The Civic Republic Army is up to no good on The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, but they might actually be repeating humanity’s biggest mistake.

Although The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is hyper-focused on getting Rick Grimes, Michonne and their children to ride off into the sunset, there’s still a lot going on behind-the-scenes at the Civic Republic Military’s (CRM) operation. The series is halfway through its first season, and there have only been very subtle name-drops of a certain protocol called the Echelon Briefing. Now that Pearl Thorne has been fully briefed in this arena, it’s making people wonder what in the world the Echelon Briefing actually is.

The CRM has made big efforts in the past to hide its sinister motives. The citizens of the Civic Republic of Philadelphia have no idea that their own military bombed over 100,000 people in Omaha, Nebraska, though some protestors in the background of Season 1, Episode 1, “Years” have an idea. Despite being conditioned to follow Donald Okafor’s plan to rebuild the CRM from the inside, Rickis fully aware he’s working for the devil. But there may be a part of him that’s the smallest bit curious about the Echelon Briefing, considering it may be the straw that breaks the world’s back for the final time.

What Is Known About the Echelon Briefing in The Walking Dead

During his first few years at the CRM compound, Rick attempted to escape multiple times. The only reason he ever came back alive was because of his commander, the now-deceased Okafor, who saw to it that both Rick and Thorne stayed alive for his own secret mission. They were both dubbed “As” in the CRM’s rating structure, which determines whether a person is a leader (A) or an everyday person just trying to get by (B). “As” are subjected to testing for the Wildfire Virus cure, ultimately resulting in their deaths. During one of Okafor’s meetings to overturn the CRM’s wrongful political agenda, he references the Echelon Briefing only by name.

Only 10 percent of CRM soldiers know what the Echelong Briefing is, and none of the citizens are even aware it exists. He doesn’t tell Rick or Thorne what the Briefing contains, but they’ll soon know. Jump ahead two more episodes and a lot of time later, Thorne has been promoted to Command Sergeant Major of the CRM, giving her a leg up on Rick. Upon telling him the news with surprise, she informs him that she’s also officially been given the Echelon Briefing. Now with Okafor dead, Thorne doesn’t have the motivation to ensure his secret agenda to change the CRM actually succeeds.

Her dismissal of it shows how dedicated she is to moving up in the CRM and what it means for humanity’s future. But her reaction to being briefed is what’s most interesting: Her voice shrinks and shivers when referencing the Echelon Briefing, meaning she’s either entirely impressed or petrified. She tells Rick, “You didn’t hear what I heard. You didn’t see what I saw.” She wants him to learn the true ways of the CRM because he’s going to have to learn to get onboard, or be among those who are left behind.

The Walking Dead Characters Who Likely Know the Echelon Briefing

Major General Beale

Warrant Officer Jadis
Command Sergeant Major Pearl Thorne
Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Kublek (dismissed from the CRM)
Lieutenant Colonel Donald Okafor (deceased)
First Lieutenant Frank Newton (deceased)

Does the Echelon Briefing Mean a Second Apocalypse?

Every reference to the Echelon Briefing suggests that it comes from cataclysmic circumstances. There’s a high possibility that the Echelon Briefing is a plan, intentional or not, to provoke another apocalyptic event in order to ensure the next generation’s survival. All the signs lead to a terribly slow process that’s, little by little, wiping out groups that the CRM have possibly deemed as inferior to them. Almost every “advanced” group in The Walking Dead‘s post-apocalyptic world has the ultimate goal of restoring society as it was before the Wildfire Virus outbreak. Some communities just do it differently than others.

The Commonwealth had a caste system that was fortunately disbanded and is a fair democratic economy now. Dead City‘s New Babylon in Virginia employs a “crime fits the punishment” bounty hunter code to restore strict order. Before its fall, Fear the Walking Dead‘s PADRE stole survivors’ children to train them as the next generation of fighters who will rebuild civilization. The CRM — who have the real political power over the Civic Republic — want the same thing, but their means of achieving a new world may come at a greater cost.

So many things point to the Echelon Briefing being a genocidal project that promotes superiority in the future. Helicopters drop disruption charges outside the city all the time, presumably to spread out walker herds. But no one really knows the true purpose of these charges, only that the people dropping them come back covered in blood. The CRM have also only been seen killing groups of outsiders, like Nat’s nomadic group. When it comes to individuals, the CRM doesn’t seem to care as much. Groups — especially rogue ones — have more likely developed ideologies that reject civilization since they’ve adapted to a lawless environment.

Even if these groups do desire civilization, the CRM doesn’t take chances of forces they can’t handle being led into the fold. It’s just one more enemy questioning authority, or a weak link dragging the CRM down. The people who suit the CRM’s ideal future (“Bs”) aren’t anything special. They’re people who would be willing to turn a blind eye to atrocities if it means they can relive the old world. They don’t fight, question, or raise concerns. They wake up, do their job, go to a fun fair, and start the same routine the next day while the CRM is off bombing communities and churning out political scandals.

They run day-to-day operations like growing food, building homes and maintaining low level order. The CRM doesn’t have to worry about them, so they’re essentially hand-picked cardboard cutouts who are identifiable as “superior” to outsiders. This marginalized mindset isn’t entirely unlike fictional superiority complexes seen in other media, such as Thanos’ resource solution in Avengers: Infinity War, Silo’s birth control selections and the Bene Gesserit’s breeding program in Dune. It therefore won’t be surprising if the CRM has a few ideas for breeding the “perfect” survivor.

The Echelon Briefing Means Rick Can Never Leave the CRM

What does this all mean to Rick Grimes? Rick has never been one to step back when facing injustice done to others, even if he doesn’t personally know them. It’s exactly why he went forward with Okafor’s secret mission to begin with: it was better to do something worthwhile with his life than die trying to escape his imprisonment. As of “Bye,” Rick was well on his way to being briefed, according to Thorne. But timing worked against him when Michonne threw him out of a helicopter with her.

Given these circumstances, it’s not going to be that easy for Rick to escape. One way or another, The Ones Who Live will reveal what the Echelon Briefing is, and Rick will have no choice but to stick to his moral code to stop it. It hurts being the good guy sometimes. But if the CRM is marching toward more genocidal acts that ensure a sanctioned population’s survival, Alexandria and the Commonwealth may be next.