Security Culture
Excerpted from Ecodefense
This is part of a chapter from Ecodefense, edited by Dave Foreman and Bill Haywood. You can read the entire book here:
http://www.omnipresence.mahost.org/inttxt.htm

It is important not to get caught. The information in this chapter comes from experienced monkeywrenchers who have studied police science, law enforcement officers from several agencies, and military veterans who have served in "unconventional" units. Don't take this chapter of Ecodefense lightly. It may be the most important chapter to you in this entire book.

You may find some redundancy here. That is deliberate. Security rules are so important that we want to hammer them home till they become second nature to the serious ecodefender. As monkeywrenching becomes a more serious threat to the greed-heads ravaging Earth for a few greasy bucks, they will force law enforcement agencies to crack down on Earth defenders. You can stay free and effective, by carefully keeping security uppermost in your mind.

Since the publication of the first edition of Ecodefense, several prominent monkeywrenchers have been arrested and jailed. One, Howie Wolke, received six months in a tiny cell for pulling up survey stakes. He has publicly stated that he was caught because he was careless and let his security down. Don't follow his example to the slammer.

Because of the crucial need for good security practices by monkey­wrenchers, we have expanded and updated the material in this chapter. Read it. Study it. Make it second nature-like buckling your seat belt when you get into your car.

BASIC SECURITY

Target Selection

Most operations worth monkeywrenching consist of a long chain of events ranging from the corporate boardroom or government office to actual field activities. Before selecting a target for monkeywrenching, gather as much information as possible on this "chain of command." Research may reveal bet­ter targets, or point to the most vulnerable link in the "chain." Newspapers and magazines, as well as physical surveillance of buildings, storage areas, work sites, etc., will help in the selection of targets.

Proper intelligence gathering efforts will insure fairness. Do not lash out blindly at targets without first making an effort to understand the overall situa­tion. Make sure that an action is fully warranted and well deserved. There is a difference between monkeywrenching and plain vandalism. In recent years, that difference has been ignored in some cases. Some targets of monkey­wrenching, like the Santa Cruz power line in 1990, were not warranted. Of course, some of these questionable ecotage incidents may have been done by government or industrial agents to give ecodefense a bad name.

Most damaging projects on public lands are more or less analyzed in public documents by the managing agency (Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, etc.). These documents-environmental analyses (EAs), envi­ronmental impact statements (EISs), land management plans, timber plans, etc.-are available free to the interested public and have fairly detailed infor­mation, including maps, on offending projects. Merely by contacting the National Forest or BLM District office in question, you can get on a mailing list to receive such reports.

Of course, the serious monkeywrencher may not want to be on such a mail­ing list due to security considerations. If possible, have a trusted friend, who does not plan to engage in monkeywrenching, get on the mailing list and then give the documents to you. Perhaps you have a trusted contact in an envi­ronmental group who gets such documents and who can pass them on to you. Maybe you even have a trustworthy contact within one of the offending gov­ernment agencies-if so, for added security and her own safety and integrity, never, never let her know what you plan to do with the information. If you do not wish to involve friends or acquaintances, however indirectly, you might receive the information from the agency under an assumed name at a post office box or addressed to your alias in care of one of the private mailing services, found in big cities, which provide confidential forwarding of mail. Or you might even go to government offices in person, well in advance of intended "hits." If asked to fill out a request form, use a fictitious name and address (don't forget the name you give them!). Before going into an office to request information, leave your wallet with your IDs in your car, so that you can hon­estly say, if asked, that you left it in your car. If they persist in asking for ID, you can tell them you'll go and get it, leave the building, and never go back. Note: avoid going in person to request information that later might prove incrim­inating if you are likely to be recognized by anyone in the office.

Much of the work done by Federal agencies is contracted out to private individuals and small businesses, generally on the basis of competitive bidding. Examples of this include some survey work and timber stand exams. It is possible to obtain information about many such projects by getting on lists to receive announcements of projects as a potential bidder. Again, it may be best to have someone else get this information to protect your security.

Federal agencies will release their mailing lists under the Freedom of Information Act. This means that corporate gumshoes or "Wise Use" thugs can get addresses of conservationists who ask to be on Forest Service, BLM, and other agencies' mailing lists. Of course, law enforcement agencies have access to such mailing lists.

Any method of obtaining timely information on environmentally destructive projects in your area of interest is valid, so long as you do not compromise your security in the process. A great deal of useful information on potential targets for monkeywrenching can be obtained from periodicals. Publications of conservation groups, especially local and regional, are obvious sources of such information, but don't forget trade and industry publications, either.

Local newspapers are an excellent source of information on what sort of development is currently going on or planned-this goes for big-city dailies as well as rural weeklies. (The latter often report regularly on government timber sales, permits for oil and gas exploration, and local mining activities.) A good place to read a variety of publications without compromising your security is the periodical section of your public library.

If you are interested in more detailed information, such as the names of individuals owning a business or a particular piece of property, a little bit of investigative work in the library or at the county courthouse can usually pro­duce results. City directories or business directories (such as Cole's or Polk's) may tell you who lives at a specific address or who owns a business. In most states, the office of Secretary of State usually maintains records of cor­porations incorporated in that state. You may be able to obtain copies of these records for a nominal fee. Finally, your city or county recorder has public records on deeds which show who owns what land or buildings. The tax assessor has public records of property taxes which also indicate ownership of all properties. Also, the "Grantor" and "Grantee" books record all real prop­erty transactions alphabetically by names. Anyone can ask to see this material.

FIELD NOTE

* Repeated monkeywrenching of a certain target may cause the offenders to take increasingly drastic measures to protect their investment. For example, if you monkeywrench open bulldozers by the side of the road, the engine com­partments will probably be locked the next time you come by. If you cut the locks and do your work, they'll probably put the machines behind a fence somewhere. If you cut the fence and wrench the equipment again, they'll probably hire a guard. Now it's getting expensive.

The point is, the offenders are always vulnerable somewhere, and if you keep hitting them where they're most vulnerable, sooner or later it will affect their operations. Obviously, this means more persistence and hard work on your part.

In the case of the above fenced and guarded bulldozers, perhaps you can still cut the fence or spike the access road or cut their power lines or hit their main office or alter their billboards. Do whatever it takes to make it too expen­sive for them to continue ravaging Earth.

Planning

Thorough planning for every step of the operation and all feasible contin­gencies will keep you out of jail. Every team member must fully understand the work to be done, individual assignments, timetables, radio frequencies and codes, routes to and from the scene, etc.

Even the best of plans can be quickly disrupted by unforeseen events. Coping with and adapting to such problems is the ultimate test of one's mon­keywrenching abilities.

The target should be reconnoitered in advance. If an urban target, know the layout of all the roads you might use during your withdrawal. Otherwise, you might find yourself at the end of a dead-end street while trying to make a quick escape. If you are planning a night operation, familiarize yourself with the tar­get during both day and night. Landmarks visible in daylight may not be so at night, and certain security measures (lighting, security guards) may be used only at night. If your target is in remote country, know the location of all trails, roads, and natural drainages in the vicinity, in case you have to make alternate escape plans.

If it becomes necessary to use written notes and maps in preparing for an action, destroy all such paperwork before commencing work. The best way to destroy paperwork is by burning. Indoors, paper can be burned in a fireplace. Absent a fireplace, burn in a large pan or bucket (place under a kitchen stove hood exhaust or a bathroom fan). It may be preferable to burn such material outdoors in a shallow hole. Since intact ashes can be analyzed in the labora­tory to reveal something of their contents, even ashes should be crushed and disposed of. Outdoors, grind up the ashes and bury them. Indoors, flush them down the toilet.

The Team

In selecting people for an operation, keep the number involved at the minimum necessary to get the job done. Although some activities are fine for a lone monkeywrencher, the small group of two to five members is most effec­tive. (Some very experienced and effective monkeywrenchers, however, argue for doing everything alone.) The group provides mobility through a driver, security through a lookout, and the sympathy of a friendly ear to relieve the inevitable tension of the underground. Usually it is just too dangerous for an individual to engage in sabotage and look over her shoulder at the same time. So begin your organized monkeywrenching with a close friend who shares your values. Start small, with the simplest plans and easiest targets, until you learn to function as a team. (If you do not have an entirely trustwor­thy partner, it is better to operate alone.)

Recruiting new team members begins with evaluating your close friends as prospects. Bear in mind, however, that not everyone is suited for this sort of activity. A monkeywrencher should be able to function well under stress, but no test has yet been devised to determine who is likely to crack under stress and who is not. The persons doing the selecting simply have to use their best judgment. Avoid the faint-of-heart, the excessively paranoid, and the not­ quite-thoroughly committed. Avoid the casual acquaintance you only see at a protest rally, especially the ones who "talk tough." Such people may well be police spies or agent provocateurs. Government use of such infiltrators is widespread, both here and abroad. In Britain the authorities have attempted to infiltrate anti-hunting groups, and have even set up sham groups of their own to stage violent acts to discredit their opponents. In the US, cases in which the FBI or other police agents have infiltrated radical groups and even encour­aged or participated in criminal acts are too numerous to mention-the histo­ries of the anti-war and civil rights movements are replete with such stories.

