Sloane was the Deputy Director of Section 31. I don't think we ever heard about the Director of Section 31. That person was probably even more ruthless than Sloan.
This dialogue is absolutely ludicrous. Odo is about to die. O’Brien and Bashir may be locked into Sloan’s mind for eternity. And this is what they focus on?
The "experiencing someone thoughts" plot of this episode reminded me of a few other times Trek had this type of story. Examples include VOY's "The Thaw" and PIC's "Monsters"
Julian admitted he obtained an Romulan memory scanner, which is illegal tech. Between Sisko's "In the Pale Moonlight", Ross' "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges", Julian's issue here and a few others I've forgotten, there were a lot of ethical gray areas explored on the show.