During the Cold War, unlike the Galactic Senate, High Command did view the Yahg Empire as a legitimate threat, but the Senate intervened and went as far as to order the Republic's armed forces not to engage the yahg in combat. Minister John Shepard sought to gather irrefutable evidence of yahg incursions in Republic space to present to the Senate in an effort to sway their opinion on the matter, while simultaneously warning the military to quickly prepare all available units for a large-scale invasion and engage if attacked.