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Security Culture: A Handbook For Activists
Security Culture: A Handbook For Activists
Security Culture: A Handbook For Activists
A
gitators; liberationists;
abolitionists; union
organizers; Even if you have never picked
revolutionaries... From large up a monkeywrench or been
uprisings challenging the entire arrested for civil disobedience,
political structure, to isolated even if you think you have
environmental and social nothing to hide, these guidelines
struggles, people have always will enhance your personal
worked to create a better world. safety as well as the move-
For government the response ment’s overall effective-ness.
has usually been to jail activists Surveillance has been set up on
and revolutionaries through use all sections of political
of the courts and police forces. movements in the past.
5
SO WHAT IS A SECURITY Essentially, it is wrong to speak
about a specific individual's
CULTURE? involvement (past, present or
future) with illegal activities.
It’s a culture where the people These are unacceptable topics
know their rights and, more of discussion regardless of
importantly, assert them. Those whether it is rumor, speculation
who belong to a security culture or personal knowledge.
also know what behaviour
compromises security and they Please note: this is not to say
are quick to educate those that it is wrong to speak about
people who, out of ignorance, direct action in general terms. It
forgetfulness, or personal is perfectly legal, secure and
weakness, partake in insecure desirable that people speak out
behaviour. This security con- in support of mokeywrenching
sciousness becomes a culture and all forms of resistance. The
when the group as a whole danger lies in linking individual
makes security violations activists to specific actions or
socially unacceptable in the groups.
group.
THREE EXCEPTIONS
WHAT NOT TO SAY
There are only three times that it
To begin with, there are certain is acceptable to speak
things that are inappropriate to specifically about actions and
discuss. These things include: involvements.
6
The second exception occures to talk after being harassed and
after an activist has been intimidated by the authorities,
arrested and brought to trial. If because they are not the ones
she is found guilty, this activist who will go to jail. Even those
can freely speak of the actions people who are trustworthy can
for which she was convicted. often be tricked by the
However, she must never give authorities into revealing
information that would help the damaging and incriminating
authorities determine who else information. It is safest for all
participated in illegal activities. cell members to keep their
involvement in the group
The third exception is for anony- amongst themselves. The fewer
mous letters and interviews with people who know, the less
the media. This must be done evidence there is in the long
very carefully and without run.
compromising security. Advice
on secure communication
techniques can be found in SECURITY VIOLATING
other publications.
BEHAVIOURS
These are the only situations
when it is appropriate to speak In an attempt to impress others,
about your own or someone activists may behave in ways
else's involvement or intent to that compromise security. Some
commit illegal direct action. people do this frequently - they
are habitually gossiping and
bragging. Some activists say
SECURITY MEASURES inappropriate things only when
they consume alcohol. Many
Veteran activists only allow a activists make occasional
select few to know about their breeches of security because
involvement with direct action there was a momentary
groups. Those few consist of the temptation to say something or
cell members who they do the hint at something that shouldn’t
actions with AND NO ONE have been said or implied. In
ELSE! most every situation, the desire
to be accepted is the root
The reason for these security cause.
precautions is quite obvious: if
people don't know anything, Those people who tend to be
they can't talk about it. It also the greatest security risks are
means that only the people who those activists who have low
know the secret can also face self-esteem and strongly desire
jail time if the secret gets out. the approval of their peers.
When activists who do not share Certainly it is natural to seek
the same serious consequences friendship and recognition for
know who did an illegal direct our efforts, but it is imperative
action, they are far more likely that we keep these selfish
desires in-check so we do not
7
jeopardize the safety of other Indirect-Bragging: Indirect-
activists or ourselves. People braggers are people who make
who place their desire for a big production on how they
friendship over the importance want to remain anonymous,
of the cause can do serious avoid protests, and stay
damage to our security. "underground." They might not
come out and say that they do
illegal direct action, but they
The following are examples of make sure everyone within ear-
security-violating behaviours: shot knows they are up to
something. They are no better
Lying: To impress others, liars than braggers, but they try to be
claim to have done illegal more sophisticated about it by
actions. Such lies not only pretending to maintain security.
compromise the person's However, if they were serious
security--as cops will not take about security, they would just
what is said as a lie--but also make up a good excuse as to
hinders movement solidarity and why they are not as active, or
trust. why they can't make it to the
protest (that kind of lying is
Gossiping: Some weak acceptable).
characters think they can win
friends because they are privy
to special information. These
gossips will tell others about EDUCATE TO LIBERATE
who did what action or, if they
don't know who did it, guess at It is fairly easy to spot those
who they think did what actions activists who compromise our
or just spread rumors about who movement’s security. So what
did it. This sort of talk is very do we do with people who
damaging. People need to exhibit these behaviours? Do
remember that rumors are all we excommunicate them from
that are needed to instigate a our movement? Actually, no--at
grand jury or other investigation. least, not for a first offense.
