Donald Anderson

Donald Anderson, also known as Sigint, was a former member of FOX and an expert on weapons, equipment and cutting-edge technology. He assisted Naked Snake during Operation Snake Eater and the San Hieronymo Takeover, participated in the development of ARPANET, and was one of the founding members of the Patriots. Anderson later became the chief of DARPA, supporting the development of Metal Gear REX in the early 2000s. During the Shadow Moses Incident, he was tortured to death by Revolver Ocelot of FOXHOUND, 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 Anderson to throw the mask away. However, he 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.



As a member of FOX, Anderson was given the codename "Sigint," in reference to the military term "SIGINT", or Signals Intelligence. Though he did not participate directly in the Virtuous Mission, of August 1964, Sigint did supply Major Zero with notes regarding the anti-personnel sensor, the motion detector, and the active sonar.

A week later, Sigint was formally introduced to Naked Snake at the beginning of Operation Snake Eater. He provided Snake with detailed information on weaponry, machinery, camouflage, and gadgetry, having invented, among others things, the binoculars that Snake would use during his mission. Sigint also suggested useful tactics in his battles against enemy forces, supplying intel on the Spetsnaz GRU and the Cobra Unit, such as the latter group's microbombs. After Snake's confrontation with The Sorrow, Sigint explained to him that the former Cobra had actually died two years earlier in Tselinoyarsk, during a fight with The Boss. He later gave advice to Snake on the use of C3, when the latter headed to Groznyj Grad to destroy the Shagohod.

Following Operation Snake Eater's success, Sigint attended Naked Snake's award ceremony at Langley, in which Snake received the distinguished service cross from President Lyndon B. Johnson, along with the title of "Big Boss."

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 November 1970, Sigint was contacted at ARPA by Naked Snake, after escaping imprisonment by the now-renegade FOX Unit, on the San Hieronymo Peninsula. With Major Zero having been charged with treason for the unit's rebellion, Sigint warned Snake that Para-Medic and he would be court marshalled if Snake could not disprove that they were accomplices. He informed Snake that a Green Berets squad had been sent to the peninsula to help, but Snake revealed that they had been ambushed and eliminated by FOX, having previously met the sole surviving member, Roy Campbell. Sigint then suggested that Snake recruit some allies for his cause, given the low morale of some of the local Red Army troops.

Following Snake's success, Sigint, Para-Medic, and Zero, greeted him on an airport runway when he returned to America, all having been cleared of treason.

The Patriots
Sigint along with Para-Medic, Big Boss (Naked Snake), Ocelot, and EVA were recruited by Zero as one 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 occurred at Costa Rica. He also felt that using AIs themselves to control humanity was better than the AI weapons, as Sigint's interpretation 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
In 2002, Donald Anderson became the office chief of DARPA. As an advocate of the nuclear retaliation theory, and having been heavily bribed by Kenneth Baker, he funded the Metal Gear REX project as a joint effort with ArmsTech, using part of the Pentagon'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 corporate account of a dummy company for which Anderson’s wife ostensibly acted as a consultant. REX's development was also initiated to overcome a global trend of military downsizing.

In February 2005, Anderson and Baker visited Shadow Moses Island, where REX conducted a rail gun testing exercise. Anderson intended to deliver the exercise data to U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Houseman, but he and Baker were taken hostage during a revolt initiated by FOXHOUND. At some point prior to the incident, Anderson had received cranial implants that rendered Psycho Mantis's mind reading ability useless during interrogation. Anderson was then tortured by Revolver Ocelot when he refused to divulge his detonation codes for REX.

However, Anderson, aware of Ocelot's true allegiances, was electrocuted to death before he could reveal his code, which Ocelot covered up as an accident. Ocelot's decision was also motivated by a desire to weaken Zero's faction within the Patriots that stood in opposition to him and EVA. As a result, FOXHOUND commander Liquid Snake arranged for Decoy Octopus to take Anderson's 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.

Having been a personal friend of Jim Houseman, Anderson's death was lamented by the Defense Secretary, and he was the only person who Houseman had intended to spare during the Shadow Moses Incident.

Personality and traits
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.

Although his knowledge with technology, weapons, and camouflage patterns were second to none, he did have some difficulty seeing differences between similar objects, like cigarettes and cigars, chocolate chip cookies and scones, or snack and afternoon tea. When corrected, he usually justified his error by claiming they were the "same thing," to the protests of his comrades. This once got him into trouble with Major Zero, which resulted in Zero giving him a long lecture on the history of the concept of afternoon tea (a lecture that Sigint implied happened before).

During his early career in the CIA and ARPA, Sigint shaved his head bald and often wore a baseball cap.

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

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 was originally stated to be in his 50s during the time of Metal Gear Solid, which is set in early 2005. In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, he was retconned to be a decade older, when it was revealed that his character was the same person as Sigint, born in late 1939.

In the Metal Gear Solid Official Mission Handbook, Anderson's marital status is given as single. However, this was altered in Nastasha Romanenko's In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, where it is stated that had been married for several years.

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 comedic conversation concerning the cardboard box, and a lecture on the real-life shortcomings of a bipedal armored vehicle after Snake has encountered Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin. Ironically, Sigint would later fund the Metal Gear REX project. Although Sigint will speak about the Patriot and other bonus items procured by the player, he never comments on the infinity face paint. See Metal Gear Solid 3 radio conversations for a full list of conversations involving Sigint.

Due to a possible translation error in Metal Gear Solid 3, when the player wears the Cold War uniform and contacts Sigint, he will say that enemy soldiers will not shoot Naked Snake from behind. However, it is actually the reverse that is true, as soldiers will not shoot Snake from the front, but will do so from behind, as those are the respective locations of the Soviet flag and the American flag.

It is possible that Sigint was the person who developed the rechargeable batteries for the active sonar, motion detector, and anti-personnel sensor, due to having created the first two devices. Additionally, a comment from Para-Medic about the batteries' developer being "somewhat strange," during the Virtuous Mission, is similar to a description of Sigint given by Major Zero, in regards to the Raikov Mask, when contacted by Snake about 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.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
''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, he 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. In addition, one of his lines from Metal Gear Solid 3, "I am THE expert on weapons, equipment and cutting-edge technology" is the name of a trophy with Metal Gear Solid 4 's trophy patch, unlocked after collecting every single weapon and item in the game (excluding password-exclusive unlockables).