🧵 Intelligence and Networking for Preppers – An Introduction
In 1624 English poet John Donne penned his most famous work that opened with the phrase, “No man is an island, entire of itself.” This phrase has echoed throughout the ages as a reminder that humans are social creatures and that we always have been. From the days of the cave where our community was maybe 20 people total through to the megalopolises of today. While we cannot reasonably be connected to everyone, the prepper mentality of late reflects the overall social isolation that has been growing in western society over the last 50 years or so. Unfortunately, in an emergency situation, without a network, the prepper is alone with just themselves and their family, isolated from possible assistance from others and isolated from potentially lifesaving information. History has shown that the groups who have thrived under trying times were those who already had networks.
Intelligence and its Application:
What Even is Intelligence?
Intelligence often conjures up ideas of either smoky rooms where clandestine rebels are stealing plans from an oppressive regime or of a pentagon room full of computers all displaying satellite imagery and radio traffic from an area. While those aren’t outside of the purview of intelligence, in this context we are going to define it for prepping and general preparedness.
Intelligence in this case is a word that represents information that is relevant to the prepper both before and after the disaster. It is a tool of foresight, identifying potential threats, locations of strategic resources like bodies of water, and noticing potential opportunities such as where it could be safe to stash an items cache based on knowledge of local traffic.
Intelligence collection and interpretation follows a model known as the “Intelligence Cycle,” where a five-step process is followed to ensure that intelligence is being properly identified, collected, and analyzed. The steps are:
1. Planning and Direction: The actual goal is set. What are we planning to understand better? Why? How? Where? Who? Once the goal is determined, the plan to collect the data is set.
2. Collection: The information is collected either overtly or covertly depending on the situation. This could vary from simply walking to a position in the woods and checking for signs of recent human activity to using google earth to identify areas with possible water sources and then going there in person. The mission ultimately dictates the secrecy, caution, and overall pace of the collection step.
3. Processing: The information that was collected is gathered and disseminated to the analysts in the form of a report. This could be as simple as a few text messages to being an entire dossier containing the actions of a group over the course of a month.
4. Analysis: The analyst or analysists are now tasked with interpreting the information they have. The information is processed under the original plan and direction. They assess what the information is, why or what it is, and what may or may not happen next. For example, if they are determining local bodies of water that could serve as good locations to gather from, they might consider nearby populations, nearby environmental hazards such as factories or farms.
5. Dissemination: Following analysis, the information is spread to the group. The process begins again.
For greater information on the intelligence cycle I recommend going watching @s2_underground’s video on it.
Applications.
Instead of creating an exhaustive list covering every permutation of how this process can be used for preppers, a better learning tool would be to show historical examples of groups that have employed the intelligence cycle during disasters and survival situations to assist themselves or others.
In 2005 and 2017, the Cajun Navy, a network of volunteer boat owners and rescuers, coordinated their own rescue operations after official response efforts were slow and overwhelmed. They utilized decentralized and crowdsourced intelligence via social media, radio chatter, and eyewitness accounts to determine where people were in the most need of rescue, flooded zones, and routes that they could take. They made use of ad hoc communication channels to coordinate rescues. The Cajun Navy showcases the strength of informal and flexible intelligence networks when operating as a public facing entity.
During the Great Depression in the United States during the 1930s, homeless men who travelled illegal over railways used the “hobo code” and word of mouth as an informal but high useful intelligence network to survive. The hobo codes were symbols drawn on different locations such as fences, sidewalks, and barns that let other hobos know where there was work opportunities, safety from the elements, friendly people, and threats. Despite being low tech, it allowed hobos to share information widely and greatly assisted those navigating the economic meltdown.
Finally, I want to cover the improvised supply chains that were created after the 2010 Haitian earthquake. For context, the impoverished island nation was rocked by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake that effectively levelled the island’s subpar infrastructure. Following the disaster, local communities began to create informal informational networks after the government systems collapsed. Community leaders and radio operators acted as intelligence hubs, collecting and relaying intelligence to rescuers and locals. They formed supply chain networks to transport food and medicine, and shared intelligence on functioning water sources and road conditions. The informal network vastly outperformed the government’s systems and because of their work, many lives were saved.
These three examples all highlight one central idea, that intelligence networks are not just for warfighting and insurgencies. They can be lifesaving tools in natural disaster, system failures, and economic collapses. They can be spontaneous and short lived or they can become an informal institution unto themselves during longer emergencies. By being decentralized and adaptable they are able to overcome the chaos of their environments and provide vital information to their networks.
Building an Intelligence Network Before a Crisis:
Purpose of the Network.
