The Intersect is a secret technology appearing in the television series Chuck. Within the series, it is computer system, network and database that contained and maintained a database of NSA and CIA secrets encoded as images and is used to house and analyze large quantities of encoded data. The term refers to the computer in its manufactured form ("We built the Intersect") as well as its presence in a human brain ("He has the Intersect in his head"), and can also be used to refer to the human who has downloaded it ("The Intersect will observe and report on what he sees," "He's the human Intersect"). It was originally developed by the United States intelligence community.

History

Following 9/11, the CIA and NSA were instructed to "play nice" and share their intelligence, in turn making it easier to track and identify threats to national security, and the manufactured Intersect is "how (they) did that." They put "every scrap of data (they) had" into the computer, and the Intersect "saw" patterns in the data that the agencies had not. For example, Chuck describes in "Chuck Versus the Intersect" that multiple agencies had picked up information suggesting a bombing attempt against General Stanfield during the speech he was due to give, but the CIA and NSA each only had part of the picture. The Intersect cross-checked and combined both groups' intelligence to determine the full nature of the threat. Dr. Howard Busgang (code name Perseus) was one of the technicians involved in its design and development, as was Dr. Jonas Zarnow. The chief designer is Stephen J. Bartowski (code name Orion), Chuck's father.

Stephen Bartowski was apparently unaware of what the government intended to do with the Intersect, and it is not entirely clear what he originally expected or if the government had designs for the Intersect beyond creating more powerful spies. Both he and Dr. Busgang refer ominously to Stephen learning about the government's plans for the Intersect. When Stephen did learn, after completing the original Cipher, he purged his personal records and went on the run.

Intersect versions

• For the first computer built (Inside Chuck's head in Season 1), see First Intersect
• For the Intersect built in Season 1 and sabotaged and destroyed by Fulcrum, See Second Intersect
• For the Intersect seen in Season 3, See Intersect 2.0