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The Pentagon is the world's largest office building, six and a half million square feet, thirty thousand people, more than seventeen miles of corridors, but it was built with just three street doors, each one of theuarded pedestrian lobby I chose the southeast option, the main concourse entrance, the one nearest the Metro and the bus station, because it was the busiest and the most popular with civilian workers, and I wanted plenty of civilian workers around, preferably a whole long unending strea shot on sight Arrests go bad all the time, sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose, so I wanted witnesses I wanted independent eyeballs onI remember the date, of course It was Tuesday, the eleventh of March, 1997, and it was the last day I walked into that place as a legal employee of the people who built it

A long tio

The eleventh of March 1997 was also by chance exactly four and a half years before the world changed, on that other future Tuesday, and so like a lot of things in the old days the security at thehysterical Not that I invited hysteria Not fro my Class A uniform, all of it clean, pressed, polished, and spit-shined, all of it covered with thirteen years' worth of nia, and citations I was thirty-six years old, standing tall and walking raht, a totally squared away U S Army Military Policeand I hadn't shaved for five days

Back then Pentagon security was run by the Defense Protective Service, and frouys in the lobby, which I thought was far too many, which made me wonder whether they were all theirs or whether so for me Most of our skilled work is done by Warrant Officers, and they do a lot of it by pretending to be soenerals and enlisted ood at it All in a day's work for theet Fronize any of the institution, and they would have chosen men I had never met before

I walked on, part of a broad wash of people heading across the concourse to the doors, some men and women in uniform, either Class As like my own or the old woodland-pattern BDUs we had back then, and some men and women obviously military but out of uniform, in suits or work clothes, and sos or briefcases or packages, all of each category slowing and sidestepping and shuffling as the broad wash of people narrowed to a tight arrowhead and then narrowed further still to lonely single file or collegial two-by-two, as folks got ready to streale file, behind a wouy in a suit that had gone shiny at the elbows Civilians, both of them, desk workers, probably analysts of some kind, which was exactly what I wanted Independent eyeballs It was close to noon There was sun in the sky and the March air had a little warinia Across the river the cherry trees were about to wake up The famous blossom was about to break out All over the innocent nation airline tickets and SLR ca trips to the capital

I waited in line Way ahead of uys do Four of the an inquiry counter and two checking official badge holders and then waving the directly behind the glass inside the doors, looking out, heads high, eyes front, scanning the approaching crowd Four were hanging back in the shadows behind the turnstiles, just clu the shit All ten were armed

It was the four behind the turnstiles that worried me No question that back in 1997 the Department of Defense was seriously puffed up and overmanned in relation to the threats we faced then, but even so it was unusual to see four on-duty guys with absolutely nothing to do Most commands at least made their surplus personnel look busy But these four had no obvious role I stretched up tall and peered ahead and tried to get a look at their shoes You can learn a lot froet that far, especially in a uniformed environment The DPS was basically a beat cop role, so to the extent that a choice was available, DPS guys would go for cop shoes, big co all day Undercover MP Warrant Officers ht use their own shoes, which would be subtly different

But I couldn't see their shoes It was too dark inside, and too far away

The line shuffled along, at a decent pre-9/11 clip No sullen impatience, no frustration, no fear Just old-style routine The wo perfu off the nape of her neck I liked it The two guys behind the glass noticed aze er than it needed to, and then it uy behind

Then it came back Both men looked me over quite openly, up and down, side to side, four or five seconds, and then I shuffled forward and their attentionto each other Didn't say anything to anyone else, either No warnings, no alerts Two possible interpretations One, best case, I was just a guy they hadn't seen before Or er and taller than anyone within a hundred yards Or because I earing a old oak leaves and ribbons for so a Silver Star, like a real poster boy, but because of the hair and the beard I also looked like a real caveh reason for the long second glance, just purely out of interest Sentry duty can be boring, and unusual sights are alelcome

Or torst case, they wereto themselves that so according to plan Like they had prepared and studied photographs and were saying to theht on time, so noe just wait two more minutes until he steps inside, and then we take him down

Because I was expected, and I was right on time I had a twelve o'clock appointment and matters to discuss with a particular colonel in a third-floor office in the C ring, and I was certain I would never get there To walk head-on into a hard arrest was a pretty blunt tactic, but sometimes if you want to know for sure whether the stove is hot, the only way to find out is to touch it

The guy ahead of the woe that was attached to his neck by a lanyard He aved onward The woht at that molass The woman paused in place and let the flow Then she resuuys stopped and stood exactly where she had been, three feet in front ofin the opposite direction, toward me, not away from me

They were blocking the door They were looking right at enuine DPS personnel They earing cop shoes, and their uniforms had eased and stretched andperiod of tiuises, snatched fro I looked beyond the two guys, inside, at their four partners ere doing nothing, and I tried to judge the fit of their clothes, by way of comparison It was hard to tell

In front of ht said, "Sir, may we help you?"

I asked, "With what?"

"Where are you headed today?"

"Do I need to tell you that?"

"No

sir, absolutely not," the guy said "But we could speed you along a little, if you like "