The success or failure of law enforcement often lies with the informer, known in police circles as the "confidential informant" or "CI" These are usually individuals "turned" after their own arrest, who aid the police in exchange for favorable treatment. Such persons produce perhaps 90 percent of all criminal arrests. (In the "Arizona Five" case, there was one full-time professional FBI agent operating undercover, several FBI agents who attended Earth First! parties or demonstrations, and at least five confidential informants and perhaps a dozen. These people were active during 1988-89; an undercover Tucson police department officer was unmasked at a Mt. Graham demonstration in Tucson late in 1992 [his automatic pistol fell out of his hippie day pack], three and a half years after the Arizona arrests.) The best way to avoid the informer is to work only with close friends, ideally of many years' acquaintance. A tight-knit group of friends, loyal to each other and careful to minimize leaving evidence at the scene, is virtually impossible to penetrate and apprehend.

Throughout history, secret societies have reinforced group cohesion with an oath for secrecy and loyalty. The oath of secrecy was so successful during the Luddite uprisings in early 19th-century England that oath-swearing was made a capital offense! Although it is not necessary to have a formal initiation with a swearing-in ceremony, it is important that group members openly and directly declare their willingness to protect one another. Psychologically, the act of swearing loyalty is of far greater value than the mere assumption of the same. The memory of such a moment can provide an added ounce of strength under police interrogation (when most groups come unraveled).

Once you have singled out a prospective recruit, use casual conversations to gauge the depth of her commitment to defending Earth. If all goes well, you will next proceed to carefully introduce the topic of monkeywrenching into your conversations, perhaps with the aid of a news broadcast or newspaper story dealing with environmental sabotage. This will help to measure whether feel­ings about conventional law and order might override deeper moral concerns. Be patient. Never rush a recruitment. It may take months to find out that a certain friend is simply not suitable as a team member.

If all goes well, you will eventually suggest doing a "job" together-perhaps something simple like spray-painting slogans on the outside walls of an offend­ing land rapist. Do not, under any circumstances, tell the potential recruit that you have had experience in such matters. If she gets cold feet at the last moment and backs out, she will still have no knowledge that can harm you.

Once your first hit is successfully completed, you are bound together by shared danger and experience, and you may consider introducing the new recruit to the team. If the recruit seems paranoid or expresses doubts during or after the first hit, wait until she has a bit more experience before introducing her to other team members. The ideal recruit responds with excitement and enthusiasm to the rigors of direct action, but is not reckless.

FIELD NOTES

* Some experienced monkeywrenchers argue against working with one's spouse or significant other-in case of a romantic breakup in the future, he or she may turn on you. They also argue against minors participating. Other experienced ecodefenders have long operated with their spouse or romantic partner; some with their children ("kids can be a great cover"). It depends on the individuals.

* Some experienced and effective monkeywrenchers have done all of their work alone.

Insertion

The team will most likely be carried to the vicinity of the target in a motor vehicle (see also the section on Mountain Bicycles in the Miscellaneous Deviltry chapter). Whether it be a motorcycle, car, or truck, it should look ordi­nary, and lack anything that might be conspicuous- such as a special paint job, provocative bumper stickers, or personalized license plates.

On most operations, one should not stop directly in front of, park near, or repeatedly cruise past the target.

When exiting the vehicle, do not slam the car doors. Instead, push on the door until it partially latches. The driver can stop briefly after leaving the target area to close doors properly. In rural and suburban environments, it is generally best to drop off the team well away from the target and let them walk to it cross-country. In built-up areas, the drop is usually made closer to the target to avoid being stopped by police patrols when walking down city streets. The aim is to avoid having a casual passerby witness the drop and later report a description of you, your car, or your license plate.

Parking near the target is usually dangerous. After the drop, the driver should leave the area immediately and stay away until the agreed-upon time for pick-up. Keeping the vehicle moving in evening traffic on major streets or highways may be the safest way for the driver to pass the time. If you choose to park, do so only in busy areas near restaurants or movie theaters where you will blend in with the crowd. Avoid operating in the early morning hours when traffic is so light as to make you stand out. The best time for urban operations is usually from nightfall to midnight.

In a rural or sparsely populated area, it may be more dangerous to drive after dark, and you will want to conceal the vehicle by parking it in the woods or on jeep trails adjacent to the highway. Have such a parking place selected beforehand so you do not have to cruise around searching for a place to park out of sight.

Withdrawal

When a team is dropped off, it has a designated length of time to finish its work and withdraw to the pick-up point. The location selected for the pick-up usually should be different from that of the drop, in case the drop was observed. Timing is important, and the driver must not have to rush and break speed limits to arrive on schedule. If the team does not make the first pick-up run, the driver will return at pre-determined intervals of fifteen minutes, a half-­hour, or whatever.

If police are in the area, both the team and driver will go to an alternate pick­up point a few blocks or a few miles away, and up to several hours later if nec­essary. If danger from police is imminent, team members will conceal their tools for later recovery and leave the area without anything incriminating on their persons.

After a successful pick-up, the vehicle should leave the area at normal speed. Once safely away, the team should stop briefly to put all tools or other incriminating items out of sight.

In order to avoid leaving tire tracks as evidence, the pick-up vehicle should not leave the paved surface of the road. Of course, this may not be possible in rural areas or on forest roads. If you are parking the vehicle, it may be possi­ble to sweep away tracks (both human and vehicular) with a broom or branches.

The duration of a "drop and pick-up" type of operation may be anywhere from a few minutes for an urban "hit" (such as the delivery of a bucket of raw sewage to a corporate office) to several hours or possibly even days for a complex action in the field, such as major tree spiking or road destruction.

For recognition of the pick-up point, the team can mark the spot by setting a pre-determined object on the shoulder of the road (such as a discarded oil can or beer bottle); but permanent landmarks, such as bridges, culverts, road signs, or mileage posts, are better. The pick-up vehicle can carry an extra light, like a powerful flashlight, on the dashboard so that the team will recog­nize it on its approach run. Use the brakes as little as necessary, since brake lights can be seen from a great distance. One can avoid too much use of the brakes by stopping more quickly and using the parking brake more. The seri­ous monkeywrencher might consider vehicle modifications (see section on Vehicle Modifications in the Vehicles and Heavy Equipment chapter).

Radio communications are valuable to coordinate the pick-up, or to advise the driver to use the alternate pick-up location due to unforeseen troubles. (See the section on Radios later in this chapter for appropriate equipment.) Again, the alternate pick-up can be anywhere from a few hundred yards to a couple of miles from the primary pick-up point; but it must be out of sight of the primary pick-up point, out of sight of the target, and preferably, on an entirely different road.

Night Operations

Begin by reviewing your plan and equipment. Leave any unnecessary items behind. Do not carry any ID, wallets, loose change, or anything else that might identify you or make unnecessary noise. (A college student was arrested for monkeywrenching a bulldozer in Colorado in 1992. His checkbook was lying beside the sabotaged machine.) If you are carrying a car key, use a safety pin to secure it to the inside of your pants pocket.

Before heading into the dark, allow your eyes to adjust to the dark. Five minutes in the dark without looking at bright lights is the minimum necessary, and it's best to wait half an hour before entering a dangerous area. Any bright light can temporarily ruin one's night vision. If it becomes necessary to look into a lighted area or to use a flashlight, cover one eye so as to retain some night vision in the other. Using a flashlight with a red lens filter will not damage your night vision, but beware that even a red light will be visible from some dis­tance away. When looking at something at night, do not stare directly at it. Everyone has a blind spot in the center of their field of vision. It is easier to see an object at night by keeping the eyes constantly moving than by looking directly at it. Practice by taking walks at night. And eat your carrots!

Travel at a steady pace and avoid running in the dark. Lifting knees higher than normal when walking will reduce the chance of stumbling over rocks, roots, and low branches. To avoid being hit in the eyes by low branches, extend one arm in front of your face and well ahead. This is a safe way of "feeling" your way in the dark. If you must run, focus your attention on the ground just two to three steps in front of you and run at a slight crouch. The crouching position keeps you from taking long strides, which is dangerously uncontrollable at night. Concentrating just a short distance ahead alerts you to the smallest hazards, which are usually the ones that will trip you. Again, keep one arm extended to protect your face. Practice moving at night without a flashlight before you find this necessary on an action.

The sense of hearing becomes much more important at night and will often reveal as much or more than the eyes will. Always pause for several minutes before entering a dangerous target area to listen for the footfalls of a guard or passerby. Make sure your hat does not cover your ears, and cup your hands behind your ears to help pick up faint sounds. An ear to the ground won't help.

