Donald Anderson

Donald Anderson, also known as Sigint, was a member of FOX during which he helped Naked Snake as the self-proclaimed "expert on weapons, equipment and cutting-edge technology" in 1964 and the 1970. After that, he participated in the development of ARPANET and was one of the founding members of the Patriots. In 2005, he was tortured to death by Revolver Ocelot and later impersonated by Decoy Octopus.

Early life and career
Donald Anderson was born on Veterans Day 1939, in Nashville, Tennessee. At some point in his life, he became familiar with weaponry, and high-tech equipment. He was later scouted by Major Zero and requested to join the CIA for his abilities (he had difficulty finding a job anywhere else due to racial discrimination). However, his recruitment caused some controversy among his peers, with Major Zero often having to deal with complaints relating to Anderson three days per month. At some point in his life, he also met and befriended Jim Houseman.

Anderson was responsible for inventing the Raikov Mask, which was originally intended for a CIA-sponsored mission. An agent was to infiltrate the Soviet Union, impersonate a GRU officer (implied to be Major Raikov), sneak into a Soviet installation, and steal secret documents. However, the mission was aborted, and Major Zero told Sigint to throw the mask away. However, Sigint was reluctant to do so, as he considered it to be an ingenious design (it was the first mask to "blink"), and that it would be an insult to science to throw it away. Getting the lips to move though, was something he saw beyond anyone's ability.

In 1964, Anderson was given the codename "Sigint" and was formally introduced to Naked Snake during the beginning of Operation Snake Eater. He provided Snake with detailed information on weaponry, machinery, camouflage, and gadgetry. He, among others things, invented the binoculars that Snake uses during his mission. He provided useful strategies and tactics in his battles against enemy forces and other situations, as well as explained intel on the forces of GRU and some of the Cobra Unit's traits, such as their microbombs. His codename referred to the military term "SIGINT", or Signals Intelligence. After Naked Snake survived his fall into Tikhogornyj while escaping from Groznyj Grad after being imprisoned, Sigint also explained some details about The Sorrow, namely that he died in a fight with The Boss two years prior in Tselinoyarsk. He also gave Snake some advice about handling C3 and placing it on the fuel tanks when he returned to Groznyj Grad to blow up the weapons lab hangar. After Snake managed to accomplish Operation Snake Eater, Sigint was among the people who were at Langley to witness Naked Snake receiving the codename of Big Boss as well as the distinguished service cross from President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Post-Snake Eater
In 1965, Sigint joined ARPA and took part in the development of ARPAnet. At some point between 1965-1970, he was also involved in two projects involving making soldiers go through a mission without eating for five days (codenamed "Metabolism Dominance") and making soldiers fight without sleeping, as well as various development projects relating to GPS satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles, a human cannon for Special Forces operatives to be launched to the top of a building, and an aircraft resembling a UFO.

In 1970, after successfully contacting Para-Medic during the San Hieronymo Takeover via a Red Army communications base, Para-Medic patched Snake's call into Sigint from his command station at ARPAnet. Sigint informed Snake that the latter was being held under suspicion of treason, Major Zero was held under arrest, and Sigint and Para-Medic would also be court marshalled and placed under arrests as accomplices to treason if Snake wasn't able to produce documentation proving his and their innocence. Sigint then tells Snake that he does have some help this time around, as ARPAnet had recently sent a Green Berets squadron to the peninsula, however they had lost contact with them shortly after their arrival. Unbeknownst to Sigint, Snake had already met and befriended the only survivor of the Green Berets squad, Roy Campbell as the rest of the Green Berets had executed by Gene. Sigint also suggested to Snake that he recruit some allies for his cause, given the low morale of some of the Red Army. Sigint later greeted Snake when he returned to America.

The Patriots
Sigint along with Para-Medic, Big Boss (Naked Snake), Ocelot, EVA, was recruited by Zero as of the founding members of the Patriots. After his recruitment, Sigint used ARPAnet (the precursor to the Internet) to plan their later virtual control over the world. ARPA was also in charge of much of the Patriots developmental plans.

In 1974, Sigint was apparently one of the people who masterminded the events that occured at Costa Rica. He also felt that using AIs themselves to control humanity was better than the AI weapons, as Sigint's interpretion was that "machines will just be machines."

By 2000, Sigint created his brainchildren: the AIs (TR, TJ, AL, GW, and JD) that were set in maintaining the Patriots' "set of norms" as Zero's successors.