Before actually building the network, the network should be defined and it’s core objectives understood. 5 guys can’t realistically operate as their own miniature CIA where they have free reign to do basically anything. It just isn’t possible. Without focus, the network will become a chaotic and unstructured liability that consumes more resources than it is producing. Examples of purposes include but are not limited to:
Early warning systems that watch for potential threats such as civil unrest or natural disasters.
Resource coordination where intelligence on available supplies, aid, and safe areas are shared.
Community security and surveillance programs that monitor local activity to prevent infiltration, looting, or governmental overreach.
Communications continuity missions where information is kept accessible and open even if internet and cell towers go down.
A network can operate with more than just one mission but avoiding mission creep should be kept in mind to prevent overwork and failure, particularly when teams are smaller. The focus should be something realistically attainable for the group based on their equipment, personnel, and skills.
Personnel considerations.
When building a network before crises arise, one needs to determine who would be best for recruitment. Searching for people with skills relevant to the purpose of the network is a perfect first step. Obviously, this is unique to the purpose of the network but some general examples include: 911 dispatchers, radio enthusiasts, former or current military/law enforcement/first responders, engineers, mechanical minded people, logistics experts, or those willing to learn the skills needed to perform the tasks needed.
Aside from skills, people who can act as intelligence nodes also ideal candidates, these include farmers, truck drivers, business owners, clergy, anyone who interfaces with the public on a regular basis or is in a strategic location that is being studied regularly.
Unfortunately, there are also people who should be avoided, particularly if the operational plan of the network is one relating to security. People who overshare or cannot be trusted to stay quiet about sensitive information should ideally be not brought on board or kept in a position where they have little to no access to information that could compromise others. Ideologues and hotheads can also attract unnecessary problems from outside groups such as competing factions or even governmental assets. For example, you probably wouldn’t want the head of the Crips gang working with you during a time of social unrest otherwise your guys could be targets for rival gangs. Finally, avoiding anyone with a history of betrayal or erratic behavior. The list certainly can go on but for the purpose of establishing a baseline understanding, this is a good starting point.
Intelligence Sources to Develop Pre-Emergency
Prior to everything going to hell because of a freak weather cell or the total collapse of civilization as we know it, the intelligence network should have sources of intelligence for the intelligence network to actually process with the intelligence cycle (say that five times fast)! While this is not going to cover every type of intelligence, the average group of preppers probably won’t have a need or access to GEOINT and MASINT. Instead, the big 4 that any intelligence network should have an understand and ideally sources of are HUMINT, SIGINT, Area Study and OSINT.
HUMINT is short for human intelligence, this is information that is gathered from well, humans! Locals sharing news, informants in government keeping you in the loop on their inner workings or worries, observation skills and elicitation of information from targets. While not most intelligence networks won’t really need to employ every intelligence tradecraft technique for HUMINT (which I have written quite a bit about!), they should be aware of what it is and either begin planting seeds to gather information from later or where and how to do it when the need arises.
SIGINT on the other hand is signals intelligence. Generally, in the case of preppers this will be focused on primarily radio related communications. Monitoring of local police and EMS scanners, listening to nearby radio repeaters, and possibly even sharing intelligence with those groups if need be. SIGINT is focused also on securing communications, while this probably isn’t going to be an issue for many groups, if there is concern of eavesdroppers and ne’er-do-wells, the team must develop radio plans to avoid this as much as possible (see @brushbeater’s book “The Guerrilla’s Guide to the Baofeng Radio” for an excellent lesson on this).
OSINT is the tracking of intelligence that is open sourced and easily found. This includes tracking economic, political, and environmental indications of chaos as well as keeping and ear to ground on social media to see what various groups are up to or taking the general temperature of the area. For example, if Minneapolis has a riot, use of Twitter, and YouTube by the intelligence team to track and follow movements of crowds can be gamechangers for those who are trying to get out of the area and don’t want to end up like Reginald Denny.
Finally there is area study. Area study is a systematic analysis of a specific region or community taking into account the factors of history and politics, economic supply chains, security and crime patterns, communications and rumor networks, and cultural norms and social structures. To really get a solid understand I highly recommend @grayzoneintel’s book “The Area Intelligence Handbook.”
With a solid understanding of these sources of intelligence, the intelligence network can more source and process much greater amounts of high quality intelligence that can benefit the members of the network and/or the community they are serving.
Closing thoughts.
Intelligence is a massive force multiplier for preppers. Instead of relying on yourself and your immediate family, through the creation of an informational network, a prepper is now in contact with others they can assist or be assisted by as well as gaining a profound amount of information about their area, the situation they are in, and how they can either be helped or help others.
“No man is an island, Entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main.”
-John Donne
Act Accordingly.
