: You make good points, though the impression I always got was that he was
: discontent with the UESC, but not openly malicious towards it. After all,
: Durandal says Strauss was afraid of the Security Officer, too afraid to
: use him in the way Durandal does.
By M2, Durandal's more emotionally-honest with the Security Officer, admitting to all sorts of vulnerabilities (heavily-implied guilt over the loss of Tau Ceti, fear of Strauss, flat-out telling you that Battle Group Seven is kicking his ass) that he would never have let slip in M1. So I assume that he trusts the SO. (Of course, he still says things like the above, because he's still a jackass)
Assuming Strauss was part of MIDA, the SO would've gotten one of those Battle Royale explodey-collars clamped around his neck. If there's anyone besides Durandal and Tycho who would understand the full capabilities of a battleroid, it'd probably be Strauss--and he'd want some sort of defense against someone who could splatter him with a single punch.
: So does that mean Strauss himself was only aware of the cyborgs, rather than
: perhaps in control of them?
I'd question how he got this knowledge to begin with, since I don't think the UESC was aware that there were battleroids on board the Marathon.