Monday, May 13, 2013

Upcoming Courses


We will be having a Combat Carbine course on May 18 and a Secure Communications course on the 19th. Both courses will be sponsored by Liberty Handgun Training and will be held in Eugene Oregon.

The carbine course is almost full, but we still have open seats for the communications class. Details as follows...........

Gunfight Concepts Carbine - May 18th, 8am-5pm

The purpose of this course is to push the carbine shooter to the next
level and help ensure that they prevail in a lethal encounter.
I follow a template of enhancing the students ability to master -

- Marksmanship
- Manipulation
- Maintenance

We will examine the pros/cons of the different battle zeros and which
one may suit your situation best. We will perform several drills
designed to enhance your accuracy at various ranges and examine the
application of the speed/accuracy paradigm. We will cover reload
techniques designed to get you back in the fight faster. We will also
study dealing with severe stoppages and various aspects of keeping your
gun functional in less than ideal settings.

My overall approach to this training could be summed up as "worst case
scenario training." You will be pushed hard, shoot from uncomfortable
positions, have many many malfunctions, and learn to come out on top.
Even the best combat shooters in the world will lose around 50% of
their accuracy under the stresses of combat action.......your training
needs to reflect that reality.

Gear Required:

- AR/M4 style carbine w/optics and iron sights (AK style is okay, just
give me a heads up)
- Minimum six carbine magazines
- Semi auto pistol (9mm or greater)
- Minimum three pistol magazines
- Plate carrier w/ at least three mag pouches, or Rhodesian style vest,
or carbine mag pouches for belt rig
- Duty belt w/holster and pistol mag pouches
- Carbine sling (one or two point)
- Eye and ear protection
- Firearm maintenance gear (lube, tools, spare parts)
- Comfortable, durable clothing, change of clothes, towel
- Optional support gear.......dump pouch, gloves, knee pads, etc
- Food and water for the day

Ammunition:

500 rds carbine
100 rds pistol

Course fee is $200

***********************************

Secure Comms - May 19th, 8am-5pm

This course is designed to teach the student to recognize the security
and privacy threats that we find ourselves exposed to in this day and
age. Students will bring their own laptops and will learn how to harden
them in real time. We will also explore the history of various
encryption protocols and their employment, from computer based to paper
and pencil.

Topics covered will include:

- Protecting your data from unlawful intrusion
- Setting up and successfully sending secure email
- Setting up and utilizing secure chat
- Surfing the web anonymously
- Demonstrations of how common exploits occur
- Pros and cons of the various operating systems
- Communicating in a non-permissive or hostile environment

Instead of just watching slide shows and listening to lecture, the
student will participate in real time and successfully complete each
block of instruction. A final exercise will be included to test your
skills in a hostile setting.

Students will need to bring:

- Laptop computer
- Smartphone (optional)
- Note pad and pens/pencils
- Two USB/thumbdrives with at least a 4GB capacity each
- One MicroSD card (any size) with reader adapter

Course fee is $150


...........................

Any questions can be forwarded to the host at  matt@libertyhandguntraining.com

or to myself at the email link at the top of the webpage.


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Standard Modus Operandi



In light of current events, I believe a little history on the Hegelian Dialectic is in order...

...........................................................

"...the State 'has the supreme right against the individual, whose supreme duty is to be a member of the State... for the right of the world spirit is above all special privileges.'" Author/historian William Shirer, quoting Georg Hegel in his The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1959, page 144)

In 1847 the London Communist League (Karl Marx and Frederick Engels) used Hegel's theory of the dialectic to back up their economic theory of communism. Now, in the 21st century, Hegelian-Marxist thinking affects our entire social and political structure. The Hegelian dialectic is the framework for guiding our thoughts and actions into conflicts that lead us to a predetermined solution. If we do not understand how the Hegelian dialectic shapes our perceptions of the world, then we do not know how we are helping to implement the vision. When we remain locked into dialectical thinking, we cannot see out of the box.

Hegel's dialectic is the tool which manipulates us into a frenzied circular pattern of thought and action. Every time we fight for or defend against an ideology we are playing a necessary role in Marx and Engels' grand design to advance humanity into a dictatorship of the proletariat. The synthetic Hegelian solution to all these conflicts can't be introduced unless we all take a side that will advance the agenda. The Marxist's global agenda is moving along at breakneck speed. The only way to completely stop the privacy invasions, expanding domestic police powers, land grabs, insane wars against inanimate objects (and transient verbs), covert actions, and outright assaults on individual liberty, is to step outside the dialectic. This releases us from the limitations of controlled and guided thought.

