Priorities have changed…

“Ladies
and gentlemen, give yourselves a round of applause.  You are pioneers.  The next generation
of American defense, and the reason we are going to stay at the forefront of
power in this world.  In the age of nanotechnology, laser guidance, and
artificial intelligence, one thing has slowed our progress more than any
other.  The human mind.  All of this
technology has been limited by the people who operate it.  For years,
scientists, engineers, and what-have-you have striven to automate.

“They’re trying to take you out of every task that they can.  Remove fatigue, impatience, attention spans, and reaction time from the equation completely.  The human mind is a liability to them.  I want to change all that.  There was a time when the human, not the technology, was the driving force behind our success.  I’m going to make you all stronger, faster and smarter.  You will be the first in an army of supermen, revered by your people and feared by the enemy.  You will be the very hammer of democracy.” – Director Patrick Hall

The Primer, Book 5

In
2002, in a remote US Army outpost in Paktia province, Afghanistan, the first
human trials of the Rattenfanger program began. 
The next great advancement in military technology—delivered directly
into the minds of two platoons of highly-trained soldiers, deep in hostile
territory.  Lieutenant Harris Hayes was
left in charge of the operation, and completely in the dark.

He had orders, sure.  Top Secret ones on official letterhead, coming directly from the Pentagon.  But there were no specifics.  Hold the base, wait for the experiment to run its course, and stay out of the way.  They were easy enough to follow, until the changes began.  The new technology brought forth a new chain of command, and a new idea of who the enemy actually was.