146 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
146 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
How to set up and use a dead-letter box...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This article describes how deep-cover agents pass messages, documents, money,
|
|
weapons, and other material between each other without compromising their
|
|
security. Neither agent knows the identity of the other. Nor do the authorities
|
|
know what's going on.
|
|
|
|
The method described in this article has been used by foreign intelligence
|
|
agencies and underground groups to thwart the counterintelligence and
|
|
counterespionage sections of the FBI.
|
|
|
|
What is a DLB? DLB is an acronym for dead-letter box. It is also called a dead
|
|
drop. A DLB is a physical location where material is covertly placed for another
|
|
person to collect without direct contact between the parties.
|
|
|
|
Good locations for dead-letter boxes are nooks and crannies in public buildings,
|
|
niches in brick walls, in and around public trash receptacles, in and around
|
|
trees and shrubs, a third-party's mail box, between books in a public library,
|
|
inside the paper towel dispenser of restaurant washrooms, and so on. The key to
|
|
success is ingenuity. If the item being passed can be disguised as a discarded
|
|
candy wrapper or hidden inside a cigarette butt, etc., so much the better.
|
|
|
|
DLB Protocol. The method described in this article was originally devised and
|
|
perfected by the KGB for use in Britain and the USA during the cold war. But the
|
|
technique is so effective it's still in use today and is used by more than 30
|
|
intelligence agencies and underground groups worldwide.
|
|
|
|
When used by two people who have basic skills in countersurveillance, this
|
|
method will confound an FBI surveillance team as demonstrated by the FBI's inept
|
|
handling of the cases involving Aldrich Ames, Jonathan Pollard, and John Walker
|
|
Jr.
|
|
|
|
Tradecraft. You need to know three pieces of tradecraft to make this technique
|
|
work.
|
|
|
|
Trick #1 Pick a good site for your DLB. This means choosing a spot where you're
|
|
momentarily hidden from view while you pass by (and either load or empty the
|
|
box). It also means selecting a site that is easily accessible and in a public
|
|
location.
|
|
|
|
Trick #2 Use a separate set of sites to signal to your opposite number that
|
|
you're ready to place something in the DLB, or retrieve something from the DLB.
|
|
|
|
Trick #3 Use a foolproof signal that tells both parties that the material in the
|
|
site has been picked up. This guarantees that the first agent can go back and
|
|
recover the items if the second agent is unable to make the pickup for some
|
|
reason.
|
|
|
|
|
|
HINT: Be sure to use a ready-to-fill signal that can be easily seen by a lot of
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Step 1: The ready-to-fill signal...
|
|
|
|
Let's suppose that you need to deliver a document to your contact. The first
|
|
thing you do is transmit a "ready-to-fill" signal. You need to tell your contact
|
|
that you're ready to fill the DLB with your material.
|
|
|
|
For example, you might place a piece of chewing gum on a lamp post at a
|
|
pre-arranged location at a pre-arranged time (perhaps the second Tuesday of each
|
|
month at 1:30 pm).
|
|
|
|
The trick is in using signals that can be easily seen by a lot of people. This
|
|
means that your contact does not have to compromise his/her security while
|
|
reading your signal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
HINT: Don't fill the DLB until you see the ready-to-pickup acknowledgement.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Step 2: The ready-to-pickup signal...
|
|
|
|
When your contact sees the ready-to-fill signal, he/she will send a
|
|
ready-to-pickup signal. Again, this signal must be sent at a pre-arranged time
|
|
and location, say at 2:00 pm. It might be a chalk-mark on a traffic signpost or
|
|
back of a park bench.
|
|
|
|
When you see the ready-to-pickup acknowledgement, you must fill the DLB within
|
|
15 minutes (ie by 2:15 pm). After placing your materials in the DLB, you
|
|
immediately return and remove your ready-to-fill signal, thereby indicating to
|
|
your contact that the box is filled.
|
|
|
|
Hint: When you see the all-clear signal, you can leave the area. If you don't
|
|
see the signal, return to the DLB and remove the material.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Step 3: The all-clear signal...
|
|
|
|
Upon seeing that your ready-to-fill signal has been removed, your contact goes
|
|
to the DLB and retrieves the material that you've placed there for him/her. This
|
|
must be accomplished before a pre-arranged deadline, say 2:30 pm. Your contact
|
|
then returns and removes his/her ready-to-pickup signal, indicating that the box
|
|
has been emptied.
|
|
|
|
When you see this all-clear signal, you leave the area. However, if you don't
|
|
see the signal by a pre-arranged time, you return to the DLB and retrieve the
|
|
material in order to prevent it from falling into unauthorized hands.
|
|
|
|
This system of signals can be made even more secure by using positive
|
|
acknowledgement signals instead of simply removing existing signals, of course.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hint: Weave a number of fake DLBs into your routine on a daily, weekly, or
|
|
monthly basis.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Providing security for your DLB...
|
|
|
|
|
|
NOTE: The FBI does not want you to know this.
|
|
|
|
To maintain watertight security for your DLB, simply weave a number of fake
|
|
DLB locations into your routine on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Narrow
|
|
passageways between buildings, covered pathways in public parks, nearby
|
|
dumpsters behind restaurants... all these are ideal.
|
|
|
|
Simply make it a point to walk past these fake DLBs on a regular basis.
|
|
Remember, each DLB is located such that you'll be momentarily hidden from view
|
|
as you pass it. If you're under surveillance, the goons will go ballistic.
|
|
They'll need to place an agent at each suspected DLB at the precise moment you
|
|
walk by.
|
|
|
|
If you've chosen your sites carefully, there's no other way for the goons to
|
|
monitor these locations. If you have three or four fake DLBs that you regularly
|
|
walk past, you'll soon notice the telltale pattern of strangers who just happen
|
|
to be loitering nearby at the instant you're momentarily hidden from general
|
|
view. When this happens, you've detected the presence of a surveillance team.
|
|
Suspend your covert activities until the surveillance passes.
|
|
|
|
SURVIVAL TIP: Even if you're not using DLBs, it's a good idea to walk past fake
|
|
dead-letter boxes as a part of your weekly routine. I've caught more FBI
|
|
gumshoes than I can count with this one simple countersurveillance technique. To
|
|
date the FBI trainers have been unable to develop a defense against this
|
|
particular countersurveillance maneuver and you just haven't lived until you've
|
|
seen the facial expression of an FBI spook who suddenly realizes he's been made
|
|
by the target of the surveillance operation.
|
|
|
|
-original by: spy&counterspy, reformatting by: MRF
|