Syndicate (The X-Files) - Goals and Methods

Goals and Methods

An embodiment of the concept of the "shadow government" in conspiracy theory lore, the Syndicate comprised covertly allied, influential government officials and businessmen. The Syndicate, operating at the highest levels of power, concealed from the world a program by an unidentified extraterrestrial species to colonize and repopulate the planet, as well as their own plans and stake in that future, which they held to be inevitable.

To carry out murder, cover-ups, sabotage and other wetworks projects, the Syndicate used an unknown number of henchmen commonly referred to as the Men in Black. The Men in Black were merciless protectors of the conspiracy whose true names, like the members of the Syndicate, were rarely if ever known. Many worked ostensibly for the U.S. Defense Department, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, along with various other government agencies. Prominent Men in Black agents included X, Alex Krycek, the Crew Cut Man, and Quiet Willy.

The leader of the Syndicate was a former German industrialist named Conrad Strughold, who had fled his home country and relocated to Tunisia. However, most of the Syndicate's meetings were held at a clandestine club located on West 46th Street in New York City, and did not involve Strughold, due to the fact that his entry into the United States would potentially draw too much attention because of his ties to Nazi Germany. Meetings with Strughold were instead held in London. A possible front for the group, evidenced in the episode "Redux II", was a biotechnology firm called Roush. Reportedly, Carter named the company after USA Today TV critic Matt Roush, who was an influential early champion of The X-Files. Roush's facilities were used in some experiments involving the virus, as shown in the sixth season premiere "The Beginning". Also, according to Alvin Kurtzweil, when the alien takeover was set to commence in December 2012, the Syndicate would have seized control of the United States via the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which had the power to suspend constitutional government upon declaration of a national emergency.