When we understand what motivated Hegel, we can see his influence on all of our destinies. ... Hegelian conflicts steer every political arena on the planet, from the United Nations to the major American political parties, all the way down to local school boards and community councils. Dialogues and consensus-building are primary tools of the dialectic, and terror and intimidation are also acceptable formats for obtaining the goal. The ultimate Third Way agenda is world government. Once we get what's really going on, we can cut the strings and move our lives in original directions outside the confines of the dialectical madness. Focusing on Hegel's and Engel's ultimate agenda, and avoiding getting caught up in their impenetrable theories of social evolution, gives us the opportunity to think and act our way toward freedom, justice, and genuine liberty for all.

Today the dialectic is active in every political issue that encourages taking sides. We can see it in environmentalists instigating conflicts against private property owners, in democrats against republicans, in greens against libertarians, in communists against socialists, in neo-cons against traditional conservatives, in community activists against individuals, in pro-choice versus pro-life, in Christians against Muslims, in isolationists versus interventionists, in peace activists against war hawks. No matter what the issue, the invisible dialectic aims to control both the conflict and the resolution of differences, and leads everyone involved into a new cycle of conflicts.

We're definitely not in Kansas anymore.

Definitions:

Merriam-Webster:

"Dialectic ....the Hegelian process of change in which a concept or its realization passes over into and is preserved and fulfilled by its opposite... development through the stages of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis in accordance with the laws of dialectical materialism ....any systematic reasoning, exposition, or argument that juxtaposes opposed or contradictory ideas and usually seeks to resolve their conflict ...
....the dialectical tension or opposition between two interacting forces or elements."

"Dialectical Materialism ... 1 : the Marxist theory that maintains the material basis of a reality constantly changing in a dialectical process and the priority of matter over mind."

Wikipedia:

"Hegel's dialectic often appears broken up for convenience into three moments called "thesis" (in the French historical example, the revolution), "antithesis" (the terror which followed), and "synthesis" (the constitutional state of free citizens). ... Much Hegel scholarship does not recognize the usefulness of this triadic classification for shedding light on Hegel's thought. Although Hegel refers to "the two elemental considerations: first, the idea of freedom as the absolute and final aim; secondly, the means for realising it, i.e. the subjective side of knowledge and will, with its life, movement, and activity" (thesis and antithesis) he doesn't use "synthesis" but instead speaks of the "Whole": "We then recognised the State as the moral Whole and the Reality of Freedom, and consequently as the objective unity of these two elements." ...

"Hegel used this system of dialectics to explain the whole of the history of philosophy, science, art, politics and religion, but many modern critics point out that Hegel often seems to gloss over the realities of history in order to fit it into his dialectical mold....

In the 20th century, Hegel's philosophy underwent a major renaissance. This was due partly to the rediscovery and reevaluation of him as the philosophical progenitor of Marxism by philosophically oriented Marxists, partly through a resurgence of the historical perspective that Hegel brought to everything, and partly through increasing recognition of the importance of his dialectical method. The book that did the most to reintroduce Hegel into the Marxist canon was perhaps Georg Lukacs's History and Class Consciousness. This sparked a renewed interest in Hegel reflected in the work of Herbert Marcuse, Theodor Adorno, Ernst Bloch....

"Beginning in the 1960's, Anglo-American Hegel scholarship has attempted to challenge the traditional interpretation of Hegel as offering a metaphysical system." See Popular Occultism

The Hegelian dialectical formula: A (thesis) versus B (anti-thesis) equals C (synthesis).

For example: If (A) my idea of freedom conflicts with (B) your idea of freedom then (C) neither of us can be free until everyone agrees to be a slave.

The Soviet Union was based on the Hegelian dialectic, as is all Marxist writing. The Soviets didn't give up their Hegelian reasoning when they supposedly stopped being a communist country. They merely changed the dialectical language to fit into the modern version of Marxist thinking called communitarianism. American author Steve Montgomery explores Moscow's adept use of the Hegelian dialectic in Glasnost-Perestroika: A Model Potemkin Village.

How is it possible to consider a Hegelian argument?

