For the IAA front company, see United Liberty Paper.
The United Liberty Paper contact (real name Bernard), mostly referred to as Agent ULP, is a main character in Grand Theft Auto IV, a minor character in Grand Theft Auto V and a main character in Grand Theft Auto Online.
He was originally voiced by the late Milton James in GTA IV and GTA V, and later Jeff Steitzer in GTA Online.
History[]
Background[]
The United Liberty Paper Contact, is a senior agent working for the International Affairs Agency (IAA), joining them at some point prior to 2008, under the front of the United Liberty Paper. He mentions a past military career in the U.S. Army. He has a history of working with drug dealers on the West Coast of America and has historical ties to Russians going back to the late 1980s and early 1990s when they started emigrating to America on Israeli passports. By his own admission he was "the first in (to Russia) in '91 and the first out in '11". He also possibly has a history of working operations during the Yugoslav wars as he speaks a sentence in Serbian to Niko.
Events of Grand Theft Auto IV[]
The Contact blackmails Niko to work with the U.L. Paper after Niko finds out that his girlfriend, Michelle, was an agent assigned to monitor him. The Contact then gives Niko several tasks that usually include killing people that are "supposedly" linked to a powerful terrorist group. He also has him cover up some of U.L. Paper's activities, such as by killing a man who knew of the Organization, killing another man who funded terrorist plots and stealing a helicopter from the terrorist group to kill yet another man who funded the group's activities.
During the course of the mission line for The Contact, he tells Niko that, in repayment for his cooperation, he will find the man that Niko came to America to find. He ends up keeping that promise towards the end of the game when he has Darko Brevic delivered to Francis International Airport for Niko to deal with him. After this, he informs Niko that he's on his own and wishes him the best. If Niko kills Darko, The Contact sends Niko an email stating that he hopes he got what he wanted in the end and informs Niko that he has let go of all the negativity and what happened with Darko, try new things and move on.
If Niko spares Darko, The Contact sends Niko an email congratulating him on doing the right thing, telling him to move on with his life and for him to take care of himself, bidding him farewell.
If Niko responds positively to either email, he'll thank The Contact for his help and wishes him luck on running the world and concludes by saying it doesn't seem to be going good.
Events of Grand Theft Auto V[]
The contact (credited as United Paper Man) makes his first appearance in Grand Theft Auto V at the end of the mission Monkey Business, where he, along with two soldiers, discovers FIB agent Steve Haines, who shot himself in the leg so that Michael De Santa and Dave Norton could get away with the chemical agent they had stolen.
He appears again later in the mission The Wrap Up. Here, he shows up to the stand off between De Santa, Norton, Haines, and Agent Sanchez, alongside several IAA agents. Then, corrupt FIB agents show up, compromising the situation even further, and then Merryweather Security shows up as well. After the opening cutscene is over, a three way shootout commences on the roof. During the fire fight, the contact will arm himself with an unmodified pistol, and can be shot, either by Michael, FIB agents or Merryweather operatives. Ultimately, however, the contact canonically survives the incident.
Events of Grand Theft Auto Online[]
The Doomsday Heist[]
In 2017, he makes an appearance in Act 2 of the Doomsday Heist, in which he was kidnapped by the Russians and being held captive at a foundry in East Los Santos. The player and their crew members are required to extract him from the foundry and bring him to a secure location, where he will be looked after by Avon's security team.
Later in Act 3, the player and their crew have to help Agent ULP return to the IAA. The players need to escort him in his Havok from Procopio Beach to the IAA hideout, using Ramp Buggies and a Chernobog to fight off Cliffford Mercenaries in Valkyries and Dubsta 6x6s. Upon completion, Phoenicia Rackman expresses her relief on the job well done, and identifies ULP by the name "Bernard", telling him to stay safe after the event, to which Lester reacts with a question, "Bernard?".
The Criminal Enterprises[]
In the summer of 2022, half a decade after the events of The Doomsday Heist, Agent ULP hires the GTA Online Protagonist as a sworn-in IAA special agent for the "Operation Paper Trail" to investigate the local petrochemical magnates, the Duggan Crime Family, who he suspects that are behind the sudden increase of gasoline prices. Eventually, his suspicions are confirmed to be true by the IAA investigation, and in addition, they find out that remains of Cliffford code were acquired by the Duggan Family from a collection of seized assets from corrupt FIB agents, and Mason Duggan started using Cliffford's AI to increase the gasoline prices, as part of their strategy to keep the Duggan family's profits high.
Agent ULP sends the GTA Online Protagonist to bust a deal between Mason Duggan and the FIB at the Mile High Club, which ends with Mason Duggan being killed and Cliffford's software being seized by the IAA.