11
of our growing movements. One been doing illegally. At the
of the key aims of COINTEL- operations level, the new
PRO operations against the agency was granted more
Black Panthers and American freedom and more leeway than
Indian Movement was to spread the Mounties ever had.
paranoia and distrust among
those freedom fighters so that Today they continue to carry out
they would find it hard to accept a wide range of surveillance. As
new people into their work. they are not a law-enforcement
agency and therefore their
It is possible to build a move- evidence is not used in court,
ment large and at the same time there is nothing stopping them
create security culture. Arming from contravening the few
ourselves with knowledge about regulations that exist regarding
how the system works against privacy rights. For example,
activists is the first step to CSIS is not required to inform
creating that culture. The central people, as the RCMP does,
aim of this article is to give a ninety days after they have
brief run-down of how domestic been wiretapped or bugged.
intelligence works in Canada so
that we can better understand Agents working for CSIS are
how to avoid its traps. allowed, with "authorization", to
enter people's homes to plant
bugs, wiretap phones, open mail
AN OVERVIEW OF and look into health, employ-
DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE ment and government records
without ever having to tell a
ORGANIZATIONS targeted individual what they are
doing. The information that they
The Canadian Security and gather is used to build profiles
Intelligence Service (CSIS) is and dossiers (files) on individu-
probably the best known of the als, organizations, networks,
"security" agencies that deal etc. The information that they
with activist "threats". They were gather is often passed on to
originally a special surveillance other wings of the federal
wing of the RCMP until 1983 security system who are respon-
when they were split off into a sible for "law-enforcement", and
separate agency due to protests will then obtain whatever war-
that they were acting as a secret rants are necessary for legal
organization that was contra- surveillance (to be brought into
vening Canadians' democratic court as evidence).
rights to organize. Essentially,
the split from the RCMP allowed The National Security Investiga-
the new spy agency to do tion Service (NSIS) is the
legally what the Mounties had primary law-enforcement wing
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of domestic security. The NSIS against several Vancouver
is a section of the Royal Cana- activists. During the Vancouver
dian Mounted Police (RCMP). investigation, house and vehicle
Most cities across Canada have bugs were located by some
an NSIS office including Van- targeted individuals. The bugs
couver, Edmonton, Montreal, had large battery packs at-
Ottawa, and Toronto. The NSIS tached to facilitate less frequent
maintains a computer database battery changes. The NSIS also
on activists, immigrants and so visited several activists across
called "terrorists" which is Canada in an attempt to ques-
housed in Ottawa. tion them regarding the individu-
als under investigation.
It is believed that the Vancouver
NSIS employs between 12 and It cannot be stressed enough
18 members. Within NSIS there that no one is under any legal
are several sub-groups called obligation to provide the police
Team 1, Team 2, Team 3 - etc. with any information other than
that have different investigative one's own name and address.
targets. That is it. Saying anything more
jeopardizes individuals' and
They employ informants, infiltra- movement security. Even
tors, personal physical surveil- answering seemingly insignifi-
lance, electronic surveillance cant questions can assist the
including phone and room police in developing personality
"bugs" and other means of profiles on a range of activists
investigation and research. which may not contain "evi-
dence" but may instead be used
The RCMP/NSIS also have to give police “leads” on other
other resources at their disposal suspects and to construct intent
during counter-insurgency during legal proceedings. The
operations. "Special O" is a only principled response to
team of surveillance specialists police questioning is to say
that may be called upon. "Spe- nothing more than name and
cial I" is a penetration team address.
whose specialty is to break into
homes, vehicles and other The Communications Security
properties for investigative Establishment is an agency of
purposes. They are the team, the defence department which
which among other things, has been long clouded in
installs listening devices, photo- secrecy. They collect and
graphs building interiors, etc. process telephone, fax and
computer communications of
In a long-running case based in foreign states, corporations and
Vancouver, all of these methods individuals. The federal govern-
of surveillance were used ment uses the intelligence
13
gleaned from the data to sup- - and they often appear in
port troops abroad, catch crowds as “fellow demonstra-
“terrorists” and “further Cana- tors”.
da's economic goals” (and what
that means is up to them).
THE COUNTER-
Although the CSE is not techni- INSURGENCY MODEL
cally allowed to collect the
communications of Canadian Most Western nation-states
citizens, it is known to be a follow a model of counter-
partner in the Echelon project - insurgency developed by a
a multinational monitoring British intelligence expert named
operation which sees CSE and Kitson who wrote, Low Intensity
counterpart agencies in the Operations, after much field
United States, Britain, Australia work in the colonies. He broke
and New Zealand share inter- down movement development
cepted communications of into three stages:
interest with one another,
effectively creating a global The Preparatory Phase: is
surveillance web. when the movement is small,
tends to focus on education,
The Terrorist Extremist Section publishing and groundwork.
