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Shepherd is an interstellar cop without accountability and unilateral authority to do whatever he wants as a member of the spectres. The media culture of the mid to late 2000s is unrecognizable to us, it was shit like the Wire and 24 and Mass Effect. Propaganda was insidious and everywhere (it still is) and the very few dissenters didn't have anywhere to link up unlike now.
It's more a testament to how much the culture has changed since the last 14 years that these things are causing actual friction that's catching on. It's also a testament to how much you've changed, too.
The part that stuck out the most to me even when it was getting released was the naked military worship.
The amount of handwringing about being held back by red tape, regulations and bureaucrats is very mid 2000s zeitgeist. We just need "men of action".
Hell, he's much closer to a spook. He only reports to the joint council that heads up the universe iirc, and is authorized to get the job done 'however necessary'.
The entire first chapter of the first game was spent trying to prove that one of the other space spooks, who was notorious for going by the letter of that mantra, was actually doing something illegal enough to justify pursuing him.
it was shit like the Wire and 24
24 was quite something. Torture and imperialism justification everywhere, interspersed with really on the nose cisco product placement.
Hey, the Wire had some very solid anti-capitalism hidden under the cop apologia.