Metal Gear REX Project
Now going by his real name of Donald Anderson, he was the office chief of DARPA in 2002. As an advocate of the nuclear retaliation theory and partially because of his being heavily bribed by Kenneth Baker, he funded the Metal Gear REX project as a joint effort with ArmsTech, part of the United States's black budget. According to In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, for several years, regular payments in the tens of thousands of dollars had been made to the cooperate account of a dummy company for which Anderson’s wife ostensibly acted as a consultant. But the main reason that Metal Gear REX was being developed was to overcome a global trend of military downsizing.

In 2005, Anderson and Baker visited the Disposal Facility where REX was developed a railgun testing excercise, only to be taken as hostages during the Shadow Moses Incident. At some point prior to the incident, he also received cranial implants that would render Psycho Mantis's mind reading ability useless. Anderson was interrogated by Revolver Ocelot when he refused to divulge his detonation code to the terrorist. However, Anderson was aware of Ocelot's true identity and allegiances, and was electrocuted to death during a torture session, making his death appear accidental (also because Anderson was still involved with the Patriots and that EVA and Ocelot wished to rescue Big Boss from Zero's clutches). As a result, Liquid arranged for Decoy Octopus to take his place as a hostage and trick Solid Snake into revealing of an alternate method of activating REX. Snake found the decomposed corpse of the real Donald Anderson while held in captivity by Ocelot, but was not aware of the switch until Vulcan Raven revealed it to him.

Anderson was a personal friend of Jim Houseman, who lamented his death as he was the only person Houseman intended to spare during the Shadow Moses Incident. He also intended to steal the Metal Gear REX nuclear warhead data from Baker and have it delivered to Houseman.

Posthumous
The Patriots, after the Shadow Moses Incident, attempted to cover up their involvement in creating Metal Gear REX by placing the blame on Anderson, a story that the U.S. President succeeding George Sears, James Johnson, was led to believe.

CIA
(discarded by Naked Snake because it was inconveniently designed)
 * Binoculars
 * EZ Gun
 * Motion Detector
 * Active Sonar
 * Raikov Mask
 * Combat knife developed for Operation Snake Eater

ARPA/DARPA

 * ARPANET
 * Peace Walker Project AI weapons (indirectly)
 * Optic-neuro AIs ( AL, GW, JD, TJ, and TR)
 * Metal Gear REX

Trivia

 * Donald Anderson was born on November 11, 1939, the 21st anniversary of the First World War's end. The day is celebrated as Veterans Day in the United States, and as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world.


 * Although Sigint did not participate directly in the Virtuous Mission, he did supply Major Zero with notes in regards to the anti-personnel sensor, the motion detector, and the active sonar.


 * Sigint's personal data as of 1964 reveals that: his eyesight was 20/16; his blood type is "O"; he had no prior illnesses; his favorite hobby was playing basketball; his favorite food was buffalo wings; his least favorite food was fish and chips; his primary technological interest was computers; his favorite animals were cats; his favorite liquor was beer; his favorite UMA was the [Abominable] Snowman; his favorite UFO was the Adamski type; and the total number of written apologies he provided during that year was 21.
 * Due to a translation error in Metal Gear Solid 3, when the play wears the Cold War uniform and calls Sigint he will say enemy soliders won't shoot you from behind but they actually won't shoot from the front and will shoot you if your back is facing them.

Unconfirmed history
By the time of Operation Snake Eater, Sigint was also a member of the NSA, which is where he had become familiar with cutting-edge electronic reconnaissance technology.

After a period of strategizing for the United States government during the Cold War, Donald Anderson worked for the CIA for at least ten years and was awarded the Intelligent Star Badge for his duties.

Metal Gear Solid
Donald Anderson, in the Metal Gear Solid: Official Missions Handbook, was stated to be single. However, this was later retconned in Nastasha Romanenko's novel In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, where it was stated that he was married.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
According to the script for Metal Gear Solid 2, the Cyborg Ninja Olga Gurlukovich was to have spoken to Raiden in Donald Anderson's voice, while discussing how the PAN card operated, mirroring his dialogue from Metal Gear Solid. However, this was not implemented in the final version.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Calling Sigint on the radio causes some humorous results. He comments on almost everything Snake can equip, along with lectures about much of the equipment Snake encounters; this includes a funny conversation concerning the cardboard box, and a lecture on the real-life shortcomings of a bipedal armored vehicle after Snake has encountered Granin. Ironically, Sigint would later fund the Metal Gear REX project. Curiously, Sigint never comments on the infinity face paint (although he will talk about the Patriot and other secret items). See Metal Gear Solid 3 radio conversations for a full list of comical conversations.

