From Warrior News letter TMI

[Texasdoc]

TMI: Too Much Information


I sat at the restaurant eating my dinner and, as I often do, scanned the room around me while I chewed. I wasn’t expecting an Al Qaeda attack or anything of the sort, it was simply an habit from the old days that will not die.

At the table next to me sat a husband and wife, in their fifties, looking forward to retirement in Florida, but now saddled with an unruly teenager who was recently arrested for drugs. The teenager attended some high school named after some long dead politician, and he was in his senior year.

Across the room sat another couple, young, probably newly weds. The husband was either a police officer or a CCW guy fresh from military service in the Marines.

The last table was occupied by a family of four. They were Christians and the father was in the refrigeration business. He was taking muscle relaxants for his injured neck, and his wife was allergic to MSG. The kids as well were a storehouse of free information.

How did I pick up all this personal intell on all these good people?

Simple. I listened.

As I walked out into the parking lot after paying my bill, I’ll bet I could tell you which group belonged to which car as well.

Is this a big deal? I don’t know..you tell me.


I think it is.

In a world where the bad guys are busy probing the populace for easy targets, allowing yourself to appear as an easy target is simply stupid. Specially when a little extra care would avoid the problem completely.

How about the thousands of CCW carriers. How many of you are legally concealed as opposed to totally covert? Sure, its nice to wear all of the CCW fashions. But what are you really hiding?

Bad guys look at gun magazines. So do ostensibly “good� guys in positions of authority that don’t like the idea of lowly, scum-sucking civilians owning, much less carrying guns. Are you making yourself an easy target?

What about the robbers who walk into their next take-over robbery, or the terrorist who is scanning the place before blurting out the characteristics “Allah Akbar� prelude to a mass killing? What if they “make� the gun guy before the gun guy has any idea of what is happening?

Will you be a deterrent, or the first target?

What of the myriad ways an enemy can make use of the information such as : The names of your kids, where they go to school, your home address, your work hours, where your parents live, etc.

How many of you have one of those “My Child Is An Honor Student At Good Guy School�?

Sure we are proud of our kids, but I do not have such things on my vehicle. How hard do you think it would be for a thug to kidnap your kid with such information and either use them to get to you, or ransom them, or worse?

American CCW folks are law abiding, honest, godly people. But they need to think like the enemy to see their own weaknesses. What we are talking about here is Operational Security, or Op Sec for short.

In the civilian world, we also often hear the term TMI…or Too Much Information. Usually this is directed at discussion with kids describing their stomach flu or something of that nature. Nonetheless, TMI and OpSec are similar in that your information, be it sensitive or disgusting is not for publication.

Watch what you say in public. Think the worst of those within ear shot. You want a private conversation, don’t have it in a public place. And if you must, then keep your voices down so only those involved in the conversation can hear it.

A stranger asks you for personal information? Tell them to pound sand. Or if you must provide it for some reason, make a “mistake� and give them bad information. Yes, lie. Change the numbers of your address or give them a different address. Same for phone numbers, dates of birth, and social security numbers. If you must give out the true information, be as guarded about it as you would be with your pin number to the ATM.

Look at your daily dress. Sometimes the job will determine the clothing, but if not, then avoid all the gun school wear and CCW Gucci gear as it will mark you for scrutiny or for targeting. If you don’t care, then keep doing what you are doing. What I will say is the casual construction worker look or the moderately paid office worker look will not get any attention, while the pressed and starched CCW vest with matching pants and gun logo hat will get stares from everyone.

Look at your car. How many unnecessary stickers describing you or your family appear there. My favorite OpSec faux pas is the stencil cartoon of all family members along with their names and ages sharply detailed on the back window.

Come on guys. How many of you would walk into the “soon-to-be-released� ward of the local mental hospital for the criminally insane and give a 30 minute briefing on your family and where they can be found? That is in effect what you are doing.

Home address. How many of you have your address printed on all your personal info? On your CCW or driver’s license? Consider getting a mail drop. A mail drop is a physical address with individual mailboxes such a Mail Boxes, Etc., or a UPS Store. Have the psychos and terrorists show up there when they want to find you and not the real address.

These are just a few things to consider. In future articles we will get into the mind set issues of alertness and profiling which will give you an edge when the passive Op-Sec principle of guarding information is bypassed.

The bottom line is that all the skills and weapons in the world will not save you if the bad guys can target your weak points and ambush you. So not only must you stay alert, but also guard your information like it was worth its weight in gold.

__________________
Gabe Suarez
http://www.suarezinternational.com
http://www.onesourcetactical.com
info@suarezinternational.com

[flintknapper]

As much as I respect Mr. Suarez and most of his articles....I can't quite make myself be that much "A Warrior".

Sorry, but IMO...."life" somehow got left out the equation with this one.

I'm gonna pass on most of it.


Certainly... there is much of his letter that is worthy of discussion, no doubt it will be interesting.

Thank you for posting it.

Flint.

[boomerang]

Home address. How many of you have your address printed on all your personal info? On your CCW or driver’s license? Consider getting a mail drop. A mail drop is a physical address with individual mailboxes such a Mail Boxes, Etc., or a UPS Store.