In 1624 English poet John Donne penned his most famous work that opened with the phrase, “No man is an island, entire of itself.” This phrase has echoed throughout the ages as a reminder that humans are social creatures and that we always have been. From the days of the cave where our community was maybe 20 people total through to the megalopolises of today. While we cannot reasonably be connected to everyone, the prepper mentality of late reflects the overall social isolation that has been growing in western society over the last 50 years or so. Unfortunately, in an emergency situation, without a network, the prepper is alone with just themselves and their family, isolated from possible assistance from others and isolated from potentially lifesaving information. History has shown that the groups who have thrived under trying times were those who already had networks.
Intelligence and its Application:
What Even is Intelligence?
Intelligence often conjures up ideas of either smoky rooms where clandestine rebels are stealing plans from an oppressive regime or of a pentagon room full of computers all displaying satellite imagery and radio traffic from an area. While those aren’t outside of the purview of intelligence, in this context we are going to define it for prepping and general preparedness.
Intelligence in this case is a word that represents information that is relevant to the prepper both before and after the disaster. It is a tool of foresight, identifying potential threats, locations of strategic resources like bodies of water, and noticing potential opportunities such as where it could be safe to stash an items cache based on knowledge of local traffic.
Intelligence collection and interpretation follows a model known as the “Intelligence Cycle,” where a five-step process is followed to ensure that intelligence is being properly identified, collected, and analyzed. The steps are:
1. Planning and Direction: The actual goal is set. What are we planning to understand better? Why? How? Where? Who? Once the goal is determined, the plan to collect the data is set.
2. Collection: The information is collected either overtly or covertly depending on the situation. This could vary from simply walking to a position in the woods and checking for signs of recent human activity to using google earth to identify areas with possible water sources and then going there in person. The mission ultimately dictates the secrecy, caution, and overall pace of the collection step.
3. Processing: The information that was collected is gathered and disseminated to the analysts in the form of a report. This could be as simple as a few text messages to being an entire dossier containing the actions of a group over the course of a month.
4. Analysis: The analyst or analysists are now tasked with interpreting the information they have. The information is processed under the original plan and direction. They assess what the information is, why or what it is, and what may or may not happen next. For example, if they are determining local bodies of water that could serve as good locations to gather from, they might consider nearby populations, nearby environmental hazards such as factories or farms.
5. Dissemination: Following analysis, the information is spread to the group. The process begins again.
For greater information on the intelligence cycle I recommend going watching @s2_underground’s video on it.
Applications.
Instead of creating an exhaustive list covering every permutation of how this process can be used for preppers, a better learning tool would be to show historical examples of groups that have employed the intelligence cycle during disasters and survival situations to assist themselves or others.
In 2005 and 2017, the Cajun Navy, a network of volunteer boat owners and rescuers, coordinated their own rescue operations after official response efforts were slow and overwhelmed. They utilized decentralized and crowdsourced intelligence via social media, radio chatter, and eyewitness accounts to determine where people were in the most need of rescue, flooded zones, and routes that they could take. They made use of ad hoc communication channels to coordinate rescues. The Cajun Navy showcases the strength of informal and flexible intelligence networks when operating as a public facing entity.
During the Great Depression in the United States during the 1930s, homeless men who travelled illegal over railways used the “hobo code” and word of mouth as an informal but high useful intelligence network to survive. The hobo codes were symbols drawn on different locations such as fences, sidewalks, and barns that let other hobos know where there was work opportunities, safety from the elements, friendly people, and threats. Despite being low tech, it allowed hobos to share information widely and greatly assisted those navigating the economic meltdown.
Finally, I want to cover the improvised supply chains that were created after the 2010 Haitian earthquake. For context, the impoverished island nation was rocked by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake that effectively levelled the island’s subpar infrastructure. Following the disaster, local communities began to create informal informational networks after the government systems collapsed. Community leaders and radio operators acted as intelligence hubs, collecting and relaying intelligence to rescuers and locals. They formed supply chain networks to transport food and medicine, and shared intelligence on functioning water sources and road conditions. The informal network vastly outperformed the government’s systems and because of their work, many lives were saved.
These three examples all highlight one central idea, that intelligence networks are not just for warfighting and insurgencies. They can be lifesaving tools in natural disaster, system failures, and economic collapses. They can be spontaneous and short lived or they can become an informal institution unto themselves during longer emergencies. By being decentralized and adaptable they are able to overcome the chaos of their environments and provide vital information to their networks.
Building an Intelligence Network Before a Crisis:
Purpose of the Network.
Before actually building the network, the network should be defined and it’s core objectives understood. 5 guys can’t realistically operate as their own miniature CIA where they have free reign to do basically anything. It just isn’t possible. Without focus, the network will become a chaotic and unstructured liability that consumes more resources than it is producing. Examples of purposes include but are not limited to:
Early warning systems that watch for potential threats such as civil unrest or natural disasters.
Resource coordination where intelligence on available supplies, aid, and safe areas are shared.
