With all the power the Justice League has from its various members, the team's real effectiveness comes from being peacekeepers who only resort to violence and showing their might when the situation calls for it. However, sometimes circumstances require action, and when it does the League will be there. One incarnation of the JLA, the Justice League Elite, was formed to be more covert and take on the missions that required swift and direct action.
Justice League Elite was a 12-issue limited series starring the team that debuted in JLA #100, by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, Tom Nguyen, and David Baron. The team was formed to be a covert, unsanctioned team that was not afraid to take down global threats swiftly and violently. The JLE was made up mostly of members from the Elite, a powerful group of metahuman vigilantes, who were seen as bad guys until some of them merged with a few JL members.
In JLA #100, Rampotatek, also known as The Hat, tells the others that Gaea, the Life Force of Earth who keeps the world alive, is going to rise and destroy all life on the planet. Gaea has had enough of her "children" not being united and destroying the planet in petty squabbles and wars. Not having much time to come up with a plan, the Elite concoct the bogus plan of wanting to take over the world so the rest of humanity joins together to eliminate the common enemy. The JLA catches on to what the Elite have planned and play along. The two teams stage a huge battle in order to trick everyone, and Gaea herself, into working together. The plan worked and Gaea spared everyone's lives.
The JLA and the Elite could never tell anyone of their plan because exposing the plan would ruin the reputation of the Justice League and Gaea would then know it was all staged. The JLA tells the world that the Elite were imprisoned beneath the Watchtower on the moon, but other plans were secretly set into motion. The first leader of the Elite, Sister Superior (Vera Black), a British psionic cyborg, comes up with the idea that since the world thinks they are outlaws and imprisoned, this could be a great way for the JLA to infiltrate the criminal underworld. Sister Superior suggests making the Elite the undercover arm of the JLA who works to prevent extinction-level events. Thus, the Justice League Elite was born, but Superman didn't like this idea and shut it down without a debate. This led the members of the Elite and a few members of the JLA who thought it was a solid idea, to covertly form the team behind the Man of Steel's back.
The JLE was made up of Sister Superior; Coldcast, who could manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum; Menagerie, who was fused with alien technology; Manitou Raven, the team's magic expert; Major Disaster; Kasumi, a deadly assassin; Naif al-Sheikh, an expert in international espionage; Green Arrow; and The Flash (Wally West). During their limited run, the JLE fought a group of assassins known as the Blood Brothers, Circe, who tried to steal the Spear of Destiny, and Worlogog, an artifact that is part of the Fourth World.
Ultimately the JLE was dissolved after one of the team members killed a corrupt dictator, thus breaking the JLE's main rule of not killing.