Communication between team members is best done with hand signals. Tap someone on the shoulder and point to possible danger sources. If you must talk, cup your hands over your friend's ear and whisper. Night bird sounds, like owl hoots, should be used as danger signals only, to avoid excessive use. In addition, whistles worn on a cord around the neck can provide emergency sig­naling when the team is spread out over a large area. All team members should be assigned numbers or fake names for emergency shouting at night.

-Etta Place

FIELD NOTES

* Exposure to bright sunlight on the day before a mission can impair your night vision. Wear sunglasses in bright sunlight to prevent this.

* Get in the habit of walking around your home at night in the dark to become used to moving and seeing in the dark. Practice walking without a flashlight when camping.

Alternate Assembly Areas

These are predetermined areas where the team can regroup when rapid escape is necessary, and separation of people is likely. These areas should be determined during planning, utilizing map and recon information, and should always be at natural or man-made terrain features easily recognizable during limited visibility conditions.

In choosing alternate assembly areas, consider availability of concealment along the routes thereto, and distance; remember: the team will be carrying equipment, and visibility may be low. Consider the feasibility of destruction or concealment of incriminating evidence at the reassembly area. Select an alternate route to safety, too.

The prearranged signal to reassemble at an alternative area should be clear to all members of the separated team, but meaningless to any observers. Non­verbal signals may be preferable to radio codes, due to reliability and speed. Smoke grenades or modified flashes could provide secondary benefits.

Silent Communication

Plan visual signals that convey messages to separated members without being conspicuous. The typical military movement commands may have value due to the simplicity of the hand and arm movements. Some large bookstores have titles dealing with military leadership development.

A rendezvous of team members at night may arouse suspicion if members signal with noise as they approach. A visual signal instead, such as a taped pattern on the red lens of a microlight, provides positive identification, and could save time and embarrassment by preventing the accidental rendezvous with a noisy raccoon or an alert security guard.

-Dan Shays

RULES OF SECURITY

Limit each team member's knowledge of operations to what they need to know. You can't slip and talk about something you don't know about. This will protect your associates as well as yourself.

Don't discuss your illegal activities on the telephone. Not even on pay phones!

Avoid storing potentially incriminating tools, clothing, shoes, paint, and doc­uments in your house or apartment. (This includes maps of the project in question.) If possible, hide them in the woods or in a rented storage locker (rent one under an assumed name). If you must keep anything potentially incriminating at home, hide it well. Keep in mind that a remote corner of your property away from your house can be legally searched without a search war­rant.

In a 1988 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Bill of Rights provision against illegal search and seizure (Fourth Amendment) does not apply to garbage. Justice Whizzer White said that citizens do not have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" for their garbage, even when it is sealed in opaque bags. The upshot is that police do not need a search warrant to go through your trash.

Destroy potentially incriminating materials:

Tools - Periodically dispose of all tools that leave a distinctive mark (pry bars, bolt and wire cutters, etc.), and replace them with similar items from a dif­ferent manufacturer. Right after a particularly "heavy" job is a good time to dispose of tools, but it is not the only time you should take this precaution. Remember, the cost of replacing tools is far less than what a good lawyer would charge you for an hour of legal services. Tools may be disposed of in dumpsters, buried in remote rural locations, or dumped into a deep body of water. Buy only well-known, popular brands of tools so an unusual purchase does not stick in the mind of the salesperson.

Papers, maps, and documents - Burn completely and crumble the ashes. Bury or flush down the toilet the crushed ashes.

News clippings, diaries, addresses, etc. - Do not keep any newspaper clippings about monkeywrenching. Mention nothing of possible relevance in your diary, calendar, Day-Timer, or other notes. Do not have addresses, phone numbers, or names of other monkeywrenchers in your address book, Rolodex, or even on scraps of paper. Such addresses and notes constituted major evidence against one of the defendants in the Arizona Five monkey­wrenching trial.

Paint - Dispose of in dumpsters. (Avoid fingerprints on paint cans.) Don't neglect to dispose of rags or clothing that may carry paint spots.

Shoes and clothing - All clothing should be laundered as soon as possible after a job. Clean boots and shoes as well. This can help remove incriminating dirt, fibers, plant debris, and the like. Pay particular attention to grease spots from heavy equipment. If in doubt, dispose of shoes and clothing. These items can be discarded in dumpsters, buried, or burned, as appropriate. Be especially wary of shoes. A distinctive footprint often can be positively con­nected to the shoe or boot that produced it. Shoes found in their homes were used as evidence against two of the defendants in the Arizona Five trial.

Don't worry about the cost of replacing tools, clothing, and the like. Freedom is priceless.

Clean your car - After using a vehicle on a job, vacuum the floor and wipe off the seats to get rid of incriminating soil, grease, etc. Don't forget to clean under floor mats, cracks in seats, etc. After vacuuming, dispose of the bag, or better yet, use a vacuum at a commercial self-serve car wash. If you've been driving on unpaved roads, thoroughly wash the vehicle's exterior too. Don't neglect the underside of the vehicle, especially the wheel wells and inside of bumpers. A self-service, commercial car washing establishment is a good place to wash and vacuum your car. Incidentally, spreading a little mud on your license plate before an operation to prevent it from being read at night is a good idea, so long as you are operating in an area in which mud would not seem out of place. Use common sense, though-a muddy plate on an otherwise clean vehicle would probably attract suspicion.

Remove floor mats before an operation so they don't accumulate evidence. Replace them after the car has been vacuumed. Clean behind the front part of the doors under the hinges and between the front part of the doors and the body. Dirt accumulates there. Do all of this after the car has been profes­sionally washed. Then go to a self-service car wash and re-wash the entire car. Be sure to direct the high pressure water and soap under the chassis and in the wheel wells. Consider changing the air filter. If witnessed, this compul­sive car cleaning may be suspicious. Try to be inconspicuous.

Never carry anything incriminating with you if it is not essential. After com­pleting your mission, resist the temptation to carry out survey stakes, survey­ors' flagging, stolen or damaged pieces of equipment, and the like. If you are stopped and searched (whether by an actual law enforcement officer or by an irate miner, logger, stockman, or whatever) such items would likely be legally admissible as evidence against you.

Always have a story prepared to tell the police if you're stopped in the target area. Keep it short and simple and avoid unnecessary details.

Operate with a small group of trusted friends, and never have more people on an operation than are absolutely necessary.

Assign each member of the team a fictitious first name or number for operational use. Numbers may be best, since fake names may be more confusing. Memorization of these nommes de guerre will take concentration and practice; otherwise, during the stress of an operation it will be too easy to revert to using real names. Never use your fictitious names in public when not on a mission.

Limit talking when on an operation. Practice a few simple hand signals in advance, at least if there will be enough light to see them during the operation.

Avoid nights of the full or nearly-full moon. A quarter to half moon should ordinarily give enough light for night movement.

Don't keep a diary or other written records of illegal activities. Don't get drunk and shoot off your mouth down at the corner bar. Bragging has put more people in jail than any other factor.

If you are engaging in serious monkeywrenching, avoid overt political activism, rallies, demonstrations, and the like. When the police begin looking for suspects, they will begin by consulting existing records of activists, espe­cially those with records of arrests and convictions. These records are very detailed, never destroyed, and are available to any police agency requesting them. Investigative detectives will visit known "hangouts," attend workshops and demonstrations, and make "radical" statements to elicit invitations to clandestine circles. The head of the local Sierra Club chapter or another "respectable" environmental group may be questioned, and she may cooperate fully, even to the point of suggesting suspects. (Some mainstream conserva­tion groups, like the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, have offered substantial rewards for monkeywrenchers in a futile effort to gain credibility with politicians and industry.) Keep a low profile.

Let knowledge be your greatest ally. Go to the public or university library and study police investigative techniques.

Avoid patterns. This is easier said than done. You will tend to establish pat­terns as to type of target, days of the week on which you are active, times at which you strike, etc. Police investigators will look for these patterns and can be surprisingly good at predicting one's moves. This can lead the unwary monkeywrencher into ambushes. Make a conscious effort to keep your actions as random as security permits. Periodically "lay low" for awhile. If you suspect that the police are investigating your activities or conducting stake­outs, cease all activity for a few months. Limited personnel and budget will force the authorities to assign their investigators to more pressing matters.

Such interludes are good times to dispose of tools, intelligence files, and other possibly incriminating materials. Be clean as a whistle in case investiga­tors get a lead on you, or otherwise become suspicious enough to haul you in for questioning or obtain a warrant to search your home.

A final rule: Don't hurt anyone. Respect all life.

-Fearless Fosdick

Disposing of Evidence

Recent arrests have included the seizure by police of large amounts of material as "evidence" from suspected eco-raiders' homes. Carefully observe all security precautions for disposing of evidence. After any job in which you may have left tool marks from pry bars, screwdrivers, wire cutters, and the like, immediately use files and emery cloth to alter the tools' prying/cutting edges to prevent a positive "match" between your tools and evidence left at the scene. This must be done before the tools are stashed away. If you've used something like spray paint or glue during a "job," get rid of any remaining and replace it with a different brand for the next action.