Community security and surveillance programs that monitor local activity to prevent infiltration, looting, or governmental overreach.
Communications continuity missions where information is kept accessible and open even if internet and cell towers go down.
A network can operate with more than just one mission but avoiding mission creep should be kept in mind to prevent overwork and failure, particularly when teams are smaller. The focus should be something realistically attainable for the group based on their equipment, personnel, and skills.
Personnel considerations.
When building a network before crises arise, one needs to determine who would be best for recruitment. Searching for people with skills relevant to the purpose of the network is a perfect first step. Obviously, this is unique to the purpose of the network but some general examples include: 911 dispatchers, radio enthusiasts, former or current military/law enforcement/first responders, engineers, mechanical minded people, logistics experts, or those willing to learn the skills needed to perform the tasks needed.
Aside from skills, people who can act as intelligence nodes also ideal candidates, these include farmers, truck drivers, business owners, clergy, anyone who interfaces with the public on a regular basis or is in a strategic location that is being studied regularly.
Unfortunately, there are also people who should be avoided, particularly if the operational plan of the network is one relating to security. People who overshare or cannot be trusted to stay quiet about sensitive information should ideally be not brought on board or kept in a position where they have little to no access to information that could compromise others. Ideologues and hotheads can also attract unnecessary problems from outside groups such as competing factions or even governmental assets. For example, you probably wouldn’t want the head of the Crips gang working with you during a time of social unrest otherwise your guys could be targets for rival gangs. Finally, avoiding anyone with a history of betrayal or erratic behavior. The list certainly can go on but for the purpose of establishing a baseline understanding, this is a good starting point.
Intelligence Sources to Develop Pre-Emergency
Prior to everything going to hell because of a freak weather cell or the total collapse of civilization as we know it, the intelligence network should have sources of intelligence for the intelligence network to actually process with the intelligence cycle (say that five times fast)! While this is not going to cover every type of intelligence, the average group of preppers probably won’t have a need or access to GEOINT and MASINT. Instead, the big 4 that any intelligence network should have an understand and ideally sources of are HUMINT, SIGINT, Area Study and OSINT.
HUMINT is short for human intelligence, this is information that is gathered from well, humans! Locals sharing news, informants in government keeping you in the loop on their inner workings or worries, observation skills and elicitation of information from targets. While not most intelligence networks won’t really need to employ every intelligence tradecraft technique for HUMINT (which I have written quite a bit about!), they should be aware of what it is and either begin planting seeds to gather information from later or where and how to do it when the need arises.
SIGINT on the other hand is signals intelligence. Generally, in the case of preppers this will be focused on primarily radio related communications. Monitoring of local police and EMS scanners, listening to nearby radio repeaters, and possibly even sharing intelligence with those groups if need be. SIGINT is focused also on securing communications, while this probably isn’t going to be an issue for many groups, if there is concern of eavesdroppers and ne’er-do-wells, the team must develop radio plans to avoid this as much as possible (see @brushbeater’s book “The Guerrilla’s Guide to the Baofeng Radio” for an excellent lesson on this).
OSINT is the tracking of intelligence that is open sourced and easily found. This includes tracking economic, political, and environmental indications of chaos as well as keeping and ear to ground on social media to see what various groups are up to or taking the general temperature of the area. For example, if Minneapolis has a riot, use of Twitter, and YouTube by the intelligence team to track and follow movements of crowds can be gamechangers for those who are trying to get out of the area and don’t want to end up like Reginald Denny.
Finally there is area study. Area study is a systematic analysis of a specific region or community taking into account the factors of history and politics, economic supply chains, security and crime patterns, communications and rumor networks, and cultural norms and social structures. To really get a solid understand I highly recommend @grayzoneintel’s book “The Area Intelligence Handbook.”
With a solid understanding of these sources of intelligence, the intelligence network can more source and process much greater amounts of high quality intelligence that can benefit the members of the network and/or the community they are serving.
Closing thoughts.
Intelligence is a massive force multiplier for preppers. Instead of relying on yourself and your immediate family, through the creation of an informational network, a prepper is now in contact with others they can assist or be assisted by as well as gaining a profound amount of information about their area, the situation they are in, and how they can either be helped or help others.
“No man is an island, Entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main.”
-John Donne
Act Accordingly.
Thanks for checking this article out, I really appreciate it! I am super de-boosted in the X algorithm due to the topics I write on so interactions with the post (likes, comments, RTs) mean a lot to me! Feel free to follow me, I try to release a full length article every week! The highlights tab in my profile features nearly 90 full length and free articles on many different topics including: tactics, prepping, historical lessons, philosophy, intelligence tradecraft, and more! Also check out my first two books on Amazon that cover an introduction to prepping in general and medical prepping! t.co/FenLlmmpmF
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