(TES Unit) is British Columbia's
anti-terrorist unit. A joint Vancou- The Non-Violent Phase: is
ver/Victoria Police Department/ when the movement takes on
RCMP unit called the Organized more of a mass character. Large
Crime Agency (formerly the demonstrations are the norm.
Coordinated Law Enforcement
Unit - CLEU), it is believed that In the Insurgency Phase: the
the this unit employs two or movement has taken on a
three members only. popular character. Perhaps a
more assertive, guerrilla compo-
Most activists will be initimately nent has emerged.
familiar with their local police
forces. Be aware that cops do Kitson advises that the primary
not only show up in blue uni- work of the intelligence agency
forms - but routinely practice should occur during the prepara-
crowd infiltration and carry out tory phase. At this time the
surveillance and investigative movements are most vulnerable.
activities either alone or jointly They have not experienced a
with the RCMP depending on high degree of repression. They
the type of case. Watch for them consider talk of security as mere
on demonstrations - as they like paranoia. As they are not break-
to come along and take photo- ing laws they believe that it is
graphs and video for the record
14
safe to organize completely
openly. The intelligence agency
is therefore able to exploit these
conditions and develop detailed
dossiers on a wide range of
people. The information will be
extremely valuable to them later
on.
15
16
everything you ever wanted to know
about informers and
infiltrators
17
questions about the direct action Any activist who can't under-
groups, individuals and illegal stand the need for security is
activities. S/he will suggest someone that should be held at
targets and volunteer to do arm’s length from the move-
reconnaissance as well as take ment.
part in the action.
Placing infiltrators into social
An example of infiltration tactics justice movements isn't anything
can be found in an incident that new. It was done to the Black
occured a few years ago when Panthers and the peace move-
U.S. Surgical hired a security ment in a big way. Unless you
firm to infiltrate Friends of are only working with people
Animals in Connecticut. Their you've known for years and who
operative convinced an activist have earned your trust, you
to put a pipe bomb in the car of should assume there is an
the president of U.S. Surgical. informant in your midst and act
Needless to say, the police were accordingly.
waiting for her and she ended
up being charged with at- This doesn't mean that no one
tempted murder. else should ever be allowed into
the "inner circle." On the con-
State and industry infiltrators trary, if our movement is to
have been identified in opera- continue to grow, we must
tion in British Columbia over the always be recruiting new mem-
past few years - attempting to bers; we just need to keep
incite illegal activity, sowing security uppermost in our minds
disruption in action camps, and and exercise caution at all
gathering information on the times.
who, what and when of our
movement’s activities Possibly an even greater threat
is the activist-turned-informer,
Everyone who asks a lot of either unwittingly or through
questions about the direct action coercion.
isn't necessarily an infiltrator,
but they ARE the ones to watch The unwitting informer is the
(at the very least, we should be activist who can't keep his/her
educating them about security mouth shut. If someone brags to
culture). Explain to new activists you about what s/he's done,
that direct action tactics can be make sure this person never
risky (though some risks are has any knowledge that can
worth taking!) and that it is incriminate you, because sooner
dangerous to ask a lot of ques- or later, the wrong person will
tions about it. If the person hear of it. These activists don't
persists in asking questions, mean to do harm, but the results
STAY AWAY FROM THEM! of their bragging can be serious.
18
It is your responsibility to in- criminal records and drug
struct these people on security addictions which can often be
culture and the importance of it. used by the police to pressure
activists into giving them infor-
The other type of activist- mation. Two activists were
informer is person who cracks recently put in jail in Canada
under pressure and starts because a third party panicked -
talking to save his/her own skin. mainly about not being able to
Many activists get drawn into get his drugs in jail - and talked
situations they are not able to to free himself. (This is not to
handle, and some are so caught condemn those who have drug
up in the "excitement" that they habits or criminal records - but
either don't realize what the are certainly things to keep in
consequences can be or they mind).
just don't think they'll ever have
to face them. Don't be afraid to talk about this.
Ask hard questions, and if you
We have to know the possible aren't convinced that someone
consequences of every action will be able to stay strong if the
we take and be prepared to deal worst happens, then designate
with them. Someone who is that person to do support. Make
easily influenced by his/her sure that those who go into
parents or dependent on them battle with you are willing and
for support is not a good candi- able to take whatever comes,
date for actions as they can be even if it means giving up their
persuaded too easily to cooper- freedom for your goals.
ate with the authorities. There is
no shame in not being able to Remember - there is no excuse
do an action because of respon- for turning in action comrades to
sibilities that make it impossible the police - and those activists
to do jail time. If others are that do effectively excommuni-
depending on you for support or cate themselves from our
you aren't willing to lose your movements. We must offer no
job or drop out of school, DON'T legal or jail support to those
DO THE ACTION. activists who turn-in others for
their impact on our movement is
Make certain that others in your far-reaching and can have
affinity group are not in situa- devastating effects.
tions which may cause them to
cooperate with the police or
abandon their friends.