| “ | The CRM needs to change. The CRM needs strong leaders to change them. Being the monster to... fight the monsters -- that can't last. And this is why I need the two of you. All the other secrets, you'll receive when you move up the ranks, and you'll receive the Echelon Briefing. (...) That's when you get all the info, the whys, the things 90 percent of our force doesn't know about, and 100 percent of our city doesn't.
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The Echelon Briefing is the briefing that a soldier of the CRM receives when they move high enough up the ranks to learn everything that is kept from most of the army and everyone in the Civic Republic of Philadelphia itself. According to Jadis Stokes, it covers "the true size and scope of what the CRM is gonna do to bring this world back."
History[]
While recruiting Rick Grimes and Pearl Thorne to his cause, Lieutenant Colonel Donald Okafor tells them that they will receive the Echelon Briefing and learn all of the CRM's secrets once they manage to move up high enough in the ranks. Okafor admits that the CRM doesn't know about him telling them this because Okafor wants their help to change the CRM from the inside.
After Okafor's funeral and the arrival of Michonne, Major General Beale pulls Thorne aside and promotes her to Command Sergeant Major and gives her the Echelon Briefing. What Thorne learns appears to make her conflicted about continuing Okafor's work, telling Rick with a haunted look on her face that "you didn't hear what I heard. You didn't see what I saw. You will," but at the same time no longer completely agreeing with Okafor.
Following the fight with the herd at the Cascadia Forward Operating Base, Thorne tells Rick that Major General Beale wants to give Rick the Echelon Briefing and he's moving up. However, before Rick can return to base, Michonne makes a daring mid-air escape from the helicopter, pulling Rick with her.
While fighting with Rick and Michonne in Yellowstone National Park, Jadis tells Rick that it didn't have to be this way. Rick was on the path and after all of these years, he was finally feeling the responsibility to fight for something bigger than himself. "And Beale saw it too. He was gonna give you the Echelon Briefing the moment you returned. Your eyes would've been opened to the true size and scope of what the CRM is gonna do to bring this world back." Rick could've ensured Alexandria's security, but Rick let Michonne pull him away from that instead. After Jadis is fatally bitten, Michonne tells her that they're going back to the CRM where Rick will receive the Echelon Briefing. Rick will learn everything that the CRM does that the city doesn't know about and he and Michonne will help the Civic Republic stop their military, knowing that the city would never stand for what the CRM is doing.
Once back at Cascadia Base, Beale shares the briefing with Rick, which he has given 2,533 times already. He learns how the CRM believes humanity has a short time to survive as the dead continue build in numbers as well as starvation and disease being key factors. Beale also tells him how they destroyed Omaha and its Campus Colony to protect their resources as well as to ensure their superiority, secrecy, and security. They do this with spies they plant in the communities and report back as well as used people as test subjects for experimentation for a cure. The next step is to destroy Portland, after evacuating 10% of their children, declaring it to be another tragic incident. Martial law would be declared in Philadelphia and they would do away with the Civic Republic Council, bringing the Republic under their full control. Beale continues on to say other communities will suffer the same fate in order for the CR to survive. He hopes Rick to be a suitable replacement one day and even offers him a chance to bring people he tried to run back to into the CR to spare them of elimination. Despite the offer, Rick kills him, and he and Michonne destroy the Frontliners and CRM Force Command with their own chlorine gas that they intended for Portland and other communities. The couple then reveals the CRM's atrocities to the Council who takes emergency oversight of the CRM and begins reshaping it into something better.
Recipients[]
- Donald Okafor
- Elizabeth Kublek
- Carm Elsick
- Jadis Stokes
- Barca
- Mills
- Frank Newton
- Diane Pierce
- Mullins
- Betts
- Murrow
- Pearl Thorne
- Rick Grimes
- At least 3,000 unnamed Frontliners
Trivia[]
- There are several characters who are implied to have been given the Echelon Briefing.
- Carm Elsick, as he was the main liason between The Scavengers and the CRM, willingly traded people to possibly get experimented on, and threatened Jadis if she tried to double-cross him.
- Barca, as he took part in the genocide of Campus Colony.
- Major Mullins, as they needed to be given clearance before being able to help in Portland's investigation of what happened to Omaha.
- Corporal Diane Pierce, as she was aware of the CRM's Chlorine Gas and supervised its movement.
- Captain Betts and First Lieutenant Murrow, as they used the information that Huck had collected to further plan out the genocides at Omaha and the Campus Colony.
- In The Walking Dead: World Beyond, although not mentioned by name, the Echelon Briefing is presumably the full briefing that Jadis is mentioned in "Blood and Lies" and "Returning Point" to have promised Huck after she earns the full truth about everything. However, the Rebellion at the Research Facility and her cover being blown prevents Huck from ever getting the briefing.
- In "Death and the Dead", Jadis gives what appears to be a condensed version of the briefing to Iris, Percy, Hope, Felix, Mason, and Huck, listening in behind her, during a confrontation in order to make them understand why they do the things they do and how Iris' efforts only hinder the world's one chance to survive.
- Notably, before speaking with the group, Jadis makes sure that they're on a private radio channel so that the regular CRM soldiers nearby can't hear what they're talking about.
- In "Death and the Dead", Jadis gives what appears to be a condensed version of the briefing to Iris, Percy, Hope, Felix, Mason, and Huck, listening in behind her, during a confrontation in order to make them understand why they do the things they do and how Iris' efforts only hinder the world's one chance to survive.
- It's possible that Beale wasn't the only person who gave the Echelon Briefing given that there are at least 3,000 known Frontliners, however he only gave the briefing 2,534 times.
- Jadis may have been able to give one too as she intended to give Huck a full briefing on the CRM's activities as mentioned in "Blood and Lies" and "Returning Point" of The Walking Dead: World Beyond. However, this never came to pass.
- It's possible that Beale authorized his trusted subordinates to give the briefing in his place when he wasn't available.