Claire Tobias
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Lieutenant Claire Tobias was a member of the United States Air Force, arrested for her involvement with rogue operations of the NID.
History
Tobias was a highly talented engineer, one of the officers considered for a role with Project Giza, but ultimately passed over in favour of Samantha Carter. (SG1: "Shades of Grey")
When the Stargate Program became active, Lieutenant Tobias was recruited to join the research team at Area 51. During her time there, she was approached by Colonel Harold Maybourne, who offered her the opportunity to participate in covert offworld operations at the behest of the NID, using the second Stargate that had been discovered in Antarctica and had initially been secured at Area 51. Tobias was responsible for helping to coordinate the activation of the second gate, to evade detection by the SGC. When the operation was discovered by SG-1, she was one of a number of operatives who escaped via the Beta Gate, eventually establishing an offworld base. (SG1: "Solitudes", "Touchstone", "Shades of Grey")
Tobias became the offworld operation's primary engineer. While some artifacts were small enough to be smuggled back to Earth, much of the technology that the NID recovered — almost exclusively by morally dubious means — was too large to be transported in such a way. Tobias was responsible for dismantling and reverse engineering the technology, so that the blueprints could be tranmitted back to Earth. Unfortunately, while Tobias' work was impeccable, the leadership of the rogue operation was reckless, and their efforts to steal technology were noticed by the Nox, the Tollans, the Tok'ra, and the Asgard, who insisted that Stargate Command intervene, or face an end to diplomatic relations with their worlds. As a response, Colonel Jack O'Neill staged an incident on Tollana that led to his dismissal from the SGC, using himself as bait for potential recruitment by Maybourne and the NID. After heading offworld under false pretenses, O'Neill assumed command of the NID base, and remained with the operation long enough to identify the mole at Stargate Command — Colonel Robert Makepeace of SG-3 — before leading the Asgard to his location, and forcing the offworld team to return to Earth for arrest. (SG1: "Shades of Grey")
Tried by a secret military tribunal, Tobias was found guilty of treason, and sentenced to prison. She was one of the lucky ones, with many of her peers receiving the death penalty for their actions. Though resentful, Tobias was grudgingly cooperative during her imprisonment, agreeing to cooperate with the SGC and Area 51 in interpreting the blueprints she had reverse engineered. She unknowingly contributed to the development of the X-301 and X-302 thanks to her study of an alien anti-gravity device, which became an integral component of the space fighters' inertial dampening systems. Years later, she was approached by Alec Colson — the former CEO of Colson Industries — who had earned the ire of The Trust and been moved offworld to the Alpha Site for his protection. His company had also unknowingly contributed to the F-302, and in examining the fighter's development during his protective exile, he had stumbled across Tobias' involvement. Requiring assistance to continue his work, and with Stargate Command unwilling or unable to spare any of their active duty personnel, Colson convinced them to have Tobias moved to "house arrest" at the Alpha Site, as a continuation of her sentence. (SG1: "The Sentinel", "Covenant"; SGR: "The Arrow")
Following the disasterous Battle of P3Y-229 and the destruction of the Korolev, Colson and Tobias turned their attention to ways to bolster the BC-304's defenses against Ori attack. One option that showed promise was Naquadria, a variant form of Naquadah that had been trialed as a power source for the hyperdrive on the X-302 and on Prometheus, but abandoned due to its unpredictable instability. Via Stargate Command, Colson reached out to the Tok'ra, the Asgard, and to Jonas Quinn, who had been responsible for Earth's initial access to Naquadria. As their work progressed, they relocated to the Beta Site, planning to incorporate their prototype into the Battlecruiser currently under construction. (SG1: "Redemption, Part 1", "Memento", "Camelot", "Flesh and Blood"; SGR: "The Arrow")
Behind the Scenes
Claire Tobias was portrayed by Linnea Sharples in 1 episode of Stargate SG-1. She has also appeared in Andromeda, Battlestar Galactica, and Supernatural.
While Stargate clearly regards the Rogue NID's actions as treason, it is a little hazy if it actually qualifies as treason. At a federal level, treason is defined as either giving aid to enemies of the United States, or "levying war": armed insurrection against the US government, or armed resistance to US laws. While the Rogue NID is certainly armed, and is certainly defying the US government, there is never any action taken against the United States. Their actions are certainly illegal, but are arguably not treason. It is also interesting to compare this to the actions of the Atlantis Expedition, which the fandom often points out might be considered war crimes — the episode "Inquisition" even directly addresses this. The severity of the punishment for the NID, versus the lack of consequence for the Atlantis Expedition, is an interesting comparison to explore.
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