Surveillance Awareness Within Context, by Crusoe

As you interact within your community you are constantly being surveilled in one form or another.  It is important to understand your operating environment and then to take mitigating steps to minimize your footprint to further facilitate movement.  The beginning of this process starts with an Area Study to identify vulnerabilities, create priority intelligence requirements, and then analyze the information for further investigation.  In my opinion, understanding who and what is watching is critical for any follow-on action within a contested environment.  Whether the goal is to just hunker down, link up with others, or even move towards the threat the steps are the same.

As discussed with the GroundRod I & II after action report you need to define your current digital signature and then obfuscate per your personal requirements.  There is no doubt that everyone is under digital surveillance every time they power up an electronic device or connect to an information sharing portal.  Within the scope, budget, or capability of most readers there are no 100% solutions besides completely ditching technology…but that is also an indicator.  With the rise of artificial intelligence there is a restructuring within the intelligence community that will pivot bulk collection and data processing to AI and then push those products to a human analyst for the final analytics.  This is significant in that for those that are active within the freedom movement it will take more thoughtful strategies to stay away from the proverbial ‘eye of Sauron.’

About a year ago I had a conversation with Scout about my personal training and preparedness path and he suggested I look at Forward Observer and work with them.  This past weekend I attended my first Gray Zone Activity training event.  It was a 3-day surveillance awareness course that focused upon physical and technical surveillance to build a basic understanding so you can ‘red cell’ your family or network’s vulnerabilities.  Looking through the lens of an adversary is enlightening as it will bring into focus how, where, and with what you can be targeted with.  Contextually this is important as it gives you a ‘to do’ list for shoring up weaknesses.

Example strategies can be the installation of wired and wireless cameras, blocking obvious observation points, upgrading your locks, adding anti-pick pins, installing a hardening film to your windows, eliminating the use of RF devices to open doors, tools to locate “air tags” on your vehicles, or even mixing up your pattern of life.  In our modern world it is a tough balance between security, anonymity, privacy, and convenience. The answer for most of us lies somewhere in the middle, but through thoughtful analysis it is easier to define where that middle lies.

Here is the executive summary for this latest training event that I submitted to Gray Zone Activity within a formal AAR.  I highly recommend this course and it is important enough that everyone should consider attending.  Get out and get trained.

Executive Summary: The Surveillance Awareness course was a three-day introduction into surveillance principles that highlighted basic tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) with a half day practical exercise on Day 2.  Key principles covered were grouped under Advanced Forces Operations (AFO), intelligence principles, surveillance techniques/voice procedures, and technical collections.  All of this within the context on how to harden your homestead and understanding your personal vulnerabilities to develop personal follow-on actions.

Crusoe is retired from the Air Force after 30-years of service as a flight crew member.  He spends most of his time thinking about the apocalypse and how to mitigate its effects.  When not immersed in academic pursuits, he is often on a trail hiking in the mountains of North Georgia or reading with a glass of Irish whiskey and a German Shepherd by his side.   Global travel enthusiast, history nerd, Appalachian Trail thru hiker, and recovering ultra-endurance athlete.  He can be reached at [email protected]