 If the ideas, interpretations of experiences, and the sources are all wrong, can a conclusion based on all these wrong premises be sound? The answer is no. Two false premises do not make a sound conclusion even if the argument follows the formula. Three, four, five, or six false premises do not all combine to make a conclusion sound. You must have at least one sound premise to reach a sound conclusion. Logical mathematical formulas are only the basis for deductive reasoning. Equally important is knowledge of semantics, or considering the meanings of the words used in the argument. Just because an argument fits the formula, it does not necessarily make the conclusion sound. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel knew this when he designed his dialectic.

Hegel is an imperialist con artist who established the principles of dialectical "no-reason." Hegel's dialectic has allowed globalists to lead simple, capable, freeborn men and women back into the superstitious, racist and unreasonable age of imperial global dominance. National governments represent people who are free from imperial controls over private property, trade and production. National governments protect their workers from imperial slavery by protecting the worker's markets. But if you use Hegel's logical Marxism, the only way to protect people from slavery is to become the slave trader, just for a while. Twisted logic is why cons are so successful, and Hegel twisted it in such a way as to be "impenetrable." Like Hegel and Marx, the best street con knows his spiel has to use logic to bend and distort the story, and good cons weave their lies on logical mathematical progression. The fallacy is in the language, not in the math. Detective Phillip Worts' 2001 article Communist Oriented Policing is a nice explanation of Dialectical Materialism's influence on America.

The communitarian purpose for the Hegelian dialectic

Hegel's theory is basically that mankind is merely a series of constant philosophical conflicts. Hegel was an idealist who believed that the highest state of mankind can only be attained through constant ideological conflict and resolution. The rules of the dialectic means mankind can only reach its highest spiritual consciousness through endless self-perpetuating struggle between ideals, and the eventual synthesizing of all opposites. Hegel's dialectic taught all conflict takes man to the next spiritual level. But in the final analysis, this ideology simply justifies conflict and endless war. It is also the reasoning behind using military power to export an illogical version of freedom and false democratic ideals.

The reason we can call it the justification for modern conflicts and war, with impunity, is because no one can prove Hegel's theory is true. No matter how many new words they make up to define it, or how many new theories they come up with to give it validity, we can prove beyond a doubt that it is all false. And, we can show the final equation in Hegels' Dialectic is:

A: The [your nation goes here] System of Political Economy (List 1841)
B: state controlled world communism
C: state controlled global communitarianism.

The Hegelian dialectic is the ridiculous idea that constant conflict and continual merging of opposite ideologies, as established by extreme right or left belief systems, will lead spiritual mankind into final perfection. (Americans understood man's spiritual quests to be outside the realm of government control). Hegel's brilliance rests in his ability to confuse and obfuscate the true motives of the planners, and millions of people world-wide have been trying to make sense of why it doesn't work for over 150 years. But like the AA definition of insanity, the world keeps trying it over and over expecting different results. ...

When Frederick Engels and Karl Marx based their communist theory on Hegel's theory of spiritual advancement via constant resolution of differences, they based the theory of communism on an unproven theory.

While Darwin's theory of evolution is still being debated, there's absolutely no proof that societies are continually evolving. When Engels and Marx later based their communist theory on Lewis Henry Morgan's theory of anthropology in 1877, they again based the theory of communism on an unprovable theory.

And when Amitai Etzioni used Hegelian reasoning to base the Communitarian Network on a "balance" between (A) Rights and (B) Responsibilities, he built the entire theory of (C) communitarianism on nothing but disproven and unprovable unscientific theories....

Already gaining substantial ground against the Americans, British Marxism was bolstered when Charles Darwin published his theory of human evolution in 1859. Engels, according to modern day scholars, seized upon Darwin's theory to substantiate communism:

"When Marx read The Origin of Species he wrote to Engels that, 'although it is developed in the crude English style, this is the book which contains the basis in natural history for our view.' They turned against what they saw as the social, as opposed to the biological, implications of Darwinism when they realised that it contained no support for their shibboleth of class oppression. Since they were slippery customers rather than scientists, they were not likely to relinquish their views just because something did not fit." (see: Marxism and Darwinism by Anton Pannekoek, 1912.)

In 1877 Lewis Henry Morgan published Ancient Society, or Researches in Life, Lines of Human Progress from Savagery, through Barbarism, to Civilization. Then the "slippery" Engels seized upon Morgan's work as the constantly "evolving" basis for the totally unsubstantiated theory of natural social evolution into utopian world communism....

