Spy Tips on Fight Bigger Opponents, Using Paranoia, and more

When you’re giving five inches and a hundred pounds to a well-trained opponent, it helps to know the terrain better than he does.

A good cover identity is a team effort. If you want to meet someone, it’s a good idea to play a little hard to get. Put people between yourself and the target. Make them come to you.

Clandestine meetings are never fun to arrange. It’s a big part of the job for a covert operative, but it’s never pleasant. It’s not so much the fear of death that bothers you. It’s driving to the meet with a bag over your head.   Click here to read more…

Spy Tips on Names, “Coverage”, Pick Pocketing, and more

For anyone who works in covert ops, names have a special power. Knowing someone’s real name, who they work for, you’ve got something on them. Out a spy in the field, and you can get him killed. Out a bureaucrat in a restaurant and you’ll just piss him off.

The longer you run from the police, the more certain you are to get caught. There’s a small window of time after a chase begins before backup arrives, before helicopters are deployed. If you want any chance of getting away, you’d best use this time to find someplace secluded and bail out.

In intelligence work, surveillance is called “coverage”. It’s like basketball. You can run zone defense or man-to-man. Man-to-man’s risky. Follow someone too long, they’re going to get suspicious. Zone is usually the way to go. Stay put and let targets come to you. Less obvious, easier on the feet…   Click here to read more…

Spy Tips on Optical Bugs, Using the Cops, Pick Pockets, and more

Sprinkle a mixture of flour and dayglo powder on your floor before you go out, and you’ll know whether you’ve had any visitors and what they were after.

There are two kinds of government surveillance – the kind that’s there to look for something and the kind that’s just there to make your life difficult.

You can tie up a lot of resources by keeping a bugged phone line open. As long as it’s open, they’re supposed to keep listening. Say a few cryptic things now and then and they’ll be stuck in their little van, trying to figure out what the hell you’re doing. They can’t go home, can’t grab a bite to eat, can’t take a leak. And the longer they’re stuck in a van with a set of headphones, the more you can find out about them.   Click here to read more…

Spy Tips on Seeing Through Security, Fake C-4, and more

There’s a good reason covert operatives keep their work a secret from their families. Once your family knows what you do, you’ve got problems. Best case – they’re scared. Worst case – they figure they can get into trouble and you’ll get them out of it.

In gathering intel, little things can tell you a lot. A topflight alarm system. Well-placed cameras without blind spots. Paying attention to strangers in the area. If you know what to look for, a bunch of little things can tell you everything you need to know.

One cheap and effective security measure is working in an area with low or no traffic. Anyone is a car is too obvious, so you force any would-be followers to get out and walk.   Click here to read more…

Spy Tips on Blending In, Booby Trapping, Knife Defense, and more

You want to blend into a new city, you better be up on local sports.

If it looks like you’re about to get into a fight that could get you killed, try starting another one.

When booby-trapping your home, it’s important to keep it simple. Make it easy to set up, easy to disable. One more thing about booby traps. Make sure your friends know not to drop by unannounced.

The key to a good knife defense is to control the knife hand and strike with everything you’ve got.

Running an operation, you can’t let personal feelings get in the way. It’s about planning and execution. Not about being angry.   Click here to read more…

Spy Tips on Creating a Safe House, Approaching Spies, and more

Any high-security function is going to have a lot of oversight, a lot of meetings, a lot of bureaucrats checking up on each other. In all the confusion of the big event, it’s easy for another bureaucrat to just… show up. The important thing is to disappear before people can ask questions. If they do decide to ask questions, you just have to hope you’re in a building with a lot of hallways, a good service basement, and plenty of exits. But in the end, sometimes making an escape is just about being willing to do what the guy chasing you won’t.

Convincing a bully to back down is usually just a matter of showing you’re not afraid of him. Of course, some bullies have guys with .357 magnums. Then you change tactics.

When faced with superior force, you can do two things. You can retreat quietly, or you can attack with as much fanfare as possible.   Click here to read more…

Spy Tips Planting Bugs, Con Artists, Surveillance, and more

A surveillance photo can tell you a lot about the photographer. Surveillance takes planning. You have to scout the area. You need a place to sit and wait for the target for an hour… or ten. You need to take a leak now and then. Lots of chances to get seen.

Not all bugs are the same. If it’s got a battery, it’s disposable, short-term. If it’s wired into the house power, it’s a longer-term thing. If it has a transmitter, you can figure out how close the listener is. Once your surveillance knows you’re onto them, the clock starts ticking. They know you’re coming, so the question for them is whether they can destroy their equipment and get out of there in time. The question for you is whether you can find them before every bit of useful information is turned into a pile of burning slag.

Con artists and spies are both professional liars. Cons do it for the money, and spies do it for the flag, but it’s mostly the same gig. They run operations, they follow security procedures, they recruit support staff and issue orders.

When you go after a spy, you send another spy. The same goes for con artists. To catch one, you’ve got to beat him at his own game, be a better liar than he is.   Click here to read more…

Spy Tips on Car Chases, Safe Cracking, Losing a Tail, and more

In a fight, you have to be careful not to break your little hand bones on someone’s face.

When you’re being watched, what you need is contrast, a background that will make the surveillance stand out. An FBI field office is full of guys in their 40s. At most south beach business hotels, it would be tough to tell which middle aged white guy was watching you. So you stay in the place where everyone is a jell-c-shot away from alcohol poisoning. If you can see someone who can walk a straight line, that’s the Fed.

Need to go someplace you’re not wanted? Any uniform store will sell you a messenger outfit and any messenger can get past a security guard.

Figuring out if a car is tailing you is mostly about driving like you’re an idiot. You speed up, slow down, signal one way, turn the other. Actually, losing a tail isn’t about driving fast. A high-speed pursuit is just gonna land you on the six o’clock news. So you just keep driving like an idiot until the other guy makes a mistake.   Click here to read more…

Spy Tips on Trust, Cover IDs, Twisting Facts, and more

The most dangerous time in any operation is just as everything’s coming together. You never know whether you’re about to get a pat on the back or a bullet to the back of the head. Of course, there’s not much you can do but act like everything’s fine.

When you’re dealing with a trained operative, you have to assume they’re as good as you are. If you’d have cut through your restraints given a few hours alone, chances are he had the same idea.

Spies are suppose to travel light with nothing that could identify them. Some do, but most find that staying sane requires staying connected to something that reminds them why they do what they do. Pictures are particularly dangerous to carry unless the people in them are already dead.   Click here to read more…

Spy Tips on Compartmentalizing, Black Market Deals, and more

For a spy, compartmentalizing is second nature. Information is given on a need to know basis. In your professional life, this approach keeps you safe. In your personal life, it can be dangerous.

The site of a deal can tell you a lot about who you’re doing business with. If it’s private, they value control. If it’s public, they want to get in and out anonymously. If they’ve somehow found a site that gives them both, you’re dealing with somebody who really knows what he’s doing.

Most black market transactions tend to go the same way. First, payment is inspected. Then the goods are brought to the table. This standard sequence is meant to ensure both parties against a blown deal.

Some cover IDs are about blending in. Others are about making a splash. It all depends on whether it’s more important to fool your target or impress them.   Click here to read more…