In their final assignment as a hired special agent, the GTA Online Protagonist is granted access to a top-secret agency-controlled site, the abandoned silo on Mount Chiliad formerly owned by the late Avon Hertz, where he is tasked with obliterating all traces of Cliffford software in the servers.
Character[]
Personality[]
Quite sardonic and not without his patriotism, the contact justifies his and the organization's actions by saying that foreign terrorist groups and governments that conflict with America are ready to commit even more heinous actions that could bring harm to the American population (which Niko finds to be true while working against said terrorist groups), but he also doesn't deny that a lot of his actions are not for procuring public safety but rather to satisfy the government's sometimes greedy requests. In the first cutscene of his first mission, it is revealed that he speaks some Serbian, the language of Niko's home country, as he says, "Just like the old country.", to which Niko replies, "Just like it". In 2017, he has a habit of saying "Goddammit" repetitively.
Optional Murders Committed[]
- Merryweather Security operatives - Can be killed in The Wrap Up
- FIB agents - Can be killed in The Wrap Up
Mission Appearances[]
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
- Wrong is Right (Boss)
- Portrait of a Killer (Boss)
- Dust Off (Boss)
- Paper Trail (Phone call/Boss)
- Weekend at Florian's (Post-mission phone call)
- Payback (Post-mission phone call)
- Liquidize the Assets
- That Special Someone (Phone call/Boss)
Grand Theft Auto V[]
- Monkey Business
- The Wrap Up (Can be killed) (non-canon death)
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
The Doomsday Heist[]
The Criminal Enterprises[]
- Operation Paper Trail
- ULP - Intelligence (Boss)
- ULP - Counterintelligence (Voice/Boss)
- ULP - Extraction (Voice/Boss)
- ULP - Asset Seizure (Voice/Boss)
- ULP - Operation Paper Trail (Voice/Boss)
- ULP - Cleanup (Voice/Boss)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
General[]
- The Contact is similar to Mike Toreno, as they are both connected with the Government, and both make the protagonist work for them (Carl Johnson, in Toreno's case). As a repayment for his cooperation, they later reward the protagonist with their desired objectives (Sweet's release from prison in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and the locating and kidnapping of Darko Brevic in GTA IV).
- He is also similar to "the Professor", played by Leo G. Carroll in Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 film North by Northwest, as both are senior agents for the government, and both have a visual resemblance to each other, as well as not having their actual name revealed. When Niko meets the Contact for the first time, he asks him if he works for the FIB, similarly to how the film's main character Roger Thornhill asks the Professor if he works for the police or the FBI.
- His original voice actor, Milton James, died on January 1, 2018.
- His codename "United Liberty Paper/ULP" refers to IAA's front company in Liberty City, the United Liberty Paper Merchants. The agent never reveals his name to his hired operatives, although he is still referred by his real name "Bernard" by some of his fellow IAA agents.
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
- A diploma hanging on The Contact's office wall has the name "Edward T. Fortune". However, since the same diploma can be seen hanging on the wall of Vic Manzano's office in The Ballad of Gay Tony, it is likely that this diploma is just a generic prop. The diploma also has a seal with a very similar design to that of the CIA.
- Furthermore, in Grand Theft Auto Online, the U.L. Paper Contact's real name is revealed to be "Bernard" by Phoenicia Rackman during The Doomsday Scenario.
- His cutscene character model is named "
cs_cia", indirectly revealing which agency he is from prior to Grand Theft Auto V's release. - When Niko meets the Contact for the first time, he asks the Contact if he works for the FIB, to which the Contact sardonically asks Niko if he looks homosexual. This is a reference to J. Edgar Hoover, the first Director of the FBI, who was rumored to be homosexual.
- The Contact believes that Niko and Bernie Crane are in a relationship, and implies he has also had relationships with men while serving in the Army, stating he "knows what it's like to feel close to a man", claiming that his time in the military was "lonely". When he tells that to Niko, Niko jokingly replies by saying "I'm sure you do".
- Sometimes after evading a six-star wanted level, the Contact will call Niko, expressing his displeasure as Niko cannot control himself to which Niko would respond by telling the Contact that he just can't help himself sometimes.
- The Contact is known to be using the Badger Crappy phone.[2]
Grand Theft Auto V[]
- As seen in the Bradygames Guide, the Contact originally didn't wear glasses during Monkey Business.
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
- ULP's appearance in The Doomsday Heist confirmed that he canonically survives the events of The Wrap Up.
- However, his voice actor was changed, with Jeff Steitzer voicing him for this time around due to the aforementioned death of Milton James in 2018.
- The license plate on Agent ULP's Greenwood reads "29ULP408", a reference to Grand Theft Auto IV's release date: April 29th, 2008.
- When ULP first greets Niko in Wrong is Right, he comments "quite a file, quite a story." When first calling a GTA Online Protagonist he's never met in 2022, he also uses these words in his greeting.