Have a well-rehearsed drill for disposing of evidence in an emergency. If you don't have a stove or fireplace for documents, you should have a sheet of metal or metal container in which you can burn documents without burning your house down.

If you must leave your house to dispose of tools and other evidence, make a dry run first to check for ambush or surveillance before taking the tools out of your dwelling. Have at least two emergency plans for disposing of tools. Dumping them in water is best, but only if they cannot be seen from above. Don't dump things in a stream in the dark only to find that in daylight the objects are easily seen! Select your dump spots ahead of time (and beware of places where the water level rises and falls). Plan both your approach and departure routes. Though it's best to scatter the tools about in the water, do it quietly from the edge of the water. Loud splashing noises may attract the attention of an unseen passerby.

If a watery grave is not available, tools can be buried in remote spots (ideally, several spots), or tossed from open car windows while driving down remote highways (after having been cleansed of fingerprints, of course). Items tossed from vehicles should be thrown far back in the brush where hunters and casual passersby are unlikely to find them.

Don't wait for an emergency situation to find your disposal sites-plan ahead.

If you prefer to temporarily bury your tools between jobs, either on your own property or at a remote site, consider the following:

- Decoy pieces of scrap metal can be buried at many spots around your cache to mislead and discourage searchers using metal detectors.

- Avoid burying at night. Even if the use of a flashlight doesn't betray your presence, you may have a hard time returning the ground to a normal appear­ance that will pass muster in daylight.

- Be careful when burying or digging up your cache, even if it's in a remote location. Sit down and watch and listen for awhile, then move on to another spot and repeat, before commencing digging operations. Your burial site should be a location where you cannot be observed except from close up. Be wary for hikers, hunters, or other passersby.

- Getting out of a car with a shovel and heading into the woods looks suspicious. Use a folding entrenching tool (found at military surplus stores) that fits into your pack, or even a small backpacker's trowel designed for burying human waste.

- Encase your tools in several layers of sealed plastic bags to protect against moisture.

- Frozen ground can be a problem in winter. Bury shallow in winter. Mixing salt with the covering soil can limit freezing problems somewhat.

- If you are caught at a burial site, claim that you were just walking by and saw something sticking out of the ground. If you took proper precautions when you buried your tools, there will be no fingerprints on the tools or bags. Of course, if you are carrying a shovel, you might have some explaining to do.

- Never bury tools used in ecotage on your own land or that owned by friends or associates. Police agencies are experienced in the use of metal detectors to uncover buried caches. You can throw off metal detectors by burying metal tools in old landfills that have other metal present or by scattering nails and scrap metal through the soil where you do bury your "monkeywrenches."

-Pinky Burns

No Evidence

After any act of ecotage, it is essential that there be no evidence-in your possession or at the site of the action-that could link you to the "crime." The basic principles for eliminating all potentially incriminating evidence are:

1) Don't leave anything at the site that can be connected with you.

2) Don't take anything away with you that can be connected with the site. More specific suggestions include the following:

- Wear coveralls or common work clothes. Should a button or another frag­ment from practical clothing of this type be lost on the site, it would be unlikely to arouse suspicion. Use common work gloves, such as cheap cotton ones.

- Minimize what you wear and take with you onto the site. The less you carry, the less likely you are to drop something which might later be used as evidence.

- Remove fingerprints from everything on your person before you enter the site-even such internal parts as flashlight lens, bulb, and batteries; radio bat­teries; and the insides of cases and tool boxes. Authorities will fingerprint any possible piece of evidence they find, in every conceivable place you could leave a fingerprint.

- Don't leave footprints. Wear common work boots or shoes. Cover them with a cloth bag or wrap to blank-out the sole. Cotton duck canvas and burlap work well for this, and are easily disposed of.

- Don't leave tire tracks. Use a common brand, size, and style of tire. Avoid damp or muddy ground. Generally, if you stay on compacted roads that site workers use, tire tracks shouldn't be a problem. If you must drive where tracks will be conspicuous, sweep with a branch or broom; or drag a large branch tied in such a way that it can be released quickly while driving. This last technique is often ineffective on wet ground.

- Use top-quality tools. Tools that break cause injury and leave evidence. Use common US brands such as Proto, Thorsen, Challenger, Utica, Bonney, Wright, Snap-On, New Britain, SK, Diamond, Ridgid, H.K. Porter, Channellock, Craftsman, etc. Avoid tools made in Taiwan or Hong Kong.

- Use a stone or file to dress-up after use the working surfaces of tools like wrenches and bolt cutters that leave distinctive marks. Better yet, remove the broken bolts, nuts, chain-link pieces, and other fragments of metal that you have cut; discard them off site.

- Anything written should be either innocuous or coded. It's safest never to write anything related to the action.

- Use deliberate "false evidence" with great care, if at all. If no real evidence is left behind, the scattering of false evidence is a waste of time. It can also backfire and/or get innocent persons in trouble.

- Remove dirt, grease, oil, paint, etc. from tools and clothes as soon as possible. Use an ultraviolet light to check for special marker dyes. If you sus­pect a special marker dye, dispose of the article. Clean tools of plating chips or paint chips before and after the action. (Remember that if you worked on your green car yesterday with the same wrench, and you leave green paint on the bulldozer, it may be incriminating. Likewise, if you have yellow bulldozer paint on your wrench.)

- Think. The length of your step is evidence. Your blood is evidence. Watch for infrared cameras or any strange electronic equipment. Don't photo-document your action (surprisingly, some people do!), and never tell anyone who doesn't need to know.

- Avoid creating suspicion in the first place. Act normal. Use clothing and equipment that have other legitimate uses. Don't hide anything that wouldn't be hidden under normal circumstances. Use big tool boxes that can be used to hide things in a "legitimate" manner. Prepare your story/alibi in advance.

-The Shadow

Written Records

While written records are the classic security mistake that leads to many convictions, you may occasionally have to keep simple notes when planning a mission. Avoid obvious references to targets. A monkeywrencher's note "Uranium mine turnoff milepost 149.3" can become a nature lover's "beautiful rocks m.p. 149.3."

A written note on a cigarette paper can be easily eaten, balled up and dropped, or hidden in clothing seams. Write only with pencil (No. 2) in case you have to swallow your work. Another suitable paper type is the edible paper made of starch fibers that quickly dissolves in water. It is sold in nov­elty/magic shops and on the novelty/gag racks at some tourist junk shops. It can also be purchased from mail-order outfits like Johnson Smith Company, 4514 19th Court E (or PO Box 25500), Bradenton, FL 34206-5500. Ask for their catalog. Practice with this paper before using it and learn to keep the 'pieces small.

Most important: remember that any paper or cardboard underneath the slip you're writing on will carry an impression of your letters (and make dandy evi­dence in court). Impressions can also be left in other relatively soft materials such as a wooden table used to write on. Writing on a piece of glass or mirror is a good way to avoid such traces.

-Mata Hari

Avoiding Arrest

If you have been active in one area for any length of time, the police will consider baiting a trap to catch you. In setting a trap, the authorities will look for any patterns you may have inadvertently set. Perhaps you only work on certain nights. Perhaps you hit certain targets more than others. Perhaps your routes of approach and withdrawal to your targets are known. Monkeywrenchers have narrowly escaped from police traps on some occa­sions simply because they were silent and alert, while the opposition was bored with weeks of fruitless waiting. The best way to avoid traps is to hit your target one time only, but with maximum effectiveness.

Sometimes a trap will be baited by deliberately leaving heavy equipment temptingly parked along rural roads. In such a situation, chase cars will be carefully hidden in the area, often on back roads and dirt lanes, sometimes one on each side of the "bait" but a good distance away, ready to intercept suspect vehicles. If you see such a tempting target, be careful! Instead of striking immediately, scout the area carefully ahead of time, carrying nothing incrimi­nating.

In cases where construction equipment has been successfully sabotaged repeatedly, the owners will often move it at night to a more public location, such as a roadside, to facilitate protection by police or private guards. Look for the vehicles of private security guards, which may be concealed among the pieces of heavy equipment.

Be aware that monkeywrenchers may run afoul of the law in a completely unexpected manner. Don't break speed limits when going to and from an oper­ation-you could fall victim to a speed trap or police radar. A simple rule to follow to prevent most routine traffic violations is to have the front seat pas­senger (i.e., the person in the "shotgun" seat) watch for road hazards, and caution the driver if the car exceeds the speed limit. If the driver is over-sen­sitive about this, she shouldn't be driving.

Another conventional law enforcement activity to which unwary monkey­wrenchers could fall victim is the local game warden on the lookout for jack­lighters or poachers. A tactic used frequently by game officers is to park on a hill that allows a long view of a road often used by poachers at night. Drive by the local office of the Department of Fish and Game to learn what type of vehi­cles the game officers in your vicinity use. If you are out on a job at night and think you have spotted a game officer in the vicinity, scratch your operation and wait for another night. These men and women are providing a valuable service in fighting poaching and should be helped, not hindered or distracted. Also, game officers are full-fledged law enforcement officers with all the power of the state behind them, and may enforce other laws besides game laws. Since they may stop you at night, never carry rifles, spotlights, or anything else that might make you look like a poacher when on a monkeywrenching operation.

