With all of the problems with terrorism that we currently face, I see much of what may prove to be over reaction. A number of people with whom I am acquainted are upset and because of this are speaking out loudly. Now there is nothing wrong with expressing your opinions, but avoid talk about violence that can come back to haunt you. Today may be the most important time to maintain operational secrecy.
14 rules for operational secrecy
Keep your mouth shut, during my career in law enforcement; I made the majority of cases because people talked to friends and relations that they trusted. I have seen brothers roll on brother, wives on husbands. The less people that know your secrets the better. Cops love to talk to you about just about anything, the more you talk the more you give away. We used to call it dry snitching, when someone just couldn’t shut up and would inadvertently give us all kinds of information.
- Be wary of what you say around children and older relations who are showing signs of dementia. I know of an incident where an older person who had been trusted for years started to talk about everything to everyone when they began to suffer from dementia
- Live in a manner that does not attract attention. Be a greyman.
- Live in a cash world when it comes to prepping. Credit cards and checks can be traced.
- Don’t order from the internet, this can be traced. The company you ordered from always keeps a mailing list and records
- Don’t get preps through the mail. The post office has been known to record the shipping and return addresses.
- Keep your preps out of sight. A friend of mine who is a handyman often sees evidence of preps and storage when working on houses.
- Stay off internet prepping sites, including mine. You leave a record everywhere you go.
- If it is legal in your state, avoid registering weapons.
- Be careful where you get rid of your trash. Packaging from preps needs to thrown away without attracting attention..
- Buy in small quantity, through big box stores, pay cash and avoid attention.
- Watch what you say on the telephone. Remember the NSA is watching you.
- Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  Have more than one location for your preps.
- 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.
Now if you follow all these rules you may be able to hide from the government.  With computers and all the intelligence agencies that exist today it is very hard to completely stay off the government’s radar. It is however easier to hide from our friends and neighbors. Attract as little attention as possible.
Now when I have talked about this in the past I have had people point their finger at me and say you don’t live by the rules you suggest. That is true, but I made a decision to throw away my own operational secrecy in order to try to help others.
Howard
and you have done well, and i thank you for all your advise and help. merry christmas & a safe, happy new year. your old friend .
Good info. In regards to rule 7
https://tails.boum.org/
Tails is a live system that aims to preserve your privacy and anonymity. It helps you to use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship almost anywhere you go and on any computer but leaving no trace unless you ask it to explicitly.
OPSEC isn’t just for post-SHTF times – it continues and even become more prime after the trouble starts ….
Your planning needs to include steps and necessary preps to live low and dark while utilizing those prep supplies … how to cook, lite and heat without tipping the neighbors …. neighborhood patrol duty in tac gear and a M4 or in your hunting gear and 870 ….
Hi Illini Warrior:
I’m an Illini to. What part of the state are you in. Looking for someone local to connect with once in a while. [email protected]
If we did all the 14 that you advise, we would have to prep in a thimble. The government knows everything we do anyway. And I mean everything. How can a person prep without ordering off the internet. I order everything from gas masks to edible plant books from the net. I don’t have driver’s license because of vertigo, so the net is my lifeline. How do you hide a garden, hundreds of buckets from Home Depot, pvc pipe, and the list goes on. Some of us out here still work for a living and don’t have the benefits of ill gotten civil service retirement packages. I find your article to be wise as long as sitting behind the computer, but in the real world it sinks very fast. No disrespect intended. Thanks for your time.
I’m screwed!!!!
I just made a comment to my wife about this last week. Everyone (Especially the wrong people) knows everything these days.
Have a great Christmas
Good ideas, here, but…..several areas that make things difficult: Many of us have already been noticed by both friends/neighbors and the government, so getting off the radar might be tough! Older people who have loose lips were once an integral part of the prepping process, hard to “corral” them…also, 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 are horses that have already left the barn. Hiding from friends and neighbors? OK, but these are the people we will be allied with and depending on in a shtf scenario! And in the event you choose to estrange yourself from f&n’s, and are staying home/bugging in, you are going to be noticed when your allies show up or when you aren’t heading out looking for grub when everyone else is getting thin!…….The situation we find ourselves i, or will, requires lots of thought. And hind sight is 20-20. And while the government MIGHT figure prominently in many situations, it will be easier to hide from them than people who see you on a 24-7 basis. Again, good ideas for many preppers, but how will they learn if they follow all your rules?
Observation. Be careful where you shop. I really get aggravated when I pick up a bag of potting soil at Wal-Mart and am asked by the cashier if I grows marijuana. Or when I pick up any staple items that one actually cooks with and am asked what is this for? we have many Mennonite run stores in our area. Good deals and no one asks why you’re buying 100 lbs of sugar at a time. They also do not have cameras recording your every move and purchases.
When shopping for any red flag items or in bulk, have a cover story ready. For example, while you are asking for 100# of sugar or flour, grumble about having to get it for the firemen’s pancake breakfast or the church ladies making jam to raise funds, potting soil for your kid’s class garden project, never admit it’s for your personal use. If a clerk suggests you are prepping and gives you a wink, don’t wink back; put on your best deer in the headlights expression and ask what they mean. Act as dumb and innocent as possible at all times.
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i have never been asked nor do i know anyone who has been asked what i was using any item that i purchased at a big box store or a little box store. costco and sams club sell many 20 lb. bags of sugar, beans, rice and flower per day. one way to have NO record of purchase is to have someone trustworthy do your shopping. purchases at yard sales and payed for in cash usually have no reccord
We have been questioned at Chinamart aka Walmart on some of our purchases. “Why are you buying so many packages of Mountain House food”, “why are you buying so many candles (when they are discounted after Christmas)”, “That’s a lot of First Aid stuff, is someone hurt?” Some of us have been questioned over our purchases, and when we pay with cash.
simple solution to the problem. if you dont want to be asked, have 4 people purchase items in 4 different rows in 4 different walmarts on 6 different days.
The MH foods were only 4-6 packages (apparently that is a large amount to Chinamart staff). The First Aid stuff was less then you get in a small first aid kit. The candles were the day after Christmas and everyone was grabbing as many as they could because they were 75% off. So breaking it up would not help.