Hegel's formula has been so successful that in 2003 all U.S. domestic and foreign policy is dominated by "communitarian thinking," the whole country is living under the new laws, and yet Americans most affected by "impenetrable" Hegelian laws have never once heard the term used.

Conclusion:

The Hegelian dialectic presupposes the factual basis for the theory of social evolutionary principles, which coincidentally backed up Marx. Marx's Darwinian theory of the "social evolution of the species," (even though it has been used for a century to create a vast new scientific community, including eugenics and socio-economics), does not adhere to the basis for all good scientific research, and appears to exist mainly to advance itself, and all its sub-socio-scientific arms, as the more moral human science. To the ACL this means the entire basis for the communitarian solution is based on a false premise, because there is no FACTUAL basis that "social evolution of the species" exists, based as it is only on Darwinian and Marxist ideology of man's "natural" evolution towards a British version of utopia.

The London-Marxist platform in 1847 was "to abolish private property." The American Revolution was based in private property rights. Marxist societies confiscate wealth and promise to "re-distribute it equally." America promised everyone they could keep and control what was the product of their own labor. Modern Marxist adherents openly claim they will "rebuild the world," and they train activist "change agents" to openly support overthrowing the legitimate governments of the world. Since their inception, Marxist agent provocateurs can be linked to every anarchist assassination and student uprising that caused chaos to the established European civilization throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Modern Americans have succumbed to the conspiracy theory label and will only listen to what the propaganda machines tell them. Now our people don't believe anyone other than maybe the Arab world "hates our freedom." Most modern Americans will never know what went wrong with their "great experiment in democracy."

While the Marxist-communitarian argument has not provided a shred of evidence to prove their utopian vision, and their synthesis does not match their own projected conclusions of world justice, we are convinced their argument does in fact substantiate our conclusion, that the entire philosophical dialectical argument is nothing but a brilliant ruse. We used to call it "a cheap parlor trick" until a responder to this page wondered how we could call it "cheap" when it's been so successful. And he was right. The dialectical arguments for human rights, social equity, and world peace and justice are a perfectly designed diversion in the defeated British Empire's Hegelian-Fabian-Metaphysical-Theosophical Monopoly game. It's the most successful con job in the history of the modern world. (For a well presented Christian overview of the con, see American Babylon: Part Five-the Triumph of the Merchants by Peter Goodgame.)

The communitarian synthesis is the final silent move in a well-designed, quietly implemented plot to re-make the world into colonies. To us it doesn't matter if there is some form of ancient religion that propels the plotters, nor does it really matter if it turns out they're aliens (as some suggest). The bottom line is the Hegelian dialectic sets up the scene for state intervention, confiscation, and redistribution in the U.S., and this is against our ENTIRE constitutional based society. The Hegelian dialectic is not a conspiracy theory because the Conspiracy Theory is a fraud. We've all been duped by global elitists who plan to take totalitarian control of all nation's people, property, and produce. Communitarian Plans exist in every corner of the world, and nobody at the local level will explain why there's no national legal avenue to withdraw from the U.N.'s "community" development plans.

(Authored by, Niki Raapana and Nordica Friedrich, 2005)

................................................................................

Starting to make sense now? 



Sunday, April 14, 2013

Evil Empowerment Zones


"These monsters go into schools, theaters and shopping malls precisely because we emblazon them with signs telling these murderous bastards that nobody inside is capable of defending themselves.  We state in bright lights and bold text that we the "law-abiding citizens" have intentionally forfeited the ability to put down the murderous thug that seeks to take our life and those in our charge."

Read all of Denninger's excellent and strongly worded article HERE



Sunday, April 7, 2013

Running Low on Training Ammo? Here's the fix...



As everyone knows, ammunition is in short supply these days and what little that makes it's way to store shelves is becoming somewhat cost prohibitive. This is consequently putting a damper on many folks training time. Here are some ways to take advantage of the situation and explore some new training options....

1. Work on your movement skills.
1. With an empty weapon, move tactically through your house. Focus on – clearing doorways and making entry – moving through hallways – checking six every three paces – clearing corners and dead space in rooms – linking up with family members and moving them to a designated safe zone – etc
2. Work the same skills but with a partner or your spouse. Work on the communication aspect – team member responsibilities – how to move with a “package” (such as a child) – practice “bunkering” your loved ones while you await help, or wait for another team to move to your position.
3. Go outside and work on Individual Movement Techniques (IMT's). Dry-fire engagement of the target from a covered position, determine if you are advancing to the enemy or retrograding – Identify your next covered position that you can move to in 3-5 seconds – simulate a retention reload if needed, check 360, move to next position, repeat.
 
