Militia Training: Operation WitWeb

Copyright (C) 1995 Constitution Society. Permission is granted to

copy with attribution for noncommercial purposes.



Preparing for last war



     Most of the kinds of tactical training that militia units

across the country have been doing have been focused on the

tactical situations found in conventional or counterinsurgency

warfare. And most of the alert systems that have been set up

depend on telephone communications. While such exercises have

some merit, they neglect the kinds of scenarios that we are more

likely to face.  This document describes in a general way a

different kind of exercise designed to prepare militiamen for

more likely scenarios, emphasizing reconnaissance, intelligence,

and insurgency methods.

     We call this kind of exercise WitWeb because it sets up a

webwork of witnesses. Think of ourselves as a spider, spinning of

web to catch some flies. In this case, the flies are corrupt or

abusive officials or other criminals.  Our objective is to gather

and distribute evidence, protect witnesses, investigators, and

other innocent persons, and bring the perpetrators to justice.



Elements of Operation WitWeb



     (1) The operation should take place over a definite period

of time, such as from Friday to Sunday evening.

     (2) Participants would operate singly or in teams of not

more than three persons.

     (3) Each participant would initially receive an assignment

to go to a specified location at a specified time.

     (4) At each location he would either perform some action and

go to another location, pick up further instructions from a dead

drop, or rendezvous with another participant, exchange

recognition signs, and exchange items or further instructions.

     (5) Each participant would hit multiple locations during the

course of the exercise, and would log the travel times,

distances, and any other pertinent information about each leg of

the journey.

     (6) At the end, each participant would report to a task

leader, who would receive his report and any items he was to

deliver.

     (6) One of the activities would be to reconnoiter a target

site, find an observation point from which it could be

surreptitiously observed, if any, and if found, describe the

observation point to another participant, who would attempt to

observe from that site for some period of time, while a third

participant would observe his observation to determine how well

he was concealing his observation.

     (7) Another activity would be to videotape a target, with

the date/time record feature on, then rapidly exchange the good

tape for a blank and hand off the good tape to one or more

couriers who would escape the scene rapidly and in different

directions, deliver the tape to a location where it would be

duplicated, then execute a simulated delivery of the duplicates

to key persons, to hiding sites, or to media contacts.

     (8) Among the observation targets would be the homes of

activists, the homes of straight government agents who might be

the targets of actions intended to discredit the militia,

mobilization points of enemy forces, or other locations at which

some event of interest seems likely to occur.

     (9) Each participant would have a way to alert the others in

the event of trouble at a site requiring either convergence or

dispersal, indicating whether convergence should be equipped to

observe or to take protective actions.

     (10) One activity would be to simply spread an alert message

to all the militiamen in the area as rapidly as possible without

using electronic media. The methods could include voice relay,

coded written messages, or hand or light signals.

     (11) Another activity would be to code and/or decode

messages as rapidly as possible, using both technical implements,

such as computers, and non-technical, such as one-time written

keys.

     (12) The exercise might be supplemented by recruiting

persons who regularly live and work in the target areas to be

alert and prepared to observe, preferably with video cameras, in

which case they would be provided with a way to alert the militia

to come pick up the video tape as soon as possible after it was

taken, and provide a blank tape as a replacement.

     (13) The list of observation targets would be continually

revised and expanded, and observations made on a random basis, so

that no one, not even most of the militiamen, could be sure when

any given observation might be made, but also so that no one

could be sure that any given target would not be observed during

any given period of time.

     (14) Video cameras would be supplemented with still cameras

using high-resolution film, to get detail that video can't.

     (15) Observers would make lists of relevant things in the

area, such as vehicles and their license plates, so that

statistics could be compiled and parties of interest identified.

Of particular interest would be unassigned license numbers.

     (16) One activity would be to collect trash from important

sites for analysis.

     (17) One type of target would be storage sites and vehicles

transporting illegal drugs or other dangerous contraband, with

special emphasis on identifying official involvement, so that

when reported to authorities the militia would not be reporting

it to the same authorities involved in making the shipments.

     (18) One type of activity might be the actual interception

of drug shipments, combined with the destruction of most of the

drugs so that they could not be diverted by officials back onto

the street, but leaving enough for use as evidence in court.

     (19) Another type of activity might be the observation, in

relays, of the movement of election ballots, from initial

production to final counting, to identify election fraud. This

might involve the use of hidden cameras, including the

transmission of video to a receiver who could preserve the

evidence in case the on-site observer got caught with the camera.

     (20) Lacking more dramatic targets, participants might

practice observing lesser instances of malfeasance, such as

noncompliance with legal or contractual standards for

construction, environmental protection, medical procedures, or

other activities which are liable to occur in the absence of

witnesses.



Working with other resources



     These exercises are likely to turn into serious operations

involving real corruption and abuse. Therefore, it is important

to line up other resources that may be important:

     (1) Straight law enforcement agents. But contact should

probably be with individuals rather than with departments, which

may contain dirty agents.

     (2) Straight reporters. Again, contact should be with

individuals who have proven their willingness to take personal

risks to expose the truth.

     (3) Straight elected officials. In most cases, the  official

himself may be too busy, but one should be in contact with a key

staff person.

     (4) Media messaging systems. One should prepare in advance

to disseminate important information to the media generally,

especially key persons with talk radio and TV stations,

newspapers, and mudraking magazines. This should include a

computer set up to email or fax to multiple targets. Messages

should always be directed to specific individuals, with a backup

if the first one is out.



Things to keep in mind



     (1) Participants in this exercise should remain as

inconspicuous as possible.

     (2) Participants should remain mobile so that they do not

themselves become easy targets for attack or apprehension.

     (3) There should be preparations for any participant who

learns "too much" to go underground while preserving the

evidence, with everything needed, such as money, ID, a cellular

phone or ham radio, a vehicle with plates not linked to him, or

disguises, to remain underground for an extended period of time,

while preserving the ability to maintain necessary contact.



For more information contact:



Constitution Society

6900 San Pedro #147-230, San Antonio, TX 78216, 210/224-2868V