Project Insight

"This is Project Insight. Three next generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites." "Launched from the Lemurian Star." "Once we get them in the air they never need to come down."

- Nick Fury and Captain America

Project Insight was a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. operation initiated in direct response to the growing need for international security that began after the Battle of New York. Agents required a Clearance Level over Level 8 to access the Helicarrier Bay in the Triskelion. It is presumed that only S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 9 and Level 10 agents know about Project Insight, as well as most likely most HYDRA agents undercover, posing as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

History
"Once Project Insight launches, the whole game is gonna change." "What do you mean?" "Let's just say we're not gonna be working underground much longer."

- Mark Basso and Mark Smith

Project Insight involved three heavily armed, satellite-linked Helicarriers designed to proactively strike out against potential threats before they actually happened. In 2014, the project was to be put into effect, but through the actions of a HYDRA infiltration, the operation was turned against S.H.I.E.L.D.. HYDRA planned on using Arnim Zola's algorithm to root out individuals that would oppose or threaten HYDRA's goals. The algorithm uses every known variable of a person's life such as bank records, voting patterns, and even standardized testing scores.

There were at least 715,854 individuals targeted and as many of 20 million.

The three Helicarriers were launched from an underground launch facility next to the Triskelion on the Potomac River. Once they reached a certain altitude, their guns would fire on all potential targets HYDRA deemed a threat to their plans. Thanks to the actions of Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon, Nick Fury and Maria Hill, the three Helicarriers had their targeting systems changed to fire on each other. All three Helicarriers were destroyed and all HYDRA agents aboard them were killed, plunging into the Potomac River. One also crashed into the Triskelion, damaging it.

Trivia

 * Despite speculation and/or misleading information that the list of targets had many Easter Eggs to different Marvel Characters, only one of the targets, James Anderson, shares his name with a character from the comics, James Anderson, an operative of the Medusa Web under the codename Skybreaker.