Steph looked at the total. DHS had stockpiled over 500 million rounds in .40 Smith and Wesson. It was the cartridge of choice for the pistols and MP5s favored by SWAT and military units. Another 900 million rifle and machine gun rounds were listed.
That's a lot of ammunition. Why does homeland security need so much ammo?
Steph opened another file. This one detailed supply logistics for the FEMA center near Oklahoma City. What's any of this doing in the Pentagon computers? she thought. FEMA is Homeland Security's turf.
A third folder discussed the advantages and performance of specialist AFVs in an urban environment. AFV's were Armored Fighting Vehicles equipped with active protection systems and composite armor. They were designed to resist landmines, IEDs and attacks by rifle and machine gun fire. It took serious firepower to stop one. The Department of Homeland Security had contracted for a large number of new AFVs and had begun taking delivery the year before. Thousands of military versions had been brought back from Iraq and Afghanistan and classified as surplus. Those were in the process of being delivered to police departments all over the country. Why was this discussion here, in this encrypted file?
The fourth folder contained a memorandum. There was nothing to indicate who had composed it or how it had been distributed. It contained directives to be followed under something called the Ajax Protocol. The document was divided into sections. Stephanie started reading.
The Protocol began with a general discussion of legal issues surrounding enforcement of the plan presented in the memorandum. It noted that various Executive Orders already on the books permitted enforcement of the Protocol under direction of the White House.
Section 1 was an overview of the current media climate regarding terrorism. It discussed the American public's perception of how the government should respond in the event of a terrorist attack. It proposed several possible critical incident scenarios which would provide an excuse for implementation of the protocol. They all involved events taking place on a nationwide scale.
Section 2 presented a brief overview of detention facilities located throughout the country. These included existing federal and state prisons and the numerous FEMA centers that had been built since the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. All of those centers were currently empty. Steph remembered seeing pictures of them.
Most were located next to railroad tracks, many laid down to service a particular installation. The centers had state-of-the-art controlled entries manned by guard stations. Each center was surrounded by a high, chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. Steph had been struck by the fact that the wire on top was angled inward, as if to keep anyone inside the fence from climbing out. It had seemed to her that it should be the other way around, if you were going to have barbed wire at all.
Section 3 provided guidelines and listed available resources to help senior officers prepare their subordinates and troops for the psychological impact of armed resistance from their own countrymen. It acknowledged that deadly force would be required to suppress resistance and that there would be psychological consequences as a result of civilian casualties.
Resistance to what? Stephanie thought. They're talking about Americans killing Americans. The way this is written, they might as well be talking about going to the dentist.
Section 4 discussed disposal of civilian casualties. Preparations were extensive. There was an inventory of earth moving equipment and related items, including 150,000 stackable, individual burying units of plastic.
Burying units, Stephanie thought. This is bureaucrat speak for coffins. The coffins were stored at the empty FEMA centers.
Stephanie felt goose bumps. She shivered.
Section 5 discussed rules of engagement and the arrest and detention of Americans deemed undesirable or unfriendly to the government. Armed resistance was to be met with deadly force. Citizens would be given a grace period of one week to turn in all firearms. Anyone found with a gun after that time would be considered an enemy of the state and treated accordingly. The Violent Crime Act of 1991 was cited as the legal justification for seizing all privately owned firearms.
Section 6 proposed creating an intermediate judicial system modeled on the Universal Code of Military Justice, with absolute powers. It would supersede the existing civilian courts until something more permanent could be established. It would ultimately be administered jointly with the DOJ under authority of Executive Order 11310.
Section 7 pointed out the need to inventory and seize food supplies and any properties deemed useful. Food and fuel stockpiles would be established at central distribution points and then rationed out according to regulations yet to be established.
Section 8 listed key military installations and their roles in the plan. There were references to other documents that spelled out military involvement in detail.
Section 9 outlined a centralized system to identify and track all citizens, using existing technology and current databases. An RFID chip would be implanted in every man, woman and child under the guise of medical vaccinations against biological warfare.
The final paragraph acknowledged that it would be necessary to modify procedures as needed.
Stephanie sat in shock, trying to comprehend what she had read. She printed the memorandum and disconnected from the Pentagon. She sat in her chair and stared at the monitor screen. Phrases from the secret document stuck in her mind.
Psychological consequences.
Inventory and seize food supplies.
Disposal of civilian casualties.
Identify and track all citizens.
Enemy of the state.
150,000 coffins.
Stephanie rose from her chair and walked to Elizabeth's office. Elizabeth looked up at her as she came in the door.
"Stephanie, what's the matter? You look like someone just died."
"I know what Ajax is," she said.
Elizabeth waited.
"It's a secret plan to take over the government and establish a police state. It's filled with legal rationalizations to justify the take over."
"You can't be serious."
Stephanie handed the printed pages to Elizabeth and sat down. She waited while Harker read them.
Elizabeth looked up at her. Her voice was quiet. "Where did you find this?" she asked.
"On the Pentagon servers. It's buried behind heavy encryption. No one who didn't know about it could ever find it. I was looking for something about Ajax and got lucky."
"Someone told Edmonds we were interfering with a classified military operation," Harker said. She tapped the papers with her finger. "I'd say this qualifies"
"Remember what we were talking about right after Rice was shot? We were speculating that someone could be getting ready for a coup."
"I remember."
"I think it's started and this is the plan. A lot of thinking has gone into it and years of preparation. It has to be more than a cadre of senior officers behind this. They couldn't do it alone. The infrastructure like the FEMA camps couldn't have been put in place without support from senior government officials. They must be part of the plot as well."
"It would explain the assassination attempt on Rice," Harker said. "He would never be part of something like this."
"According to this memorandum, they want to impose martial law on the whole country. It would look like a legitimate response to a terrorist attack or a breakdown in civil order. Congress couldn't do anything about it once martial law was declared, not for a minimum of six months. The main authority is Executive Order 11615, signed by Nixon back in 1971."