DPS wants our home address. What's the penalty for giving them a different address?

[Xander]

How many of you have one of those “My Child Is An Honor Student At Good Guy School�?

Sure we are proud of our kids, but I do not have such things on my vehicle. How hard do you think it would be for a thug to kidnap your kid with such information and either use them to get to you, or ransom them, or worse?

In my opinion, that's downright absurd. I've seen one-star action films with plots more believable than that. When evaluating training techniques (and I think material like this applies) Dave Spaulding talks about the "Three S Test"...Does it make sense, is it simple, is it street-proven? Unfortunately, like in much of Mr. Suarez's material, there are things in this article that simply don't make sense, and the quote above is one example.

[srothstein]

Home address. How many of you have your address printed on all your personal info? On your CCW or driver’s license? Consider getting a mail drop. A mail drop is a physical address with individual mailboxes such a Mail Boxes, Etc., or a UPS Store.

DPS wants our home address. What's the penalty for giving them a different address?

I do not know about a CHL, but on a DL they will let you print a mailing address. They want both, your real residence and the mailing address but only the mailing address will appear on the DL.

[bdickens]

Good post. OPSEC is something all should consider paying attention to.

Gather around the campfire and let me tell you a little story.

When I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, not long after I got my hard stripes, A buddy of mine and I were detailed to provide support for two weeks to the JFK Special Warfare Center for a terrorism awareness class being given to people getting ready to be deployed to various hot spots for diplomatic missions and suchlike. The assignment: Given nothing but their names and a description of their cars we were to find out as much as we could about these 12 people. We were not to break the law. They gave us a camera and turned us loose with a signed letter about what we were up to in case we were stopped by the police.

The amount of info that two truck mechanics dug up was staggering. Addresses. Phone numbers. Kids names. What schools they attended (subjects and their kids). Social Security numbers. Previous duty assignments. Info from Personnel files.

These people left cars unlocked, left personal information, bills, credit card statements exposed so they could be read through the car windows. We found stuff in their trash.

We took pictures of these people at the mall, at the post office, picking up the kids at school.

We even found out that the records of some of the subjects were blacked out.

At the end of the two weeks, we introduced ourselves to the group and gave a little presentation and a slide show. We presented everything we found. You should have seen the jaws drop. No one had ever seen us. No one had any idea how easy it was for us to find out what we found out.

[KBCraig]

I sat at the restaurant eating my dinner and, as I often do, scanned the room around me while I chewed.

Is that Gabe Suarez, or Gecko45?

[CHL/LEO]

How many of you have one of those “My Child Is An Honor Student At Good Guy School�?

Sure we are proud of our kids, but I do not have such things on my vehicle. How hard do you think it would be for a thug to kidnap your kid with such information and either use them to get to you, or ransom them, or worse?

In my opinion, that's downright absurd. I've seen one-star action films with plots more believable than that. When evaluating training techniques (and I think material like this applies) Dave Spaulding talks about the "Three S Test"...Does it make sense, is it simple, is it street-proven? Unfortunately, like in much of Mr. Suarez's material, there are things in this article that simply don't make sense, and the quote above is one example.

Has an incident like this happened where a child has been abducted because of information pasted on a vehicle? Yes it has, and more than once. Putting your kids name and sports number on the back windshield is very common. Unfortunately it also gives a criminal the first name of your child.

We're all proud of our kids and their achievements - that's just natural, but after having worked in Missing Persons and with Amber Alerts, I would never post their names on a vehicle, or yard sign in front of the house. Sure it might only happen occasionally but tell that to the family that had their child kidnapped by some scumbag using this technique.

We always hope for the best but should still plan for the worst.

[Xander]

How many of you have one of those “My Child Is An Honor Student At Good Guy School�?

Sure we are proud of our kids, but I do not have such things on my vehicle. How hard do you think it would be for a thug to kidnap your kid with such information and either use them to get to you, or ransom them, or worse?

In my opinion, that's downright absurd. I've seen one-star action films with plots more believable than that. When evaluating training techniques (and I think material like this applies) Dave Spaulding talks about the "Three S Test"...Does it make sense, is it simple, is it street-proven? Unfortunately, like in much of Mr. Suarez's material, there are things in this article that simply don't make sense, and the quote above is one example.

Has an incident like this happened where a child has been abducted because of information pasted on a vehicle? Yes it has, and more than once. Putting your kids name and sports number on the back windshield is very common. Unfortunately it also gives a criminal the first name of your child.

We're all proud of our kids and their achievements - that's just natural, but after having worked in Missing Persons and with Amber Alerts, I would never post their names on a vehicle, or yard sign in front of the house. Sure it might only happen occasionally but tell that to the family that had their child kidnapped by some scumbag using this technique.

We always hope for the best but should still plan for the worst.

Decals with names, sure. "My child is an honor student" bumper stickers? I don't see how there's *any* "intel" there that's more valuable there than say, the color and model of your car. The license plate number is far more useful than anything they'd glean from that sticker.

