The Walking Dead franchise has been playing a long game with the CRM. The mysterious organization, recognizable for their three interlocked rings logo and predilection for black helicopters, has been teased for a few years now on the parent series. We know that Jadis/Anne snatched away the wounded Rick on their behalf in season 9, for one. However, we’re still waiting for the truth about them to come out. Presumably the answers will unfurl in Andrew Lincoln’s spinoff movies. But this theory, courtesy of ScreenRant, pulls together everything we’ve learned about the CRM to date and comes up with a pretty good solution for who they really are.
First of all, they’ve also had a presence on Fear the Walking Dead, where the group was trying to install a water filtration system to help restore resources lost in the apocalypse. They’ll likewise be a big deal in Walking Dead: World Beyond, with promotional materials revealing their full title: the Civic Republic Military. Once you add all this up, this theory says that the CRM could actually be the United States government. Or, more accurately, what’s left of it.
It’s clear from both TWD and Fear that there’s no overriding governing body in this post-walker world, but some officials or military leaders must’ve survived. The theory goes that the CRM is the union of the last of these leaders who have pooled the military’s remaining resources to impose some kind of order again. This outcome would explain both what happened to the government and how the CRM has such impressive reach and technology. Not to mention it would also link into the CRM’s “A” and “B” profiling system.
This theory holds a lot of water, then, and could well turn out to be pretty close to the reveal we get when The Walking Dead movies eventually arrive. But for now, all we can do is continue to speculate until the truth emerges.