Keep in mind that every time a law enforcement officer stops to check any suspicious person or thing, a record is made of the event. Even if you are just briefly stopped and then released, that record may later be used to place you near the scene of an illegal activity. If stopped by a cop before you hit a tar­get, cancel the mission. If stopped after you have already carried out an oper­ation, go to special pains to destroy all evidence as soon as you arrive at a safe location.

-Tra v

FIELD NOTES

* When placing lookouts, consider all possible routes of approach. Place lookouts to cover these.

* The growing popularity of monkey business is also making it more danger­ous. Here's a method of approach that has proven safe for day or night, by one person or a group.

1) Always observe from a distance first. Because daytime is riskier, stay well away and use binoculars. Day or night, hide in deep shadow and don't let shiny or brightly colored objects betray you. Watch for as long as you can, especially if a parked vehicle nearby might indicate a watchman in the area.

2) If all appears quiet, you're ready to do a "walk-by" to either spot a watch­man or trip an ambush. We usually put on our new monkey shoes at this point, but carry nothing incriminating. The idea is to be clean if you're stopped. Quietly, but out loud, practice the casual and friendly answer you'll give when confronted. (Practicing your comments silently in your mind is not nearly as effective as practicing them out loud. All good public speakers, singers, and other performers know this.) Scout as hikers, bird-watchers, young lovers, or the like.

3) Walk past-but not through-the target area, glancing about casually (in daytime from behind sunglasses) for sign of trouble. If no one confronts you, sit down a short distance away and continue to look and listen.

4) If you are still uncertain, do a dry run to trip an ambush. Pause at the tar­get, like a bulldozer, and pretend to be doing something to it. Do not actually touch it. If caught at this point, you can just explain that you've always liked big machines and were curious. You've committed no crime.

5) Since the Freddies will read about this, add a final step of leaving the immediate vicinity and hiding nearby to see if anyone emerges to check whether you've actually done any damage. Or have a hidden lookout watch.

6) If all is still clear, go to work.

-Safety First

CAMOUFLAGE

Light Reflections

Light reflections off the face are rarely a problem in night-work. Still, if for certain jobs you feel reflections could be a problem, tone down bright spots by rubbing a little burnt cork across the forehead, on the cheekbones, on the top of the nose and on the point of the chin. Never spread the blacking all over the face-hitting the aforementioned high spots lightly is sufficient. This form of night camouflage is rarely used, mainly because it makes the user stand out, and anyone observing an individual so made up would almost certainly con­clude that they were engaged in some illegal activity. In certain wilderness operations, however, it may even be beneficial to use camouflage face paint (available at sporting goods and bow hunter supply stores). How-to books for bow hunters may be your best guide. Anyone using either of these techniques is advised to carry a couple of packets of moist towelettes (like "Wash 'N Dry"). These should be carried carefully safety-pinned into a pocket (make sure that the pin does not pierce the inside of the packet, or the towel will dry out). After an operation these can be used for quick cleanup. Camo face paint is easy to remove if you put a thin layer of baby oil on the areas to be camouflaged before applying the face paint. This is at least true for the military stuff and possibly for bow hunter face paint.

Footwear

Proper footwear is important. Remember, shoes and boots leave prints which may constitute valuable evidence. Such prints do not produce leads on suspects, but they do constitute physical evidence that might be matched up later when other means produce a suspect. Cheap tennis shoes that can be thrown away after a major job or series of minor hits are ideal. If it's not too awkward, one can buy shoes a couple of sizes too large and wear extra pairs of socks to fill them out. This will confuse the investigators who may photo­graph and/or take casts of footprints at the scene of the "crime." If good trac­tion is not critical, obtain shoes with smooth soles. If you do not throw your monkeywrenching shoes away, at least avoid wearing them for any other pur­pose. Do not ever wear them around your home, since the dirt around your house and driveway will be the first place that the authorities will look for matching footprints.

For some operations, lightweight shoes will be impractical. For work in rough terrain or at night, where the danger of falls and sprains is real, sturdy boots are generally called for (though some people even backpack off-trail in light­weight running shoes-one possibility is to tape your ankles before wearing running shoes for night or rough ground work). Since it may be costly to throw away boots after a "job," one might consider covering the boots with oversize socks (dark for night-work). Carry several pairs if operating on hard or stony ground. Dispose socks after an operation, since minute fibers will have been left as evidence. You could also make boot coverings out of heavy canvas.

FIELD NOTES

* It is hard to determine just how effective footprints are as evidence. During the Arizona Five Trial in Prescott, the FBI lab specialist could not definitely match a very clear print to one of the shoes seized. The testimony indicated shoe prints were vague and indefinite evidence. In contrast, there have been recent claims that podiatrists can not only match a shoe with a track but can positively identify the foot in it, presumably from pressure points, weight, and so forth. Whatever the reality is on shoe prints as evidence, it is unwise to keep shoes worn during any serious ecotage operation, and absolutely fool­hardy to keep them in one's home.

* Do not wear anything on your feet to disguise your tracks that may seri­ously impede your speed of movement or maneuverability. Strapping boards to one's feet ("Air Bakers") has been proven to make a monkeywrencher help­less.

* A recent arrest in Utah shows how law enforcement relies on evidence like footprints. Ecodefenders must never let their curiosity cause them to leave incriminating footprints near heavy equipment and the like. You can get stuck with something you didn't do.

* Here's one monkeywrencher's recommendations on footwear: "To be ready on a moment's notice, I buy different brands of cheap canvas shoes. The newest pair goes into my backpack. I use them for fording streams, but I back into the stream with them on and erase the footprints behind me. Once my hiking boots are back on, I smear out the canvas shoe prints on the bank where I exit the stream. This way, I can be ready for a spur-of-the-moment hit, knowing that I left no prints behind me that can be linked to the scene.

"Once a pair of these ten-dollar shoes have left their prints at a hit, I never carry them again in daytime when escape is difficult. They are then reserved only for nighttime escapades, and not even worn around the house (I don't want to leave nasty old footprints in the flower bed by mistake).

"Out here in hostile territory where redneck cops can get a search warrant quicker than a turd gets flies, these shoes are either stashed in the back­woods or put in specially-built hiding places inside the homestead."

Editor's Note: The precautions enumerated here seem worthwhile, with one exception, and that is the propriety of keeping shoes that have left a print at a "hit" anywhere around one's dwelling (or place of employment or whatever) no matter how well hidden. If you are suspected by the authorities, they may well tear your house completely apart looking for "evidence." You should weigh the cost of a cheap pair of shoes against the cost of months or years behind bars, and choose accordingly.

Clothing

Never underestimate the importance of proper clothing. What is good for one type of operation might not be for another. Urban or rural, day or night, season of the year-all of these factors affect what type of clothing is best.

As a general rule, avoid the exotic and unusual. One should not stand out. Dress like the locals, be they construction workers, loggers, or corporate executives. It may be necessary to blend in with the local scene to escape from the target area. Dress and cut your hair like the locals. Women should avoid halter tops, short shorts, or other outfits that make them noticeable.

Camouflage may be of many types. For a wilderness operation (tree or road spiking, for example), consider traditional, military-type camouflage clothing, which ranges from expensive, tailored gear available from fancy sporting goods firms to used, genuine military uniforms sold by "war surplus" stores. Military camouflage comes in many patterns designed for different geographi­cal regions, such as woodland pattern or desert pattern. Consult the special­ized literature, such as military training manuals on camouflage or how-to books for bow hunters (which also give instructions for using camo face paint).

For many operations military-type camouflage is not only unnecessary, but might actually make the monkeywrencher stand out as suspicious. In opera­tions around construction sites or machinery, coveralls and a hard hat might be best. A monkeywrencher so attired might pass for a worker if seen. Used coveralls can be purchased for a reasonable price at many linen supply com­panies. The serious monkeywrencher might purchase several pairs, in differ­ent colors.

Some plaid patterns are nearly as good as camouflage and fit right in with local styles. Pendleton "Black Watch" plaid is good in coniferous forests. Some brown plaids are good in arid environments. Janitors, mechanics, and the like often sport a grayish-green work shirt. It's good in a variety of land­scapes but especially in sagebrush country.

Dark clothing is the rule for nightwork. Long sleeves protect the arms and cover light skin (visible on moonlit nights). Avoid too tight clothing that restricts movement, and too loose clothing that snags on branches, barbed wire, and the like. If stealth is particularly desired, nylon and plastic clothing should be avoided, since it makes a "swishing" noise when one moves. Wool is quieter than cotton. However, woolen garments are particularly susceptible to leaving fibers behind. Brush, cactus, barbed wire fences, and even rough brick can snag" clothing and cause the ecoteur to leave fibers. Although it is unlikely that investigators would find minute clothing fibers left at an outdoor monkeywrenching scene, you should nonetheless avoid unusual, exotic clothing, and should consider discarding clothing after a particularly "heavy" operation.