2. Work on shooting positions.
1. Work on moving quickly from standing to a prone firing position.
2. Standing behind your vehicle, work on quickly moving to a firing position behind the strong points – urban prone behind the wheels – leaning to engage around front and rear – squatting to engage over hood and through windows.

3. Work on your dry-fire/dry-practice skills.
1. Penny drills

4. Work on your draw-stroke.
1. Practice drawing and acquiring a good sight picture from concealment.
2. Draw while seated at a table or desk.
3. Draw/acquire your weapon while in bed.
4. Draw while seated in your vehicle.

5. Work on transitioning from primary (rifle) to secondary (pistol).
1. Dry-fire your primary and then smoothly transition to your secondary, dry-fire and transition back to primary.

6. Work on focal transitioning.
1. This will exercise the ciliary muscles of the eye which focus your eye's lens by thickening or flattening it (they need to be exercised just like any other muscle). As a gunfighter your first point of focus will be the threat, whether it be at 5 yards or 300 yards. As you draw and extend your weapon out towards the threat you will transition your focus to the sights as they come into view. The threat becomes more out of focus as the front sight becomes very much in focus as you fire. You then will make a focal transition back to the threat and then on the surrounding area to check for further threats. Another focal point we have to deal with is the magazine well during a reload. As you feel your weapon run dry, you eject the empty magazine as you bring the weapon back into your workspace, simultaneously indexing a fresh magazine with your support hand. As you bring up the fresh mag you want to make a quick focal transition to the magazine well as you insert – this is key for a smooth, successful reload.
2. Couple tricks that help facilitate these techniques...
1. Take a yellow (or any bright color) paint/craft pen and paint a line along the inside edge of the mag well (strong side) so that as you bring an empty pistol back into your workspace the bright line catches your eye.
2. Paint the top edge of your front sight post. During your draw-stroke, as you begin to press out to the target, the bright edge will catch your eye and aid in making that focal transition.
3. This paint technique may seem strange to some, but give it a try – there's a reason some of the most tactically proficient military units in the world utilize it.



So, as you can see, the current ammo shortage can serve as a way to motivate one to expand their current training regimen......and it's all free.    


Friday, April 5, 2013

Weekend Training Motivator


13 year old Katelyn Francis shooting in a three gun match. Nice run young lady!


Sunday, March 31, 2013

British Resistance Model


"In July 1940 Gubbins recruited about a dozen regional Captains as Intelligence Officers who would form the backbone of the newly created Auxiliary Units. Their mission was to find 30 or so reliable men and issue them with an assortment of explosives, weapons and vital supplies. These men became known as ‘dump owners’. The IO’s were to help the ‘dump owners’ to form cells of 5 or 6 men, to train them in the use of weapons and to provide the cells with some form of hideout."

A good bit of history regarding the British Resistance program and SOE, sent in by a reader. What is interesting to note is that this is one of the few times a resistance group was stood up before it was actually needed. They of course, where never utilized; being as the Germans never took over the British  isles.
 Food for thought - prior to homefront hostilities, they had a basic TO&E in place, training programs, safe houses and caches........

Read it all HERE


(Thanks to R.B. for the link)

(TO&E - Table of Organization and Equipment)



Saturday, March 23, 2013

Upcoming New Courses

You asked for it - so here it is....

We will be putting on a new course 10-12 May and possibly on 24-26 May. This course will be the Kidnap Defense/E&E merged with the communication and encryption techniques described in my  Unexpected Warfighter series ( Part 1Part 2Part 3 ).

Upon successful completion of this course you will have learned and demonstrated the techniques described in the series, as well as escaping from criminal custody, planning a safe route through a hostile urban setting, vanishing into a crowd, avoiding refugee lines of drift and many other life saving techniques. This course is a must for the business traveler, tourist or anyone working or living in a hazardous or unstable area.



Training will be held in the Pacific Northwest. Cost is discounted to $500 and, dependent on venue, we will offer a carbine and pistol skills workshop the day prior to the course for those that are interested. We will run you through several evaluation drills utilized by the special operations community and help you with your marksmanship and manipulation skills as needed - at no cost to attendees.

