“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.”
“
“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
“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
“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.”
“‘Giving up your freedom in order to ensure safety makes you neither free nor safe.’ Benjamin Franklin,” Lemke quoted. “Is that where we’re headed now, Sergeant Major? Plant microscopic tattletales on innocent men, women, and children in order to weed out the undesirables—is that truly what we want to do?”
“Mr. Secretary, Task Force TALON is responding to my request for proposals on the issues of border security,” the National Security Adviser said. “Our intention is not to address every legal, moral, or civil rights question that may arise—I don’t believe we’d ever get anything accomplished if we canceled every project or innovation because it
“Launching unmanned aerial spy planes and deploying forty thousand troops to patrol the borders wouldn’t be enough, even if they were one hundred percent effective—we need some way to locate illegal persons who are already in the United States, those who slip past our security, or those whose status changes while in the country,” Jefferson went on. “Regular identification methods can’t work because they are too easily forged and it assumes your subject comes before you willingly to submit his or her ID, if they even have any. Of course it would be better to use the NIS system in illegal persons, but that’s unworkable: a guilty person doesn’t stay guilty, and a guilty person may not cooperate with authorities, presenting the prospect of forcing a person to submit to the NIS system as part of release, probation, or parole.”
“This is sounding more and more like ‘Big Brother’ by the moment,” Lemke said. He turned to the President. “Sir, are you sure you want to travel down this path? Civil rights groups are going to scream bloody murder about this obtrusive electronic ID program.”
“Jeffrey, we have been wrestling with these legal and moral questions ever since Nine-Eleven: whether the government can install more obtrusive security and identification systems on the law-abiding public in order to try to protect the public against deadly attacks,” the President responded. “How much is too much? The people are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; the government’s responsibility is to do everything possible to ensure they get it. We put up with security, monitoring, and other restrictions to freedom now that would make the framers of the Constitution scream in agony.”
“Then I suggest that you don’t take the next step, sir—don’t make the situation worse by throwing the military into it,” Lemke said. “The Department of Homeland Security already uses thousands of National Guardsmen and Reservists for duties like searching cargo containers assisting both Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection; we’ve already absorbed the U.S. Coast Guard, which has primary responsibility for patrolling and safeguarding the coast and ports. We’ve always stopped short of putting the military on the borders because an open and free society shouldn’t have to militarize its borders, especially with friendly neighbors…”
“Our neighbors may be friendly, Jeffrey,” Jefferson said, “but they are not always cooperative. Illegal immigration and undocumented workers are of great benefit to countries like Mexico because they reduce the strain on services in Mexico and bring millions of U.S. dollars into the Mexican economy each year. The Mexican government has done a lot to make sure it is safe to travel back and forth across the borders illegally, if not outright promote illegal immigration.”
The President turned to Director of Customs and Border Protection Abernathy. “Director Abernathy? Your thoughts.”
“Operation Rampart alters the relationship between the United States and Mexico in a very drastic manner, Mr. President,” Abernathy said. “Neighbors should do whatever’s possible to cooperate with one another if a problem develops. Militarizing the border is counterproductive and is in my opinion a downright aggressive posture, along the lines of the East and West German border region during the Cold War. We have the technology to take surveillance, security, and identification to a whole new level of effectiveness—the question is,
The President sat back in his seat and wearily rubbed his eyes. “Before Nine-Eleven, I would have said no— we should be doing everything possible to preserve freedom and privacy. I have always believed in smaller government; I believed some of the laws passed in the angry emotional aftermath of Nine-Eleven went too far. I always believed the guilty have the same rights as the innocent. But then there was Kingman City, San Francisco, Washington, and now Blythe—more examples of how a determined enemy can exploit our freedom to accomplish his deadly goals.
“I’m not going to wait any longer on this, Jeffrey,” the President went on. “I’ve attended more funerals in the past several months than I ever thought possible, and I’m tired of standing up in front of crowds of angry and confused mourners, promising to do something more to stop terrorists from infiltrating our borders and conducting attacks against us.” He took a deep breath before continuing: “I have been President during the three most deadliest terrorist acts ever on U.S. soil, events that make even Nine-Eleven pale in comparison. I was hoping that the danger would have subsided, but I see now it has only intensified. I refuse to sit back and worry about taking away rights while the evil in this world attacks us with abandon.”
