Organizations in Deus Ex

UNATCO (United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition) is a fictional United Nations agency in the PC and PlayStation 2 video game Deus Ex and its sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War.

In fictional world of Deus Ex, the formation of UNATCO by the UN is seen as a response to the terrorist attack on the Statue of Liberty. As you start the game your character is an agent for UNATCO. Initially it appears that the organization's genuine intent is to defeat global terrorism from groups like the NSF or Silhouette. But as the story progresses it becomes clear that the director, Joseph Manderley, is taking payoffs from a secret agency bent on world domination, Majestic 12. As a consequence, UNATCO is just a tool for global hegemony. Thus by the end of the game your character is actively working against the covert operations of UNATCO and Majestic 12.

UNATCO's US base is in the unlikely location of an underground bunker beneath Liberty Island. Deeper beneath the base is the Majestic 12 laboratories. In the game's story this location could be seen as symbolic given that in the story the US president chooses to keep the Statue of Liberty headless (a result from the aforementioned terrorist attack) as a reminder of the dangers of terrorism. An even more interesting detail about the location of Liberty Island is the skyline. In the game (which was released in 2000), the New York skyline does not contain the World Trade Towers that would have been visible from Liberty Island. Though the reason of their non appearance was a technical decision, one the designers joked that the story's reason for this was a terrorist destroyed them.

When the game was released in 2000 Ion Storm created a website (www.unatco.org) for the fictional organization to promote the game. After the September 11th terrorist attacks however, the organization might have been a little too believable, even if the website didn't look authentic. Ion Storm pulled website shortly after the attacks.