The plan, first developed by the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff nearly two years ago and later overseen by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, would send small teams of native Arabic speakers into Syria from Jordan to handle and dispose of Syria’s chemical agent and establish remote monitoring of the country’s chemical warheads and artillery.

But the plan was never assessed to have much of a chance of working. One congressional staffer who was briefed on multiple iterations called the proposal a “Hail Mary play,” referring a long touchdown pass at the end of a football game that rarely succeeds. Other officials said one reason President Obama quickly embraced Russia’s offer this month to help disarm Syria’s chemical weapons stocks was how little faith military and intelligence community leaders had that the plan on the books would succeed…

“People were doing planning recognizing that we might be called upon for a challenging mission to send in teams to secure chemical weapons in the event of a regime collapse,” said Gary Samore, who served in Obama’s first term as the White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction.