XCOM Research Department

I apologize, but most of that information is highly classified. Suffice it to say, they're an old friend.

I would give nearly anything to harness these powers. The potential for our troops, nay humanity itself, would be limitless. On a related note, anyone who manages to capture a live sectoid commander will have the first plasma rifle reserved for them.The key word being alive. No explosives.

They can certainly read, when we show them words, the parts of the brain signaling comprehension trigger, but getting them to write or do anything other than stare at us with hatred may be an impossible task, as they are incredibly resistant to all known forms of interrogation. If it weren't for the... Properties of the interrogation chamber, I would have a hard time believing they felt pain at all.

While we know they are at least mentally proficient, the only sounds we have ever been able to coax out of them are strange hissing noises and screams of pain (I think you can guess which was my doing). Sargent Ethridge claims that one once spewed profanities at her, but she has a reputation for embellishing her stories, so it is not considered a reliable source. It is more likely they possess this comprehension not to speak, but to listen. Such skills would be invaluable in gathering information, as well as overhearing enemy orders on the battlefield.

While the Thin men may not be the most talkative subjects, neural probing has revealed that they are proficient in over 60 earth languages, including what has been identified as ancient Sumerian. It makes me wonder how long they have been preparing for this.

Biological warfare is a very encompassing term. While most of the time it is used in reference to micro-cellular life such as viruses or bacteria, it also includes macro-cellular life, which in this case means an organism that is perhaps perfectly suited to kill sectoids. In a war for survival of the entire human race, we cannot completely reject the notion of using biological warfare, particularly when the enemy shows no similar reluctance. All one needs to do to see that is look at Newfoundland. While the subject's fighting ability may be well known, I will admit I am curious if it is resistant to psionics. I imagine that Bradford would welcome the news that not everything else in the universe wants us dead, and Dr Shen would probably mutter something about "morality" and how it's "wrong to stage a gladiatorial arena for a few minor questions." You learn to tune Shen out after a while. The troops, I imagine, would find the display quite cathartic.

Theoretically it should be simple to hotwire a plasma rifle into the power grid, as long as one understands how it works. The problem is that the "understanding how it works" part is a bit of a problem right now. By the end of the war, we will most likely have cleared that obstacle, so what you propose should be possible.

By "how many plasma rifles" I assume you mean how much elerium, the power source for such weapons, as plugging a plasma rifle into the wall is not the most practical solution. However, even if you were to plug a plasma rifle into the wall, the elerium inside would produce enough energy to comfortably power a small town. That said, elerium supplies are tight at the moment, and we do not have nearly the supplies necessary to restructure the whole power grid. However, if we could discover the source of elerium, or find a way to manufacture it ourselves, our reliance on fossil fuels would be over within the decade.

Questioning the effectiveness of the project is understandable. After all, you might say, for every alien abduction we stop, two more continue unopposed. However, if XCOM were not around, you might as well raise that to three unopposed abductions every few weeks with no end in sight. We may have to take the uncomfortable position of choosing who to save at the moment, but our satellite network grows every day. When that is complete, we may see an end to abductions as a whole, as we will be able to find their landing ships and shoot them out of the sky before they come anywhere close to a major population center. In addition, the XCOM project is uniquely able to use the alien's technology against them. This has already been demonstrated with the development of practical energy weaponry and new forms of body armor, and remember, this is all done on a shoestring budget. In conclusion, even if it were not "functional," XCOM is still the best hope humanity has for survival.

THIS IS A LEVEL THREE GENERAL ALERT. THE CHRYSSALID SPECIMENS HAVE ESCAPED CONTAINMENT. All security personnel and off duty combat troops are to collect their equipment and report to the containment ward to eliminate the threat. Bring laser weapons, as ballistic weapons have proven to be ineffective against the creatures unless completely saturated with gunfire. Arc throwers would also be appreciated, but not necessary given the nature of the threatThe section has been quarantined for now, but base personnel are still trapped in the section with those monstrosities, so this will be a rescue mission as well as an extermination. In addition, the research department has something which might help with this. I will be taking it to the rendezvous point personally to give it to anyone willing to field test it.