Please RSVP as soon as possible so we can keep the class size at a manageable level. You can find further details on the Courses page, or email me with any questions. This is the most popular course I teach and am only able to offer it once or twice a year - so don't miss out on this crucial skill-set.



Monday, March 18, 2013

Rainy, muddy range day...


Today's drills: Pistol Retro

IPSC Target
Time: One minute
Total rounds: Nine

Stage One -

From concealment, starting from target,

Run to 10 yard line, draw-turn, shoot two to A zone (chest), one to A zone (head)

Run (at high port) to 25 yard line, turn, shoot two (chest)

Run (at high port) to 50 yard line, turn, shoot two (chest)

Run (at high port) to 100 yard line, turn, shoot two (chest)

Score with normal IPSC scoring - 40 points is a pass

Stage Two -

Same thing, except - stage your magazines so that you have to do a stress/combat reload as you run from 25 to 50 and another from 50 to 100.
....................................

Next, carbine from 50 yards,

IPSC Target
No Time
Total rounds: 12


From low or high ready,

Two rounds standing

Two rounds squatting

Two rounds urban prone

Two rounds supine fire

Two rounds kneeling

Two rounds brokeback

Score with normal IPSC scoring - 56 to pass
.........................................

The first drill works on your break-contact skills and the second on unconventional/uncomfortable shooting positions. Enjoy....





Kizeme, perhaps?


As the infantry saying goes......the diversion to your rear that you are ignoring - is actually the main attack...

Read the skinny HERE

Whether a feint or simply a strategy of using multiple fronts - it's not good. 

(h/t to Freedom Outpost)




Saturday, March 16, 2013

One step at a time John...


John stood uncomfortably against the bathroom wall, trying not to be conspicuous. The gentleman that had been using the urinal finally finished his business and stepped towards the sink. John moved forward to take his turn. He glanced down and spied the round little urinal cake that had about a quarter of it's circumference sliced off, creating a flat edge. John, recognizing the long awaited signal, glanced to his side as the only other occupant departed the restaurant bathroom letting the door slam behind him. John quickly fished the little zip-lock bag out of his pocket and, choking back his disgust, scooped up the all important little cake, sealing it up and stowing it in his pocket just as another patron entered the restroom. 

His trip home was uneventful. He had even done a couple SDR's (Surveillance Detection Route) on the way back, just as he had been instructed to do. Satisfied that no one was following, he continued on to his apartment. Even though he had been a soldier not all that long ago, this was unlike anything he had done while in the Army. 
He stepped into the closet of his small bedroom closing the door behind him. He felt silly sitting in the tiny windowless room, but his sponsor had insisted on this particular protocol. He broke open the pungent urinal cake releasing the small usb drive inside. Once he logged into his encrypted system, he plugged in the drive opening the encrypted partition inside. He decrypted his instructions and deleted the file after which he pushed the usb drive inside the tennis ball he had prepared just for this special task. He shoved the ball into the pocket of his fleece jacket and headed towards the city dog park. 
A block behind John, the passenger door of a tan SUV swung open depositing a middle aged man in a jogging suit onto the sidewalk. He spoke quietly into his hidden microphone, asking for a comms check as he set out in a surreptitious pursuit. 

John scanned the scene as he walked into the park, trying his best to look nonchalant. He struggled to keep his paranoia in check as he walked past an old man playing a game of chess with what John assumed was his grandson. He approached the dog area and headed for a bench that was partially obscured in the trees. He pulled off his jacket as he sat down, laying it next to him. He scanned the scene again – the two men playing chess had departed, several children played on the nearby jungle-gym, a half dozen people were walking or playing with their dogs directly across from him....and now...now...he waited. John glanced to his left inexplicably and caught the gaze of a jogger stretching against the fence near the entrance, the jogger's head snapped away suddenly and John simultaneously felt a chill crawl over him and a heaviness hit his gut. Was this more paranoia? Something felt very wrong and John suddenly wanted nothing more than to be away from this place. He kept his head straight but watched the jogger with his eyes. He could see the jogger's mouth moving as if he was speaking, but there was no one visible in his vicinity. John's mind raced – he was being watched, and he had to assume that the regime's thugs were about to descend on him and drag him off on what was typically a one way trip. John took a deep breath and tried to focus on the E&E plan that had been drilled into him. Step one: Create distance and establish baseline.....