Used clothing stores such as those operated by Goodwill or the Salvation Army can be sources for cheap, throw-away clothing (don't set a pattern of frequently buying such items at one store and becoming known by the clerks). Again, coveralls (dark) may be best, although "work" shirts and pants are probably adequate.

Many commercial laundry detergents contain chemical "brighteners" that increase the reflectivity of clothing (ever notice your sleeves glowing under a "black light"?). Avoid these when washing clothes to be used in secretive activities. Only actual laundry soap, like Ivory, will leave you with the wonder­fully dull and dingy look while still getting out those telltale body odors. All detergents will increase the reflectivity of your clothing, and will make you more visible to night vision devices. (See the section on Eyes of Night.)

Gloves

Gloves are a must to avoid leaving fingerprints. Each type of glove has its own characteristics:

LEATHER - Good, highly durable, and suited to general purposes. However, leather can leave distinct prints like fingerprints, especially if it becomes contaminated with oil or grease.

CLOTH - Not as durable as leather, but adequate for most work, and cheaper. The low cost makes it practical to dispose of cloth gloves after an operation; a desirable thing to do. Cloth patterns can be left under the same conditions mentioned above for leather.

PLASTIC OR RUBBER - Usually good for light work only. They will make one's hands sweat. When disposing of this type of glove, one should keep in mind that the insides carry a perfect set of one's fingerprints. Burning them in a fire insures thorough destruction by melting.

Regardless of which type you use, dispose of any manufacturer's labels before heading out. Make sure your gloves cover the entire palm, as any part of the palm can leave distinctive prints for investigators.

FIELD NOTES

* Some monkeywrenchers argue that cotton gloves are better than leather. Because leather is cow skin, it has a grain as unique as a human fingerprint. A good "gloveprint" can be positively linked to a specific glove taken from a sus­pect. The cotton glove is a woven material whose prints might be linked to a certain manufacturer, but only anomalies like tears or manufacturing flaws will connect them to a specific glove. Most important, since you can purchase cotton work gloves cheaply, you can afford to buy and properly dispose of several pairs a year, rather than be tempted to keep expensive leathers for "one more job." The thinnest cotton gloves (like photographers use) might on rare occasions leave a fingerprint, but heavier cotton work gloves will not. To further confound law enforcement, buy a different brand of glove each time, and never dispose of evidence at or near the scene of a hit.

* Dispose of your gloves very well. Like hats, they most likely contain an arm or hand hair which can be traced positively back to you (assuming you're caught near the scene of the crime or are "questioned" later). If you are pur­sued, it may be tempting to simply toss away gloves with incriminating paint, grease, etc. on them. Better to take a moment to bury them (ineffective if dogs are on your trail), or to continue to carry them until escape is assured and then dispose of them safely by burying or burning. Disposing of gloves near the crime scene should be done only if capture appears unavoidable and immediate.

Headgear

Headgear is important in some situations for warmth and disguise. Knitted wool watch caps are both commonplace and comfortable. Wide brimmed hats hang up on brush and tree limbs and should be avoided. Ski masks and ban­dannas can be used for disguise, but their use may constitute an additional violation of the law. Do not lose your headgear at the scene of an action. It will contain samples of your hair.

If you have long hair, tie it back. Ponytails and braids can be stuck down inside a coat.

-The Invisible Man

FIELD NOTES

* Many ecodefenders claim it is safer to monkeywrench out of state than in one's own. This is not true for activists with California license plates-they are considered fair game by most non-California badge wearers who get their jollies by hassling residents of the tarnished golden state. In California, however, out-of-staters are rarely bugged just because of their origin except for those with Mexican license plates.

* If you have suggestive bumper stickers on your car, you can cover them with masking tape and duct tape while "on the job" or visiting unfriendly towns like Escalante, Utah. Cover your sticker with masking tape first, then cover the masking tape with duct tape. The masking tape will protect your bumper sticker from being peeled off or torn when the duct tape is pulled off. When your need for maintaining a low profile is over, simply peel off the duct tape and there is your bumper sticker proclaiming its message to the world. If you are serious about security, however, you will remove such bumper stickers from your vehicle while on the job.

FIELD NOTES- GENERAL CAMOUFLAGE

* Before you go into the woods at night, check your running shoes, clothing, pack, and other equipment for reflective patches and remove them. For example, many running shoes today have reflector stripes on them to make runners along roads at night visible to cars. To check, dress exactly as you would for nightwork, stand to the side of a road, and have a trusted friend drive down it with the headlights on as you turn around-if anything you are wearing reflects light, she should notice it.

* Campmor offers in their catalog what they call the "world's quietest pack." It is touted as, "The pack when you don't want to be seen or heard. Made of 26 oz., water resistant, virgin wool. This pack will not pull, thread or catch. Forest green color blends into the woods nicely." Sounds like it was made with mon­keywrenchers in mind!

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Keep the number of tools used in an operation to an absolute minimum. Useful tools may include adjustable pipe and crescent wrenches, hacksaws with spare blades, heavy duty wire cutters or bolt cutters, pliers, pry-bars, screwdrivers, and crosscut saws. Especially noisy tools should be avoided. Hammers fall into this category, although they are essential for certain types of work, such as spiking. Chain saws are usually out of the question for any clandestine type of activity. Insulated handles (tape may be used for this) minimize the sounds of tools clanking together.

If you are carrying only one or two tools, secure them to your wrist or belt with a short cord, to prevent loss by dropping them in the dark. Otherwise, carry tools in jacket pockets or in canvas bags slung from the shoulder or attached to the belt. If bags are used, they should be easy to open and close. Before heading out, shake the bag to insure that the tools don't rattle or bang together. A dark towel or rag can be used to deaden any noise. A towel will also prove useful if you need to cut wire: drape a couple of layers of towel over the wire and then cut. The towel will deaden the sound of the wire separating. Be sure the ends of a taut fence wire don't snap back and cause noise. A shallow cut followed by flexing the wire back and forth should allow the wire to separate quietly. Practice.

hoose tools of common manufacture and buy them with cash at large retail outlets or discount houses where the cashier is not likely to remember you. If asked for name and address, even for a warranty, give false information or none at all.

If you must buy special tools, materials, books, or the like by mail, don't leave a "paper trail" for investigators to follow. Don't use charge cards or per­sonal checks. Send postal or bank money orders instead, and DO NOT fill out your name and address in the part labeled "sender." Remember, bank accounts are accessible to the police, and provide a detailed account of pur­chases, travel, and even political opinion. All checks cashed, by law, must be recorded on microfilm. A basic step in police investigation is to gather com­plete bank records of all possible suspects and co-conspirators. Your bank does not tell you when they hand over copies of your records to a police agency. In the Arizona Five case, the FBI secretly acquired complete bank records for the accounts of Dave Foreman, Earth First! Journal, and the Earth First! Foundation, well before any arrests.

Microscopic marks left by tools can sometimes be used to link a specific tool to the scene of a "crime." Also, paint flakes or other material from a "crime scene" may be found on a tool and used as evidence to link that tool to a spe­cific site. Because of this, too, it is prudent to dispose of tools regularly and to replace them with tools of a different brand, size, or type.

Before beginning a "mission," prepare the tools to be taken by donning gloves and wipe them free of fingerprints with a rag. Store the "clean" tools in a bag to prevent accidental handling (cloth laundry bags are good). All surfaces must be wiped off. In the case of a flashlight, for example, you must be certain that no prints will turn up on batteries, bulb, reflector, or any other part you might have handled.

Hardware

CUTTING TOOLS - For cutting chainlink fence, small (14") bolt cutters work well. For something smaller, try the Sears 8" wire cutter with compound-action jaws. Fence tools should be used for cutting barbed wire. Most wire cutters and fence tools will cut chicken wire and hardware cloth, but they are slow. If you anticipate much of this type of cutting, tin snips or compound leverage sheet metal shears are faster (available from Sears).

WRENCHES - If your project involves removing bolts, you may want to scout the job ahead of time. Investigate the bolts and nuts so that you can bring the right tools. Adjustable wrenches work for most jobs, but others require proper sized wrenches, hacksaws, or other tools. Measure the dis­tance between parallel sides of the bolt head or nut. Are they standard or met­ric? Copy any markings you find on the bolt heads. What do they mean? If they indicate that the bolt is heat-treated or case-hardened, they cannot be cut with bolt cutters and require special hacksaw blades. Are the bolt heads and nuts square or hex (6 sided)? Are they standard type or will specialized tools be required to remove them? Notice the placement of the bolts and nuts. Can you reach them with crescent, end, or box wrenches, or will it be neces­sary to bring socket wrenches and extensions?

