Dale Brown - Edge of Battle

“Who’s being sarcastic now, Secretary Lemke?” Jefferson asked. “I see no reason to withhold legal assistance or representation. They may prefer to waive their right to trial and accept detention rather than risk being held in detention for an unknown number of days until their case comes to trial.”

“So it’s like getting a speeding ticket, eh, Jefferson?” Lemke asked derisively. “Pull ’em over, throw ’em in a camp, and make ’em sign a confession? If they plead guilty they spend a couple weeks in a camp?”

“We feel the loss of income from being detained would provide some measure of deterrent for many migrants, yes, sir.”

“When was the last time you visited a federal detention facility or even a medium-sized county jail, Sergeant Major?” Lemke asked. “You could have hundreds, perhaps thousands, staying there for months, including children—are you prepared to handle that?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And then they spend a couple weeks in a camp—where, by the way, their living conditions might be markedly better than their conditions either in Mexico or on a farm—and then what? Your only option is to deport them, and everyone knows that becomes a simple revolving door—they’ll try to make another border crossing as soon as they’re able. You took away all those weeks of income, so they’ll be even more hard-pressed to try a crossing again. You’ll have to expend the time, energy, manpower, and money into recapturing the same immigrant over and over again.”

“First of all, Secretary Lemke: the mere fact that this program will be difficult, expensive, and manpower-intensive shouldn’t be the major disqualifying factor,” Jefferson said. “Government’s duty is to uphold the law and protect the citizens—as far as I’m aware, how much such duties cost has never been a criteria for whether or not it should be done.”

“It’s a criteria if Congress says it is, Sergeant Major,” Lemke pointed out.

“Second: we have technology that may allow us to help in identification,” Jefferson went on. “Major Richter?”

Jason stood up, then held up an oblong pill the size of a large vitamin tablet. “It’s called NIS, pronounced ‘nice’—nanotransponder identification system.”

“Cute name—obviously trying to make it sound pleasant and peaceful,” Lemke said, chuckling. He motioned to Richter, who brought the device over so Lemke could examine it. “What is it…a suppository?” The audience broke out in strained laughter. “Pardon me, Major, but I think getting rid of that won’t be much of a problem.”

“Not a suppository, sir—a system that implants thousands of tiny microtransceivers throughout the body,” Major Richter explained. “The transceivers are powered by the human body itself and emit an identification signal when interrogated by another transmitter, much the same as an aircraft transponder transmits the aircraft altitude when interrogated by air traffic control radar. The cells last for years and can’t be shut down by the body’s normal immunological system.”

“You have got to be kidding me, Major Richter,” Jeffrey Lemke said, looking at the tablet in amazement, then putting it down on the table in front of him as if worried that the little robotic cells could slip under his skin and invade his body. “You actually expect someone to swallow one of those things?”

“Yes, sir, I do,” Jason said. “In fact, I already have.”

“What…?”

“Two days ago, when I was first briefed by Sergeant Major Jefferson that I’d be giving this briefing,” Jason said. Ariadna Vega walked up, carrying a device that resembled a short baseball bat, and pressed a button. After a short wait, one of the overhead electronic screens presented a list of information. “Dr. Vega is demonstrating a prototype NIS scanner,” Jason explained. “The scanner is sending out a coded digital interrogation signal, and the NIS devices respond with their individual code number. The NIS system can then call up information on the person.”

“Why are there three lines of information on you, Major?”

“Because there are three persons within range of the scanner—approximate range is about two miles—with active NIS cells: myself, Dr. Vega, and Sergeant Major Jefferson.”

“ You actually swallowed one of those things, Jefferson?” Lemke asked incredulously.

“Of course I did,” Jefferson said. “I wouldn’t ask anyone to do anything I wouldn’t be willing to do myself. It’s perfectly harmless; the interrogation codes can be changed remotely in case the code is compromised; the NIS transmissions are encoded; and unless they’re being interrogated, the NIS cells are completely dormant. The strength of the coded NIS reply signal is high enough to possibly cause cardiac arrhythmias if the interrogator is left on continuously for long periods of time, more than one or two hours. But activating the scanner for just a few seconds causes every NIS cell within a couple miles or so to respond, and their positions can be recorded and plotted immediately—there’s no need to continuously broadcast an interrogation signal.”

“How do you get rid of them?”

“The transmitters are quiet unless interrogated by a specific coded signal, so if the interrogator is shut off the cells are dormant,” Jason replied. “The cells themselves are carried away by normal bodily functions at different rates depending on where they implant themselves and how active they are. The average age of a NIS cell itself is around ten years, but the body would probably flush out all of the cells within three to five years. They can probably be destroyed by certain chemicals or radiation, but the level of exposure necessary to kill every NIS cell would probably kill the person too.”

“This…this is pretty unbelievable,” Lemke said, shaking his head. “Why don’t you just fingerprint and photograph the migrants when you capture them? Why use these nanotransponder things at all?”

“Fingerprinting someone doesn’t do any good if they manage to sneak back into the country, or if we decide to implement a bracero guest worker program where legal migrant workers might intermingle with illegals,” Jefferson replied. “The NIS system allows us to quickly and remotely scan large areas or large numbers of persons. The scanner can be mounted on an unmanned aircraft to scan large areas of land like farms and cities; they can be set up to work alongside metal detectors; or they can be used by enforcement personnel on vehicles or as hand wands.”

“But if you don’t take one of those tablets…?”

“NIS is designed to facilitate identification, not to locate illegals, sir,” Jason said. “If you were scanning a group of persons and someone didn’t reply with an NIS signal, you would detain them and use other methods to try to obtain their identity. NIS has possible uses outside border security: it could be used for any sort of identification, such as at airports or high-security buildings. It might even have commercial purposes: the unique identification code broadcast by NIS can be tied into any number of databases that could allow individuals to securely pay for items without using credit cards, unlock doors without keys, provide access to confidential medical data without paper files—an almost unlimited number of applications.”

“So the system identifies persons legally in the country, and then you must assume that everyone else is a suspect,” Lemke said. “We’re forced to take away the right of privacy of the innocent in order to help identify the possible lawbreaker? That’s not how our society is supposed to work, Major Richter.”

“It’s done all the time, Mr. Secretary, especially in a free and open society such as ours,” Jefferson said. “NIS is no different in concept than putting locks on doors or building fences around neighborhoods: it’s an inconvenience for the innocent in order to protect them against the criminals.”