Despite every part of his being telling him to sprint like a madman, he calmly stood and walked away from the jogger/spy towards a cafe on the opposite side of the park. He had actually rehearsed this very escape plan not even a month ago, but still had serious reservations about it actually working. If he could just make it into the cafe bathroom, he could slip out the small window into the alley, and if lucky, get to his emergency cache site putting some distance between himself and his pursuers. John didn't even breathe as he crossed the street.....waiting to feel the agent's hands grab him from behind, but no one grabbed him. He latched the bathroom door shut and breathed a sigh of relief. This could actually work! He allowed himself to think as he pulled his reversible shirt back on and reached for the window........

Back at the park – a little old lady watched agents swarm into the park and descend on the jacket the young man had left behind. They tore open the pockets, shaking the jacket and gestating wildly in what she knew was frustration. She just smiled and tossed the fuzzy green ball back across the grass with Brisco in happy pursuit.





Friday, March 15, 2013

LEO Follies...

I remember a kids magazine we had when I was growing up that featured a game which presented the reader with a picture of some common, everyday event - the challenge was to find the things in the picture that didn't belong....


Did you spot it? Kinda jumps out....
( This one is courtesy of TSP - His post can be found HERE ......pretty funny)

Here it is again, in case you missed it....

Here's a couple more to really get your day off to good start...




And it wouldn't be complete without everyone's favorite DEA gun-ninja putting a round through his foot in a crowded elementary school classroom....


.........................................................................................
This could go on ad infinitum, so I will stop it here.

Just remember folks - only government employees are highly trained and professional enough to be trusted with firearms.





Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Eva's tech


Let's examine some of the equipment and techniques utilized by Eva. Readers will note that the particular unit in this story opted for physical couriers as opposed to electronic transmission (email, chat, phone, radio). While there are certainly methods available for secure transmissions (which we will get to eventually), one must approach the subject from the standpoint of "no such thing as unbreakable security". That being said, you should not allow your operational ability to become crippled due to the paralysis of paranoia. You give due diligence to securing with the best techniques and technology available, and exercise disciplined protocols such as frequent password and key changes, integrity testing and periodic false information seeding.

As to Eva's gear....
She was booting her system with a thumb-drive/usb drive with Liberte linux ( HERE ) installed on it. This allows her to complete her work without creating a data liability in the form of forensic footprints should her laptop be searched at some future date.

You could choose a usb drive for durability, like the Lacie extreme drive above, or one that disguises easily, of which there are many. The benefits of the extreme drive, which can withstand deep water submersion, drops, bumps and even being run over by a truck; make it a suitable choice for caches or go-bags and give the user an otherwise unavailable communication media in a crisis situation.
  
 Once her system is up and running, she inserts the microSD card into the laptop.
She could use the laptop's built in card reader, or an add-on reader if the computer lacks one.
Once her system mounts the microSD she opens the encrypted volume (using the courier level pass-phrase) and adds in her own report. This gives the end user a sort of chain of custody as well as a SALUTE report for Eva's area of operations. The data that is contained inside the encrypted volume is also encrypted so that we have many levels of encryption protecting the data. Eva encrypts her report with the end user's monthly PGP "public key" (meaning only he can open it) and then signs it with her key (to ensure it is authentic and was not tampered with in transit). 
Note that while they are using a difficult to destroy usb drive for their operating system (in this case, Liberte) they chose an easily destroyed microsd for the actual data. There are many programs out there for securely deleting data, but the only sure way in an emergency is to physically destroy the medium - in this case, crush and grind. 

(Encrypted volumes can be setup with THIS, or THIS)

One could opt for a simpler method for passing short messages, but the above method is a crucial tool when moving large data files such as maps, pictures, video files, etc, that an operational unit is going to need on a regular basis.

Again, I would state that this is not a panacea for perfect secrecy, but can be a valuable tool when used in a judicious and disciplined manner. 

Let's also take a quick look at Eva's courier report:
...............................................
DTG (Date time group of report)

S=8 (indicates a Size of 8 personnel)

A=TCP / STOPPING, SEARCHING ALL P & V (indicates an Activity of traffic control point/check point)

L=27th+Broadway (in this case it was Located at the intersection of~)

U=RSF (whatever unit/department/agency involved)

T=16320116 (DTG when activity was observed)

E= MRAPx2, MGx2, SEDANx1, M4x8, GLOCKx8, K9x1, GARRET WANDSx2, BAGGAGE XRAYx1, IED RESIDUE TEST EQUIPx1, RADIOx3 (this would list the observed equipment in use)
....................................................