Place a few drops of Liquid Wrench or Penetrating Oil on the nuts and bolts during your recon so they can be more easily removed later, but wipe off the drips and use a product with a minimal odor so you don't tip off workers or security guards. Be careful during recon not to be seen; later on your work night, if anything seems abnormal, figure you were seen. Cancel the job and slip away.

Based on your recon, use crescent, end, box, or adjustable wrenches if bolts are accessible. If you must use socket wrenches, use 6 point sockets for hex bolts/nuts since 12 point may slip if the head is worn. Eight point sock­ets fit square nuts and bolts. These are available from Sears, Snap-On, and others. If the bolt studs protrude very far through the nut, you may need to use Deep or Bolt Clearance sockets. Six point deep sockets are readily avail­able but 8 point deep sockets are only available from Snap-On.

Drive tools may be necessary for difficult nuts and bolts. Very large bolts may demand 3/4" or even 1 " square drive tools. These are heavy. When removing bolts, block the head or nut with a crescent or pipe wrench or another socket. Use a breaker bar (cheater) to loosen the bolt. When the bolt is mov­ing, put a Ratcheting Adapter (Snap-On #S67) between the socket and the breaker bar and finish pulling the bolt or nut. Two short lengths of pipe joined with a coupling will make your cheater easier to carry and conceal. If you anticipate using heavy force on nuts, select thick-walled, heat-treated Impact socket wrenches. Heavy duty Slugging wrenches are also good. A hammer­ operated Impact tool can be used to loosen stubborn screws and bolts, though this is noisy.

Power tools, chain saws, and oxy-acetylene or propane torches all bear serial numbers (sometimes not readily apparent). A tool such as these dropped at the scene of a hit can be traced from the manufacturer to the retailer who sold it. Leave no paper trail linking you to the tool purchase.

A Fanny Pack For Monkeywrenchers

This fanny pack system allows the eco-raider to work without the loss of speed and agility that backpacks cause. This set-up has been developed and field tested over several missions and works quite well. However, others should experiment and develop a system that suits their own specialty and style of ecotage.

Wear the pack on your fanny until you need something, then turn it around your waist so that the compartments of the pack are in your lap. This way you don't need to remove the pack which is important so you don't lose your toys.

See the illustration.

Note 1: The upper compartment should be used for gloves and kerchiefs. Note 2: The main compartment should hold the basic kit. Take only what you may need. Some examples are:

• Food
• Survival equipment (space blanket, matches, maps, gauze pads, antisep­tic, wet wipes, water purification tablets, etc.)
• Flashlight
• String and ropes of small diameter
• Super glue (if used frequently, keep it in your pocket)
• Whistle (dog and regular)
• Spikes and a hammer
• Tools (fence tool, pliers, adjustable wrenches, etc.)
• Kerchiefs
• Blaze orange vest with reflectors (to blend in with hunters or construction crews)
• Caltrops
• Spray paint

Note 3: A rock climber's chalk bag is convenient for carrying items used more frequently. The bag closes with a draw string. Uses include storage of:

• A radio (scanner or walkie-talkie)
• Camera
• Water bottle
• Marbles or caltrops
• Flashlight and/or tools
• A container with grinding compound or sand.

Miscellaneous

Flashlights may be essential for night operations. See the section Eyes of Night later in this chapter. Watches are needed to coordinate the timing of actions, drops, pick-ups, etc. Any reliable watch with a lighted or luminous face will do. Particularly useful are waterproof digital watches that feature an alarm, a stop watch with an alarm, and a timer with an alarm. Get one with a button to light the face. Black, of course. A flexible terry cloth wrist sweat­band in a dark color, available at sporting goods stores, will cover up the tell­tale light and protect the watch from abuse.

Every team member should carry at least two quarters (in separate pockets to prevent noise) for emergency phone calls. If you become separated from your team or miss a pick-up, you may need to walk to a pay phone and call for an emergency pick-up. (Set up such an emergency phone number with some­one on duty at it as part of your planning.) -Shade Tree Mechanic

EYES OF NIGHT

Flashlights

A few mechanical aids may help night operations. The most basic is the flashlight. Small, pen-type flashlights can be easily carried and used when working on equipment, locks, etc. Larger flashlights may be easier to manipu­late with gloved hands. The lens should be covered with a couple of layers of electrical tape, leaving only a narrow slit to emit light. Best among the larger flashlights are the green plastic military types with the lens at a right angle to the body. The bases of these flashlights unscrew to reveal a spare bulb and two special lenses that can be mounted over the standard clear lens by unscrewing the "0" ring and popping them in. The translucent white lens con­verts the visible beam of light to a white spot suitable for signaling. The red lens allows the user to illuminate an object without ruining her night vision.

Military studies show that blue filters are even better than red filters-they illuminate without destroying night vision and they cannot be seen from a distance as well as red light. (Blue light might be bad for people with epilepsy, though.) Moreover, a red filter can make the brown contour lines on a topo­graphic map invisible.

Each member of the team should carry two flashlights-one medium and one small. A flashlight with a plug-in headlamp attachment may be useful when you need both hands for work. With this type of headlamp, the battery case can be kept in an inside pocket, warmed by body heat, for longer battery life. This can be important for cold weather operations.

Protection From Night Vision Surveillance

Those active in an area subject to law enforcement investigation and surveillance might encounter nighttime stakeouts utilizing sophisticated night vision devices. The most sophisticated of these will amplify existing starlight tens of thousands of times. This effectively turns night into day for the view­ers, but it does not penetrate into shadowed areas very well. The addition of an infrared spotlight allows invisible infrared light to penetrate even the shad­ows within the range of the spotlight.

Beware of ultraviolet brighteners in your clothing. These chemicals, which are now in all laundry detergents, make you glow in the dark to an officer quipped with night vision equipment. This problem is so serious that the US military specifies that no brighteners be used in, the manufacturing or cleaning of combat fatigues.

A commercial remedy is readily available in the hunting supply market. Hunters are trying to reduce their visibility to animals whose eyes are far more receptive to ultraviolet light than is the human eye. "U-V Killer" (and a deter­gent called "Sport Wash") can be found in better sporting goods and hunting supply stores, or, as a last resort. through the manufacturer: Atsko/Sno-Seal Inc., 2530 Russell St SE, Orangeburg, SC 29115.

When purchasing retail, simply pose as a hunter or the wife/girlfriend of a hunter. Follow directions carefully and set aside specific items of clothing that are specially treated for your nightwork. It won't make you invisible at night, but it will keep you from standing out like a neon sign.

-Strix

Daily Routine

Because surveillance is likely to be employed against any suspected mon­keywrencher, make the counter-surveillance security check a part of your daily routine. Think of it as simply paying attention to detail. It enhances your appreciation of life and events around you.

Following are a few simple rules:

* Don't look around in an obvious manner. The trick is to spot the surveillance without the bad guys knowing it. If it's obvious that you look up and down the street every time you walk out the front door, or if someone following you sees your head twitch every time you look in the rearview mirror, you've blown it. Be patient-be cool.

* Know your neighbors. If they like you they may tip you off to suspicious men asking questions or parked in the neighborhood. This also helps you spot strangers in your area.

* Know your neighbors' cars. This makes it harder for a surveillance vehicle to be parked in view of your home. Be suspicious of any new vehicles (especially vans and other vehicles that can conceal a surveillance person in back). Surveillance vehicles are usually rotated, different vehicles in different locations. Be alert and participate in a Neighborhood Watch program if avail­able. See State-of-the-art Video Surveillance elsewhere in this chapter.

* Be wary of any newcomers in your area, especially if they're in a house or apartment with a good view of your comings and goings. Empty houses and rentals may also be used as fixed surveillance posts.

* Surveillance may only be active when you are, like after dark, or when an informer reports you're going camping. Heighten your awareness at these times, even if you're not up to anything.

* Most cautious people only check for surveillance shortly after leaving home, work, or school. Most professional surveillance picks up after this to avoid being "made." Make your checks random.

* Pay attention to cars and faces. A feeling that you've seen them before is usually your first warning. Don't stare in an obvious manner.

* If you live in a remote area, concealed video cameras may monitor your home. Take walks in the area and be alert to new boxes on power poles, unexplained cables, or monitoring vehicles parked at some distance. Here especially, your good neighbor policy may provide you with a tip-off that authorities have asked your neighbors to use their home for surveillance.

* Bumper beeper transmitters are used to give surveillance teams a good standoff distance to avoid detection, especially in rural areas where light traf­fic makes it difficult to maintain visual contact without being obvious. Keep your vehicle locked at all times, preferably inside a garage. Learn what the underside of your vehicle and the engine compartment look like so that you can occasionally check for suspicious additions. Use your routine night trips or trips to the country to check for surveillance. Stop in a remote area and wait to see what vehicles overtake you. If you pull off the road into a concealed spot, the following vehicle may drive by slowly or repeatedly trying to figure out where you've gone. Walk back to the main road quickly and watch from con­cealment for any such activity.

* Run repeated surveillance checks before any mission.

