# Security Commissioner Reinhart — Short Fiction character guide

> Security Commissioner Reinhart in Short Fiction by Philip K. Dick.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Reinhart, Commissioner Reinhart

**First appearance:** 0010-the-variable-man

## Snapshot

A cold-eyed Security Commissioner who arrests allies mid-sentence and treats every facility, even a weapons lab, as territory to be seized.

## Who they are

Reinhart runs operations with a wristwatch in one hand and a company of armed police at his back, cutting off Sherikov's protests with a curt signal to put the man under arrest. He believes timing is everything and trusts no one's version of events but his own. His hunt for a man who slipped out of a time bubble drives the story's machinery of pursuit and paranoia.

## Relationships

### [Peter Sherikov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/peter_sherikov)

_rivalry_

Peter Sherikov and Security Commissioner Reinhart are locked in a tense adversarial relationship, with Reinhart pursuing Sherikov as a threat.

### [Joseph Dixon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/joseph_dixon)

_professional_

Joseph Dixon works as a subordinate or informant for Security Commissioner Reinhart, operating within a security apparatus.

### [Tommy Cole](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/tommy_cole)

_professional_

Security Commissioner Reinhart interacts with Tommy Cole in an official capacity, likely as interrogator or overseer.

### [Margaret Duffe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/margaret_duffe)

_professional_

Margaret Duffe interacts with Security Commissioner Reinhart in an official or bureaucratic capacity, likely as a colleague or subordinate.

### [Peter Sherikov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/peter_sherikov)

_rivalry_

Peter Sherikov and Security Commissioner Reinhart are locked in a tense adversarial relationship, with Reinhart pursuing Sherikov as a threat.

### [Peter Sherikov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/peter_sherikov)

_rivalry_

Peter Sherikov and Security Commissioner Reinhart are locked in a tense adversarial relationship, with Reinhart pursuing Sherikov as a threat.

### [Joseph Dixon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/joseph_dixon)

_professional_

Joseph Dixon works as a subordinate or informant for Security Commissioner Reinhart, operating within a security apparatus.

### [Joseph Dixon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/joseph_dixon)

_professional_

Joseph Dixon works as a subordinate or informant for Security Commissioner Reinhart, operating within a security apparatus.

### [Margaret Duffe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/margaret_duffe)

_professional_

Margaret Duffe interacts with Security Commissioner Reinhart in an official or bureaucratic capacity, likely as a colleague or subordinate.

### [Tommy Cole](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/tommy_cole)

_professional_

Security Commissioner Reinhart interacts with Tommy Cole in an official capacity, likely as interrogator or overseer.

### [Tommy Cole](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/tommy_cole)

_professional_

Security Commissioner Reinhart interacts with Tommy Cole in an official capacity, likely as interrogator or overseer.

### [Margaret Duffe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/margaret_duffe)

_professional_

Margaret Duffe interacts with Security Commissioner Reinhart in an official or bureaucratic capacity, likely as a colleague or subordinate.

## In the story

### [The Variable Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/chapters/the-variable-man)

The head of security who sees Cole as a dangerous wildcard that must be controlled or eliminated.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/chapters/i)

Drives the war effort, monitors S.R.B. machines, and confronts the crisis caused by the variable man.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/chapters/ii)

Investigates Cole's arrival and orders arrests of the research staff.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/chapters/iii)

Reinhart is overseeing the S.R.B. machines and coordinating the search for the variable man, Thomas Cole.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/chapters/iv)

Orchestrates the raid on Sherikov's lab, captures Sherikov, and delivers the bomb completion news to Duffe.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters/security_commissioner_reinhart
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_43_se/characters