It's important to note that Eva does not speculate, but only reports what she actually sees. It is a safe guess that there are mounted radios and extra weapons in the vehicles, but the Intel officer reading the report will choose to make that assumption or not.

More to follow...




Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Posterity


"Let us contemplate our forefathers, and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the latter. The necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude and perseverance. Let us remember that ―if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom, it is a very serious consideration ...that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers of the event."
-- Samuel Adams



Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Unexpected Warfighter



Brisco strained against his leather collar, seemingly eager to leave the immediate area. Eva's 70 year old fingers snapped back on the disgruntled terrier's leash, but she could certainly understand his unease. Even though the neighborhood “safety checkpoints” had been a part of their daily life for the better part of the year, she never could resolve herself to see them as anything other than a 21st century re-envisioning of cold war east Germany. The pat downs, the scanning and downloading of her cell phone, the x-ray and search of her belongings just to get from one part of town to the other. Of course it was all necessary because of all the “terrorist activity” in the area; or so she was told.

Once inside her apartment, she began what had become a twice a week operation...removing Brisco's ornate leather collar...pulling back the stitching....retrieving the microSD card hidden between the leather laminate and beneath one of the several steel sequins that decorated his collar. She noted the small red sticker attached to the tiny device, indicating that it was a time sensitive message and needed to be passed as soon as possible. She plugged her “special” thumb-drive into her old laptop and turned it on. The system recognized the bootable operating system on the thumb drive and the hardened OS came to life. She entered her passwords and inserted the microSD card. She opened the Truecrypt volume that resided on the micro and observed one file entitled “r6K?q@71”, this meant nothing to her, not that it should have.....while she and several other groups had the monthly passphrase to open the disk itself, the file inside could only be opened by the intended recipient. She typed up her short courier report, which was basically her version of a succinct SALUTE report for the last few days, encrypted it with her PGP key and inserted it into the Truecrypt volume of the micro. She returned the micro to it's furry courier and pulled the thumb-drive from the laptop, causing the computer to scrub it's memory before shutting down.

Eva gathered her things, and with Brisco in tow, headed towards the door, pausing for a moment to look at a picture on the wall. She needed courage right now and looking at the white haired man in the picture that she had shared her life with..... until agents of the regime took him away forever ….refueled her cause and steadied her nerves. Brisco broke her from her thoughts with a muffled woof,  as if reminding her of the time sensitive nature of their mission.
As she and her cohort headed to their dog park rendezvous, she let a half smile show.....lives depended on her, she mattered! – perhaps now more than ever...


This serves as an example for the ongoing COMSEC series. More to follow.......




Wednesday, March 6, 2013

COMSEC and Privacy


Communications Security is, and must be, a primary concern to any warfighter. When I was still in uniform, a great deal of our target packages were generated or acted on due to some schmuck out there turning on his cell phone and making a quick call - falsely believing his brevity would spare him any unpleasantries. The content of that call was not necessarily of import to us, but rather the fact that we knew who owned that particular phone (via ESN and IMEI) and had the ability to geo-locate it right away.  Now we knew that we had "High Value Target # whatever" at such & such grid and could hastily act on that fresh intel.

Much of warfare is based on first prepping the battlespace (civil affairs, psyops, humint, elint, etc), and then exploiting your enemy's mistakes. In this case, we had a technological advantage over the enemy and would exploit it on a regular basis. Now, one has to imagine that after many years of conflict the insurgents would be very much aware of this electronic disparity and would avoid employing said items. From my perspective, some of the groups would in fact employ some self discipline and avoid the gadgets - effectively "low-teching" us, consequently robbing us of that targeting asset. Instead they would rely on old school techniques such as couriers, dead drops and encryption like "one time pads".

One has to wonder why they did not use faux comsec violations as bait for an ambush more often. For example - activating a known high profile bad guy's phone as a bit of poison fruit to draw a raiding party into a kill zone. Makes for a bad day... 

The point of this article is to bring attention to the inherent dangers/privacy issues of our various communication media. Radio can be eavesdropped on and DF'd (direction finding). Same issue with cell phones, as pointed out above. Email is collected and stored by various state and non-state entities.
So, how can this threat to privacy be mitigated in a effective, real world way?

Step One: Go HERE and read. Understand. This is the foundation of what will follow.

More to come.....