Dan Briggs

Dan Briggs, as portrayed by Steven Hill. (Wikipedia)

Dr. Daniel David Briggs, Ph.D.; He was the leader of the wartime unit unofficiallly known as "Briggs' Brigade" that performed complex missions for the United States military. After the war, he was the Director of the IMF, and the team captain of the mission team called "The Director's Own," for at least one year (the pilot of Mission Impossible has the voice giving him his mission stating "I hope this is 'Welcome back',' Dan; it's been a while. Plus, other characters in the first season referred to past exploits in which Briggs had involved them that predated the TV series.) He had been a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army, presumably at the time of the Korean War, and was a well-paid behavioral analyst outside his government service. It is commonly believed that he and James Phelps were two of the founders of the IMF.

While Briggs had his choice of many different agents for his missions, he usually picked a specific group consisting of actor and theater-arts teacher Rollin Hand, fashion model and actress Cinnamon Carter, electronics company president and electronic engineer Barnard "Barney" Collier, and bodybuilder, heavy laborer and mechanical engineer William "Willy" Armitage. It was this team, the IMF's all-time most successful(especially after James Phelps became IMF Director), that pioneered the employment of grand-scale confidence games as the IMF's chief method of accomplishing missions.

His primary role was as the mastermind behind the operation, but when a job required it he could act as a supporting character.

The exact fate of Dan Briggs is a mystery. Presumably, whatever caused him to take his original leave from the team drove him back into inactivity as well*, turning the leadership of the IMF (back?) to Jim Phelps (who was perhaps in charge of the IMF during Brigg's initial absence as well).

• One possible answer to what happened to Dan Briggs and what caused him to leave the IMF is that he was too well known. In several of the first season episodes Briggs was unable to go along with the team into the field due to people knowing who he was (Zubrovnik's Ghost and Elena, were two such episodes). His fame was also a real problem in the episode, "Ransom," where someone who knew of Briggs' abilities (presumably from the war) kidnapped the daughter of one of Briggs' friends and used her as a hostage in order to get him to free a criminal. The two-fold dilema of Briggs' fame caused problems for the IMF in that 1) he often could not be in the field with the team in case something went wrong and plans needed to be adjusted (as it often did in several episodes such as The Short Tail Spy), and 2) his being well known from his wartime exploits with Briggs' Brigade would potentially jeopardize the team's integrity in the future as well. Being well known is not an asset in the spy world. This would have given Briggs plenty of reason to step down as team leader and turn the helm over to the equally capable, and less well known, Phelps, who could go on the missions without being known, and also not being known as the brilliant commander of the wartime unit by enemies who could exploit that for their own purposes.

Actor Steven Hill lost his role as Briggs partially because his Orthodox Judaism conflicted with the shooting schedules. He subsequently went on to act out the role of New York County District Attorney Adam Schiff in Law & Order.

Appearances

• Mission: Impossible (1966) - Season 1

References

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