Now, more than ever before, think OPSEC

There’s no question that things have escalated, just in the last two weeks.  That which the perceptive and cautious among the population have been speaking about and preparing for over the past many years is, with stunning speed, now becoming evident even to the average American, and to the world.

This thing has been quietly gaining mass and momentum for a decade or more.  Most were comfortably oblivious.  Some were watchful, even nervous, to see if we could head off our worst fears.  We tried to head this day off – we spoke in our communities, advocated issues and candidates, some lead local rallies, or went to Washington DC to be heard, and many of us gave gentle admonition to family and friends about what would happen if we didn’t shake the disease.

We also planned for the worst, preparing against a day when we might have to be self-sufficient in the face of an economic calamity, and the dissolution of polite society into a golden horde of fearful, hungry people who had lost more than they even knew they had.

We talked about prepping, even showed family and friends what we were doing, giving them a show-and-tell, hoping they would see the wisdom in it and prepare.  The show-and-tell was also a subtle peace offering; a defense against the mass-media driven stereotypes of “bunker craziness” and “radical anti-government” sentiment.  Many of us found that our warnings fell on deaf ears.  We saw friendships changed, family ties challenged.  Some fell silent and just prepped quietly.  Others kept trying to get the word out, to learn and/or share skills; joining email lists, meet-up groups, etc. seeking people of like minds to learn from, share our knowledge with, and just be able to socialize with, in the context of a prepared community.

Almost every one of us who preps had shared some information, at some point in time, with someone who thought our prepping efforts foolish, paranoid, or just plain evidence of our membership in the Tin-Foil Hat Brigade…

Those unsuccessful moments where we tried to warn and educate others may have been months or even years ago – half forgotten in the stream of experience which is life.  Well, now those we tried to warn are waking up in a cold sweat, to find that reality is fast becoming worse than any nightmare they ever imagined, and that it is bearing down upon them.

Panic is simply the flight of reason and judgment in the face of immediate and overwhelming challenges; real fear is now upon the average American, and panic will soon descend upon many… so when you suddenly start getting questions about prepping in general, or about your preps in particular, please bear in mind that the person asking may be moving in the direction of  imposing on you when the moment arrives.  The blind, last-ditch hope that they can show up on your door and ask you to save them.

In short, they may be evaluating, consciously or otherwise, the feasibility of an intrusion plan.  They may actually believe it is their right to impose upon you; but more probably they do not believe they have the time, money, or skills to prep now, and are hoping that you won’t have the heart to say “no” when they show up at your door.

Of lesser probability, but equal concern, are the “survivalist light brigade” who have a gun or two and a good stash of ammo, but no suitable retreat or cache of other necessities, and who actually _plan_ to loot and rob their way through any major event.

So, when the topic of prepping comes up now, listen to the subtleties of the conversation – is someone trying to steer the conversation towards obtaining specific information from you?  Are they trying to secure “soft commitments” from you to shelter, feed, protect, or help them? Are they trying to figure out how much “2nd Amendment Insurance” you have?

Think OPSEC, like never before.  Even with your most loved and trusted family, because, while you may detect and counter the oblique hidden intrusion, your family may not even see it coming.  They may unwittingly give away information, simply because they don’t see the relevance to their survival.

here’s a simple but potent example –

One day last summer, a neighbor asked you to borrow a yard tool.  You sent your son [daughter] of  11-20 years old out to unlock the shed and give your neighbor the tool.  In the course of doing so, the neighbor saw the collection of gas cans in the shed and said “wow, your dad sure does keep a lot of gas cans around.”  Your child responded, “yeah, those are for our emergency generator. Dad is always talking about how we need to be prepared”.

Depending on how nosey your neighbor is, he may have played this out to obtain quite a lot of information, but even if it went no further than the brief and innocent dialog above, he may have gone home and told his wife, who in turn may have said, “oh yeah, that makes sense.  Their pantry always has enough food in it to feed an army. I can’t imagine what they are expecting to happen”.

Fast-forward to today…your neighbor is waking up and beginning to understand what you have been expecting to happen, and now he realizes that he isn’t prepared, hasn’t done right by his family.  “Hmmm, maybe my good neighbor will help us.  After all, we’re neighbors, and that counts for something…it’s got to, this is America.”

There are a million variants of the “innocent inquiry” scenario.  Ask yourself this one simple question – are you able to confidently identify what each person in your life knows, and [more importantly] absolutely does not/can not know about your prepping?  Knowing what each person in your life knows on this subject, how likely is it that they might leak that information?  What is your composite risk profile, after assessing these facts?

Be safe, be prepared, have faith!

LT

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