Richard Adar

Richard Adar was the head of state of the United Colonies of Kobol and Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial Fleet at the time of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. Having risen from mayor of Caprica City to the presidency, he was a hard-edged and sometimes controversial leader, and a friend of the scientist whose work the Cylons ultimately turned against the colonies. He and almost the entirety of his administration were killed in the Cylon attack, leaving Secretary of Education Laura Roslin to succeed him. (Battlestar Galactica (miniseries); Battlestar Galactica, "Epiphanies")

Rise to the presidency#

Adar was first elected mayor of Caprica City, with Laura Roslin working on his campaign, and he later went on to win the presidency of the United Colonies. Roslin served in his cabinet as Secretary of Education, and the two had an affair during the last days of his administration. At the time of the Cylon attack he had nine months left in his second term. (Battlestar Galactica, "Bastille Day"; Battlestar Galactica, "Epiphanies"; Battlestar Galactica, "Daybreak, Part 2")

Adar could be ruthless. He sent Colonial Marines onto Aerilon, an action that ended in deaths and a public outcry, and although he stood by the decision in public, he kept a list of the dead in his desk. He was ready to use force to end a long teachers' strike, and when Roslin negotiated a settlement instead he asked for her resignation. He had also offered the terrorist Tom Zarek a pardon in exchange for renouncing violence, which Zarek refused. (Battlestar Galactica, "Water"; Battlestar Galactica, "Bastille Day"; Battlestar Galactica, "Epiphanies")

Military buildup and the Command Navigation Program#

Among Adar's influential friends was Gaius Baltar, a celebrated computer scientist whose work went into the Command Navigation Program used to tie together the fleet's systems. (Battlestar Galactica (miniseries))

Baltar had given a Number Six access to the defence mainframe, and the Cylons built a backdoor in the program into the plan for their coming attack. In the years before the Fall the Admiralty was also probing Cylon space, including a covert mission across the Armistice Line by the Battlestar Valkyrie, commanded by William Adama, which sent the experimental Stealthstar to gather intelligence. (Battlestar Galactica (miniseries); Battlestar Galactica, "Hero")

The Fall and surrender#

When the Cylon assault began, Picon Fleet Headquarters was destroyed and the fleet's defences collapsed under the attack. Adar offered the Cylons a complete and unconditional surrender. The surrender was ignored, and the nuclear bombardment of the Twelve Colonies continued. Adar and nearly the entirety of his administration were killed in the attack. (Battlestar Galactica (miniseries))

With his government destroyed, Laura Roslin, the Secretary of Education and 43rd in the line of succession, was the highest-ranking official to survive the Fall. She was sworn into office aboard Colonial Heavy 798 and succeeded Adar as President of the surviving Colonials. (Battlestar Galactica (miniseries))