It is possible that Sigint was also the one who developed the batteries for the active sonar, motion detector, and anti-personnel sensor, due to developing the first two devices as well as a comment from Para-Medic about the person who developed the batteries being "somewhat strange" during the Virtuous Mission, which was also a similar description given to Sigint by Major Zero in regards to the Raikov Mask when contacted by Snake in regards to it.

If the player contacts Sigint shortly after Naked Snake wakes up from his nightmare, Sigint will explain that he had an even worse nightmare where his hometown and everyone he knew was "turned into shit" by a "tank-shaped big pile of crap" via its "turd missiles." The dream, fecal references aside, was foreshadowing the creation of Metal Gear which both Big Boss and Sigint later helped create (via ZEKE/TX-55/D and REX, respectively).

Sigint appears in the Secret Theatre movie Metal Gear S..., where he replaces Naked Snake in many of the game's cutscenes, just beating Jack to the punch on storyline-driven events such as fighting Ocelot and meeting up with, and being seduced by EVA.

According to leaked character sheets for Metal Gear Solid 3, Sigint's appearance was based on various characters played by African American actor Will Smith.

Portable Ops recruitment
''In Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, the player is given the option to recruit Sigint. This section details how the recruitment takes place.''

After Snake is rescued from the Guest House (and rescues Raikov, if the resistance managed to find and place a Spy Unit in the Western Wilderness and chooses to rescue him), Snake goes over to the Communications Base and contacts Sigint. Sigint deduces that Snake is having trouble with the mission, and Snake confirms this. Snake explains that while he did manage to recruit some of the enemy forces, he does admit that they are chronically short of gear, as they are handling several weapons for the first time. Sigint tells Snake that it isn't surprising as not all of the soldiers are trained in equipment as Snake. However, he does have sympathy for the predicament, as it is tough to fight in that condition, as the soldiers are most likely not inspecting or managing their gear properly. Snake explains that their neither inspecting nor managing their gear properly is exactly the reason as to why Snake contacted Sigint in the first place, and he was wondering if he could give advice. Sigint, however, explains to Snake that the subject matter is far too complex to merely give advice over the radio. He explains that the soldiers would need an experienced instructor to come down to the San Hieronymo Peninsula to teach them. He also reveals that the same instructor has to have knowledge on Soviet equipment, as well as how to use it. More importantly, he has to arrive for San Hieronymo without someone within the CIA or the Pentagon brass noticing. After explaining this, Sigint suddenly realizes he's that kind of person. Snake then realizes that Sigint wants to come down to the peninsula. Sigint explains that he's well versed in every single kind of equipment known to the military forces: guns, gear, old technology, cutting-edge technology, American-made, Soviet-made, everything. Snake is unsure, as the situation may not be well suited for him. Sigint explains that he probably doesn't have much of a choice but to help, anyways, as these are desperate times, although he also admits that he also wants to see the new CIA weapon.

Shortly thereafter, Sigint manages to find a method of transportation to the San Hieronymo Peninsula, and arrives at the town. However, he also ends up taking evasive maneuvers in case an Alert is triggered. Snake manages to get to Sigint without triggering an Alert and, after briefly talking with Roy Campbell, escorts him to the truck.

Recruiting Sigint is the only way to freely access his radio frequency.

In an optional radio conversation with Sigint, Sigint will explain to Snake about a project that he is involved in, called the Metabolic Dominance project, which is supposed to have a soldier resist eating for five whole days, with Snake stating that it's the "worst idea [Snake's] ever heard." He also begins to list an unnamed project that's supposed to have soldiers fight without sleeping before Snake dismisses him. Similarly, in another optional radio conversation, Sigint will give a list of various projects ARPA is undergoing to some soldiers, which are GPS Satellites, Unmanned Weapons, a human cannon for use by special forces to get to the top of a building, and an aircraft that flies around in a similar fashion to a UFO. However, after Sigint mentioned the human cannon, the soldiers stopped taking Sigint seriously, and hung up when he mentioned the UFO aircraft.

"An expert in weapons, equipment, and cutting edge technology, his code name is short for "Signals Intelligence." Unable to find a job due to discrimination, he was invited by Major Zero to join FOX. Also vice president of the unofficial UMA Finders Club."

- Official description in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Sigint, as Donald Anderson, makes a cameo appearance as a "ghost" near the Tank Hangar's cargo door shaft's entrance. His appearance as a "ghost" is based on his face portrait.