she defines as evil. Even then, she generally appears to believe that they can be persuaded to change. Not necessarily become good people, but reduce the harm they would cause otherwise.
Oddly enough, she doesn't view organizations the same way, and can consider them harmful or evil, despite them being composed of people as well. Her rationalization to seemingly ignore this seems to be attributing the acts committed to a faceless group. For example, Canada would be attributed to "ADVENT Leadership", but interestingly, those people will not generally be identified.
This has the effect of allowing her to believe that the people within ADVENT are worthy of empathy, but not necessarily the organization itself. The rationalizes could be simply like 'they are following orders, so they don't have a choice' which once more puts things into the best possible scenario. I doubt she even considers Saudia the ultimate evil of ADVENT, perhaps believing that she is being pressured into these actions.
No, I don't know what could have developed this incredibly naïve outlook, but everything I've discovered about her points directly to this mindset.
This manifests itself in how she commands her soldiers. She always makes sure they are properly equipped, staffed, and generally gives them her complete respect. This is a hallmark of a good commander, and it paid off in this case. I suspect that the soldiers who defected with her were not doing it so much out of a distaste for ADVENT, as they were doing it because they believed in Betos more. She is a good leader, but it unfortunately doesn't stop there.
Idealism is almost always merciful, and Betos definitely qualifies as such. The cities that her garrison captured were treated much more leniently than ones captured by other Marshals, and as you would expect, that allowed more subversive elements to manifest themselves which the SSR has been putting down, and has ultimately made it worse for everyone. Betos will never target civilians, opposes execution, and offers enemies multiple attempts to surrender, and would almost rather put her soldiers in danger than risk accidentally hurting someone innocent.
Betos in particular is sympathetic to the people of the Middle East. I am positive this is because of her close friendship with Pratal Mox, who grew up during the Palestinian annexation, and no doubt has outlooks that are hostile to those of ADVENT, and operations like Deus Vult. While there is nothing indicating that the relationship is anything more than platonic, he has an undeniable amount of influence over her and it is clear she values his opinion and cares about him. In some respects, he is almost more of a concern than Betos herself from what I've learned of him.
In the end, Betos has an unrealistic worldview and expectations of people. She believes the majority of people are good, and that this also extends to people in power. If she is really going to Africa, she is going to be faced with a multitude of extremely hard choices, because the nations there are far more hateful and corrupt than ADVENT could ever be.
It will be curious to see how she adapts to this when she experiences it first-hand.
SECTION 4: Concerns and Abilities
In terms of posing an actual threat, Betos generally does not pose one. Despite the soldiers at her command armed with ADVENT tech, if we really wished it, Patricia could neutralize her entire army, or when the PRIEST Program is running, one of them could do the same. The greater concern is if they spread Gaussian tech to the African nations, although that would likely start wars amongst themselves rather than ADVENT specifically.
Betos herself is a competent soldier, but is not remarkable in any way in that respect. As a tactician, she is what is considered above average, and utilizes her forces well, and has the lowest casualty numbers of any garrison in ADVENT. When she really needs to, she can be extremely effective, but if given the choice between an offensive and defensive action, she will almost always choose a defensive action.
It should also be noted that her forces do not include any MDUs, psions, Ravens, or Purifiers. Again, while her army might be enough to take a good portion of Africa, it would be easily defeated by any concentrated amount of ADVENT or alien forces. The threat she ultimately poses is minimal, but if she undergoes a radical change in outlook, she can become dangerous.
Battlemaster,
After receiving the most recent reports, I believe we have two paths that we should both take to begin undermining ADVENT's position in the world. While there is a certain risk in these, it is something we should not ignore, and I estimate that our chances of successfully swaying them to our side will not be overly difficult if the right approach is taken.
One of these openings lies in a former Marshal of ADVENT, one Helsa Betos, who quite surprisingly defected from ADVENT with a large portion of her soldiers, and supposedly cited disagreements with how ADVENT was conducting this war. That particular viewpoint is exceptionally rare, and was almost certainly influenced by the fact that she's never actually fought any Collective forces, and has instead only seen the harsh practicality of ADVENT.
Her naïve viewpoint can be exploited, and since the video Chancellor Vyandar released of the Sectoid Hive was not enough to make her reconsider, she might be open to the suggestion that much of the information about the Collective is propaganda. She would have to be treated carefully, but women like her can be easily disposed of and replaced should it become needed.
Her main purpose will be uniting the African countries against ADVENT, a goal that while certainly in line with her ambitions, is one she is woefully unprepared to handle. Her impressions of Africa seem to be entirely fictional from further research and investigation, and it is more likely that she will start an African civil war than actually unite them against anyone.
That is, if she doesn't have help.
Africa is a largely underdeveloped, overlooked continent run by corrupt dictators and petty tyrants. Betos will likely not be able to do anything without additional support, and if her plans begin deteriorating immediately, as they probably will, she will be open to our help. If she can be influenced to…adapt…her useless mindset, she could be an excellent figurehead as the woman who united Africa against ADVENT, and if we also join the negotiations with these countries, they will do the fighting against ADVENT for us.
And those nations that resist, we can simply remove their leaders. These people pose no threat to us, but if we move to obviously and quickly, we may force ADVENT's hand sooner than we want. Betos is an opportunity we should take, Battlemaster, let us not ignore this one like we did Canada.
- Zar'Chon'ravarian'vitiary
Addendum: Macula – Please forward all relevant information relating to Helsa Betos and Africa. This intrigues me.