Alliance First policy
The Alliance First policy was a sociopolitical "restructuring" of the Gigerdi Alliance's foreign and domestic policy during the presidency of Orin Rubek. The policy required the GA to actively strengthen its interests all around the galaxy, and at the same time create an internal police force to oversee the activities of its citizens.
Domestic reforms
This caused the official creation of the Section 18, which was first and foremost meant to act as an intelligence-gathering organ on an intergalactic level. The Section 18 was also meant to organise "those in the Gigerdian society with telepathic gifts under a protective, and caring community able to serve both the needs of the community and the individual".
As Rubek rose to power, he transformed the Section 18 into just what he had envisioned: a secret police force having its operatives active in every part of the galaxy - and at home too. This also included the infiltration of several embassies by Section 18 agents and affiliates. By this, Rubek and his planners hoped to be able to keep up-to-date with the plans of the other alien species - especially the Hemmoian Federation. Fearing invasion, Rubek planned something he called "an early warning system" into the embassies via the agents , since he knew that in case the other species would take hostile steps against the alliance, the first signs of it would probably come to the light of day at the embassies.
Foreign reforms
The other important factor in the Alliance First policy was the GA Military. Rubek stated, that the GA Military's new mission was to protect Gigerdian and allied interests all around the galaxy. This meant that the GA fleets were often called into action to subdue aggression in some of the colonies - especially after the declaration of martial law a few months before start of the GA Civil War. The new policy also put the GA Military working closely with the questionable forces of Kapu - who had been granted the status of a colonial official by Rubek.
Rubek wished to make the GA Military a strong and vigilant organization with all-seeing eyes. He drastically added to the military budgets, and used adept propaganda to create an atmosphere of terror all around the GA's territories. The propaganda was aimed at the individual citizen, who was supposedly the target of alien terrorists and their influences. Thus the military needed additional funds to function more properly.
The Alliance First policy also required all sorts of internal strife in the colonies to be handled with a massive show-of-force in order to discourage any further separation anxiety from taking place.
After Rubek and the future of the policy
After the Rubek regime was forcibly disbanded by the forces of Nix Balmorra, the age of Alliance First policy was effectively over. Naturally the Section 18 was still left in place - although with a slightly modified set of rules of conduct.
President Dalleer, the next president, however still had some bits and pieces of this policy implemented. Good examples of these is the Beta Quadrant Conflict and the subsequent rise of the Resistance. After Dalleer, however, the new administration under president Armand Y. Marick completely abandoned the idea.