[DoubleJ]

I sat at the restaurant eating my dinner and, as I often do, scanned the room around me while I chewed.

Is that Gabe Suarez, or Gecko45?

totally agree. one can take all the TactiCool WAY too far.

but I'll admit, sometimes it's fun to play dress-up and holster up as many guns as my tired denim will hold.

but srsly.

[flintknapper]

[

Decals with names, sure. "My child is an honor student" bumper stickers? I don't see how there's *any* "intel" there that's more valuable there than say, the color and model of your car. The license plate number is far more useful than anything they'd glean from that sticker.

Exactly,

Not to mention there are dozens of ways that a person can find out things about you....such as where you live, when you go to work, where your kids go to school (don't need to know their names), when you're at home or not, etc...just by observing you in "public".

IMO, the key to keeping your children safe (as is reasonably possible) lies with educating them about predators.... and not with making sure their name isn't on your vehicle, in the paper, or announced at a basketball game. Names mean nothing, everyone has one...and its easy to find out who you are. What does matter....is how you react to persons unknown to you. Make sure your kids are "trick proof".

I don't advocate being "slack" about giving out personal information, but...there are legitimate reasons to give someone a phone number, an address, your credit card. Conversations in public are sometimes overheard by others, so just be aware of that. Unless you are willing to become a "hermit" or write notes to everyone...then some amount of privacy and information is always lost when you go among the populace.

It is well to be a "little" guarded, but I refuse to live my every waking moment as if the "sky is falling".

I believe in self defense, I believe in being "aware" of my surroundings, and I believe in being reasonably prepared to deal with most threats. Further, I believe each of us should a have a side us capable of being "the warrior", but I don't think it is necessary to be that person 24/7 unless you are in a battlefield environment.

So yeah, civilians...make sure you have (or can cultivate) a "warrior" within yourself. You may need it some day. But.......know when to turn it off as well. We have lives to live.

[CHL/LEO]

Decals with names, sure. "My child is an honor student" bumper stickers? I don't see how there's *any* "intel" there that's more valuable there than say, the color and model of your car.

That's exactly the part of the article that I was referring to. Thanks for clearing up any misconceptions.

How many unnecessary stickers describing you or your family appear there. My favorite OpSec faux pas is the stencil cartoon of all family members along with their names and ages sharply detailed on the back window.

[Tactical_Texan_CHL]

Wow! I read the link to "Gecko45"! That is one sick dude!!! I hope I never end up in his mall! ROFL!!! As far as the OP. I think every day life and "opsec" have to share a very strange place. I actually thought about getting a 5.11 vest once. I told my brother the LEO, and he said sure, why don't you tell everyone you have a gun! But he does think the pants are a good choice, with fasion trends like they are now, it's pretty easy to get away with 5.11 pants and no body ever knows what they really are. It seems BDU pants and camo are all the rage these days. The 5.11 pants are really pretty comfortable, and carry well. I usually wear a fleece vest or pull over one size too big, with jeans, and sometimes a pair of the 5.11 pants. Warmer weather and shorts pretty much limit me to the KT P3AT in the front pocket.

With the current trend in identity theft, one really does have to be careful, but to what extent can we "be careful" and still live life? I'm sure Gabe is very good at what he does, as well as many others are. But choosing to carry as a civilian with a CCW/CHL, whatever your state calls it, doesn't call for the same measures as being a professional body guard or paramilitary type, of course, that's just my humble opinion. One of the reasons I've come to like this board is that there are so many of you on here that carry daily, and obviously live busy and full lives, and we can all learn alot from each others carry methods and experience. I know we have full time attorneys, preachers, accountants, engineers, and nurses just to name a few, and you guys have managed to tailor your carry method into your own personal style. I doubt any of us really live up to Gabe's views of what our "opsec" should be. Does that make us less responsible people or less responsible CHLers? I don't think so.

+1 with Flintknapper above. I agree whole heartedly!

[sf340b]

Generally speaking the average Joe may not have to worry about who is watching him and his family, but I am going to have to side with Gabe and Byron on this one-based on first hand experience.

I did some skip tracing a while back. All my customers wanted was their collateral back, in other words ONLY a legal effort is made to get information. Criminals are not worried about this part. It is VERY SCARY what someone can find out about you when armed with nothing but a name and a possible address.

The object of the game was to find them before they knew they were found. When they were found, you watch, tail as they left their garage, dropped off the kids, drove across town to work and left a choice piece of property unattended. These average Joe's had NO clue who or what was watching, for how long, why, or when "it" was going to go down.

It just pays (or in this case saves) to stay alert and attentive to details.

[bdickens]

I believe the point is not to be paranoid, but to watch what you might unwittingly reveal about yourself that a BG could use.

Criminals can be very observant and very good at making inferences about you based on bits of info gleaned from bumper stickers, legible clothing, overheard conversations, etc. They can then use those inferences to initiate conversations designed to distract you or to feel you out. Let's face it, if you're an animal lover, you are much more likely to stop and listen to someone talk about his dog. That's why I talked my wife out of getting the "Animal Friendly" licence plate.