Henry Bauer, a U.S. Air Force Major General, was briefly placed in charge of the SGC following the departure of General Hammond. The circumstances of his arrival, and his command style, earned him considerable resentment during his brief tenure.
One of his first acts upon taking charge of the SGC was dismantling its flagship team, SG-1. Major Samantha Carter was assigned to assist in the development of a Naquadah bomb, despite her reservations about the project, while Doctor Daniel Jackson was relegated to work as a base consultant; Bauer stated that an archaeologist had no place on a front-line unit. After Colonel Jack O'Neill protested, displaying his usual tact, Bauer relieved him of duty and reassigned Teal'c to SG-3.
Though Bauer himself claimed to be representing the prevailing view at the Pentagon, where he had spent a considerable amount of his career, Colonel O'Neill suspected that Bauer had been placed in charge to be a puppet of the NID, sent to take a more aggressive approach to developing weapons based on alien technology. Former Colonel and NID insider Harry Maybourne professed not to know him, suggesting he might not have any direct links but was selected as he nonetheless possessed the right mindset.
After ordering the procurement of a substantial amount of weapons-grade naquadah from a Goa'uld stronghold on P3S-452, Bauer ordered a test detonation on a remote world known to contain trace amounts of raw naquadah in its crust — knowledge he did not pass on to Major Carter until the test was under way. The detonation proceeded despite Carter and Jackson's strong objections, but quickly spiraled out of control, apparently destroying the entire planet and sending a tremendous amount of radiation back through the active wormhole, heating the iris to dangerous levels.
Bauer, who had been assured the explosion would destroy the Stargate at the test site, was stunned by the development; when shutting down the wormhole proved impossible, he relied on Carter to handle the situation. After the wormhole disengaged, having reached the thirty-eight minute limit, he apologized to her for putting the base in jeopardy.
Shortly after the incident, General Hammond's command was reinstated, and Bauer was presumably reassigned. (SG1: "Chain Reaction")
| Preceded by George S. Hammond |
Commander of Stargate Command 2000 |
Succeeded by George S. Hammond |