12 Rules to Maintain Operational Secrecy or Be a Grey Man

operational secrecy

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I have been given a lot of thought recently to the subject of opsec (operational secrecy) and have come up with a few guidelines to help you preserve yours.

  1. Keep your mouth shut, during my career in law enforcement; I made many cases because people talked to friends and relations that they trusted.  I have seen brothers roll on brothers, wives on husbands.  The fewer people that know your secrets the better.
  2. Live in a cash world when it comes to prepping.  Credit cards and checks can be traced.
  3. Don’t order from the internet, this can be traced.  The company you ordered from always keeps a mailing list and records
  4. Don’t get preps through the mail.  The post office has been known to record the shipping and return addresses.
  5. Keep your preps out of sight.  A friend of mine who is a handyman often sees signs of preps and storage when working on houses.
  6. Stay off internet prepping sites, including mine.  You leave a record everywhere you go.
  7. If it is legal in your state, avoid registering weapons.
  8. Be careful where you get rid of your trash.  Packaging from preps needs to be thrown away without attracting attention..
  9. Buy in small quantities, through big box stores, pay cash and avoid attention.
  10. Watch what you say on the telephone.  Remember the NSA is watching you.
  11. Avoid attracting attention, don’t get involved in politics, or wear tactical clothing.
  12. If you have already started to prep and have made some of these mistakes, spread the word that you were a fool and have changed your mind and have gotten rid of the junk
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Now, this may seem like you are going to an extreme, but this is what you need to do if you wish to hide your preps and maintain operational secrecy from the government and be a grey man.  Hiding them from your neighbors is easier. The big rule here is to keep your mouth shut and your preps out of sight.

Before someone says well what about you, I have given up on traditional operational secrecy, because I have made the decision to help others.

Howard

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10 thoughts on “12 Rules to Maintain Operational Secrecy or Be a Grey Man”

  1. I am in the boat of those who figured out that I’m already on someones radar so internet surfing doesn’t bother me. I’m also getting old enough to realize that it’s the next generations future that I need to worry about and not mine. I don’t openly “prep” but I’m sure a lot of people suspect it. How I share my tips is to teach my kids, and some friends, to be ready for the next big storm that could knock the power out for a few weeks. Its a more real senerio and I pray it gets them thinking.

  2. I’ve enjoyed your site since early on. Your site has morphed into an exceptional source of information for beginners, for people who want to review and your site gives substance to to anyone interested. Way to go! Well done! Thank you.

  3. If and/or when they come, smash your hard drive before they get thru your reinforced door. (You do have a one, don’t you?) Only keep a small stash of preps at your house. I have a storage unit that I pay cash for and wasn’t required to fill out any paperwork on. I also have a 5th wheel camper in a storage facility with no trail to it. The less the trail, the better you are able to keep yuour stuff. Don’t tell anyone INCLUDING your spouse what you have. Loose lips sink ships. If she/he doesn’t know, then they cannot roll on you. Keep your passwords in your head or cleverly disguised. I have an old phone book that, if you turn to a certain page (page # is easy to remember in my head) then the common names and phone numbers reveal my passwords. I set them up like this for that reason. Hiding in plain sight usually works. Disguise your preps into or out of common everyday things.I had an aquaintance once upon a time that bought an old, ragged looking trenchcoat at a garage sale for a dollar. “WTF are you gonna do with that?” He just smiled. Later he showed me. In his closet was the coat buttoned up on a hanger that everyone would look past. However he had modified the hanger by adding a hook to it and hung a soft sided case with an AR-15 in it and 300 rounds of ammo. He had constructed that hanger out of steel rod (to support the added weight) and painted it gloss black to match the other plastic hangers.. False walls and hidden rooms are great too if you do it correctly. Good luck out there.

  4. A note on footwear. Newbalance has some shoes that are waterproof. I know the claims we always are bombarded with. I have purchased these shoes for two years in a row. they preformed as promised. I used them walking all winter and in Michigan we have wet!! and snow. The only downside is because they are leather they cause your feet to sweat. Using a good grade wool sock fixed that. They offer very good support and the cleats on the bottom are large enough to keep you from slipping on ice. The best part they are American made. The company Is American owned. They do have models made in china but that is your choice.
    Grampa

  5. In other words, tuck your tail between your legs and slink away to hide under the bed like a naughty puppy. What a helluvaway to “live”.

    I choose not to live that way. Why retreat when it’s time to fix bayonets and charge?
    Semper Fi
    Hangtown Frank

    1. To “Hangtown Frank”:
      The Bible teaches us to be “Wise as serpents, harmless as doves…”
      (Matthew 10:16
      Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
      Dude. you gotta sleep at some time; you gotta eat some time, etc. etc. You can’t be “heads up” all the time? Why ask for trouble? Make your plans in secret, implement your plans in secret!
      There 40,000 SWAT “non-warrant entries” in this Country each year; more every day. They come at 3:00 AM: first guy kicks down your weakest door; second guy shoots your dog, third, fourth and fifth guy race down your hallways and pull you and the Mrs. out of bed – and the kids – throw you down on your own bedroom floor, handcuff your hands behind your back and drag you out – face down – and throw you onto your own cold, wet lawn. “Where are
      your guns?”; “Where are your guns?? Next stop a FEMA camp. When are you gonna be able to “Fix bayonets and charge?”
      Prep but hide! There will be time enough to “fix bayonets” – first you’ve gotta survive the initial breakup; why sacrifice yourself and your family for bravado?
      The Wiseman
      PS: I too, was a Marine one time…

  6. Watch what goes on in the Ukraine over the next few months or possibly years. Right now Russia has people on the ground tracking down the protesters/opposition. They are going to create mass grave sites in the forest and round these guys up in the dark and eliminate them. Months from now there will be a story where women, widows and mothers, weeping will tell the tale of missing husbands, fathers and children. No one will know where they went. How many? All of them if Russia is successful. This is the classic technique used since recorded history and no doubt before as well. If this isn’t reason enough to protect your identity and motives then what can I possibly add?

  7. Hangtown Frank,
    I’m with you in some ways but still try to blend in as well. I refuse to get my CCW for the reason I don’t want anyone to think I am armed. My stash is spread out so no one ever see’s a pile so big that it raises eyebrows. My biggest threat is the internet, but like you, I will not let them intimidate me into complete hiding and I actually have a covert reason for that. I want them to look where I want them and not see want I am planning.

  8. It would be pretty difficult to go back and cover all the tracks that I’ve made over the years….and, as I have already had an unauthorized “trap” on my phone, there is no doubt about being on a list. I still try to fly low to some degree, but someone has to be trying to make sheeple aware and spread the word. Yeah, you should probably stay off the net and certain sites, but that is where a lot of the needed info is located. We have to do what needs to be done, and hiding won’t get it done! While I’m not a fix bayonets and charge type of guy, I sure as helll plan on having dry powder ad a lunch!

  9. regarding #12, I would not do that. The less said the better. Far easier to implement rule #1. Most people won’t ask why you no longer talk about prepping.

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