* Be suspicious of night-flying aircraft when you're out driving. They'll usually maintain a healthy distance to avoid tipping you off. When out on a job, stop your vehicle in quiet areas, shut off the engine, and look and listen for air­craft. Repeat this check several times.

* Using the drop and pick-up technique earlier described in Ecodefense makes even sophisticated surveillance very difficult.

* The FBI will commonly use six vehicles when tailing a suspect. One vehicle will follow within sight for awhile, and then drop out as another takes over. The tailing vehicles will be in radio contact so all know where the suspect vehi­cle is at all times.

Routine checks for surveillance will enhance your powers of observation and greatly improve your monkeywrenching work. Be observant. Pay attention to detail.

-Smiley

Mental Conditioning

As a pastime, monkeywrenching is considerably more stressful than softball or good books. Stress reduction and improved work habits are routinely used to improve the performance of people in high stress jobs (such as police work). Mental conditioning can also increase your capabilities and heighten your security.

Stress is unpredictable. Armed forces the world over have spent millions of research dollars trying to develop ways of predicting which recruits will hold up best under extreme stress. These efforts have been largely unsuccessful due to the variety of mental processes involved and the wide range of circum­stances that may trigger stress. Stated simply, you do not know how you or your partners will respond to that ultimate moment of stress when the beam of a powerful spotlight catches you at night or the men at the door whip out their FBI credentials. The dangers of this uncertainty can be significantly reduced by simple exercises.

The following is not just empty theory. This writer has had extensive field experience and has felt or witnessed everything described below.

STRESS IS ALWAYS PRESENT. Even the most mundane tasks are stressful for the monkeywrencher. Though you may not be conscious of a minor level of stress, it is still there and still a danger. Example: You enter a furrier's shop on a scouting mission. Though you've done nothing illegal and you're not carrying anything incriminating, your eyes wander about nervously, you startle when a salesperson comes up behind you unexpectedly, or you simply do not behave like an interested shopper. Because your behavior is a little unusual, the sales clerks remember you and describe you to police a couple of weeks later when the store is splashed in red paint.

LOW STRESS LEVELS MAKE YOU VULNERABLE TO HIGH STRESS. The nervousness present every time you go on a mission makes it easier for a sudden problem to overwhelm you. Example: You make your final approach to a bulldozer parked alongside a quiet road. You've been very cautious, stop­ping time and again to look and listen for signs of trouble. Your throat is dry and you're sweating just a little. Suddenly a voice booms out, "Hold it right there! You're under arrest!" You freeze in your tracks, rather than running, confused and uncertain where the voice came from. Then you are arrested.

Because stress is always present and dangerous, you must be willing to deal with it at all times instead of waiting until you're in a bind before trying to reduce your stress level.

While there are many kinds of stress reactions, the following are the most dangerous to the monkeywrencher:

TUNNEL VISION. This is a common form of high stress sensory distortion that causes you to focus intently on the most obvious danger to the exclusion of your surroundings. Example: You are watching a security guard's truck drive past on a nearby dirt road. You don't even notice the second guard walking up on your left in plain view.

BLOCKING OUT SOUNDS. Similar to tunnel vision, here you are concentrat­ing your attention on anticipated sounds while ignoring others. Example: Convinced you heard the sound of footsteps, you fail to notice the sound of distant highway traffic getting louder as a patrol car rolls up to your hiding spot.

TIME DISTORTION. Time may seem to slow down or speed up, either way giving you inaccurate information with which to deal with your problems. Example: You drop flat on your stomach in the tall grass after seeing a moving silhouette in the nearby trees. Waiting perfectly still for what seems like a couple of minutes, you slowly rise up to leave. In reality, only fifteen seconds have passed and you're staring into the face of an unfriendly Freddie. Or...you duck out of sight from an approaching car that stops a short distance away. Time seems to stand still. Your fear mounts rapidly while you wait for the car to leave. Seconds later you jump up and dash off recklessly into the night. The driver at the stop sign sees you run off and notifies police.

LOSS OF FINE MOTOR SKILLS. Stress automatically prepares your body for large brute responses like running or fighting. Fine coordination suffers as a result. Example: Convinced you've been spotted, you hurry back to your parked car where you fumble with your keys and drop them in the darkness.

LOSS OF DECISION MAKING ABILITY. Even if you've successfully con­trolled the sensory manifestations of stress cited above, high levels of anxiety may override your normal ability to make correct choices. Example: While out spiking trees you narrowly escape an ambush by Freddies. After fleeing the area, you pause momentarily to catch your breath. Then you dash off once again, but instead of heading deeper into the woods, you inadvertently run directly to the trailhead where more Freddies are waiting by their parked trucks.

The market is flooded with books, tapes, and seminars teaching stress reduction. But closing your eyes or systematically relaxing muscle by muscle is impractical when the law is breathing down your neck and you must be totally alert to your surroundings. For this reason, a simple stress reducing breathing exercise may be most suitable for all stressful situations. In addition, it's something you can do in public without drawing undue attention.

A breathing exercise counters the rapid and shallow breathing that normally accompanies stress. By calming the body, it sends signals to your brain that things are okay, thus reducing mental stress. The key is to breath deeply and slowly.

Inhale deeply while counting "one-two-three-four-five." Hold that breath while again counting one to five. Now exhale completely while again counting to five. When your lungs are completely emptied, count one through five again and begin your next five-count breath. Repeat this process over and over; inhale, hold it, exhale, pause...

Practice this breathing exercise at home or in your favorite place in the woods. A calm and peaceful setting will help you feel the relaxation it affords you. Once you have learned this simple exercise, pause before your next scouting mission, or after your driver has dropped you off, or before the final approach to the target, and take a few moments to reduce your stress before facing trouble. Later, if you've just ducked out of sight of a passing guard, do this breathing exercise while observing your surroundings closely and waiting for an "all clear." Or, if you've just escaped a near capture, pause to control your breathing and consider your options carefully.

Another means of improving your stress response is VISUALIZATION. Because you will react as you have been trained to react, drill yourself repeat­edly on what you would do if...

...you are suddenly caught in the glare of a spotlight from the left ... or the right...

... a car engine starts up nearby just as you climb down off the bulldozer. ...you return to your pickup point to find the flashing lights of a police car. ...you look out the window after hearing a knock at the front door and see two men in business suits standing outside.

Visualize your complete response to the danger scenario. Imagine in detail-will you run or walk? Will you stop to pick up your keys before answer­ing the door? Will you hide nearby, or run as far as you can?

Make these mental drills a routine part of your monkeywrenching, adapting them to every changing circumstance. If trouble suddenly appears, you will have already taken the first step in proper decision making, thereby eliminating those first few precious seconds of indecision.

Finally, take a little comfort in knowing that successfully surviving one stressful situation will tend to make the next one a little easier to cope with. Stress reduction can give you the winning edge before, during, and after a dangerous mission. And don't stop just because the job is over. What if you're pulled over by a cop while driving home?

-Cool Hand Luke

Counterintelligence

The best defense is a good offense. A good counterintelligence program is a must!

Everything that goes on in regard to protests, occupations, civil disobedience, and other "out in the open" actions is well documented on film and video tape by government agencies so that the actions can be analyzed by law enforcement agents at a later date. During such actions they fill out forms to answer questions like: who are the speakers? any known radicals present? does the action appear to be a diversion? etc.

They record incidents of ecotage in much the same manner. All the information they gather is entered into a file that is constantly analyzed.

If you do the same-constantly analyze all related events-you are practicing counterintelligence. A good book on this subject is FM 34-60 (Army field manual) and you can probably find a copy in most larger military surplus outlets.

-The Plumbers

COUNTERSECURITY

As the incidence and effectiveness of monkeywrenching increases, targets will be "hardened" with the addition of various security measures. A basic knowledge of how to defeat these security additions is therefore important to a successful campaign of ecotage.

Locks

Because of their low cost, various types of padlocks are used to secure gates, equipment sheds, and heavy equipment. Much earth moving equipment is designed to allow the owner to put padlocks on all the standard access points like fuel tank and radiator caps, oil dipstick, and transmission and oil pan filler tubes. In addition, many machines have metal doors that can be locked to block access to the cab or engine compartment. There are two methods for defeating locks. jamming or forcing.

JAMMING: Any glue that dries hard within a couple of hours is suitable for jamming locks. The "liquid metal" type is usually good. Whatever glue you use, force it into the keyway by one of two methods as seen in illustration 9.1. The syringe applicator (A) is very handy, but due to higher unit cost, should only be used where few locks are to be jammed. The large tubes can be modi­fied by drilling a small hole in the cap (B) to direct a narrow stream of glue into the lock. These are best when many locks are to be jammed. A single earth mover can have six to ten padlocks securing all vulnerable parts of it. See also the section on Lock Jamming in the Miscellaneous Deviltry chapter.

FORCING: A battery-powered electric drill with a new 1/8 inch high speed drill bit can be used to force open most locks as in illustration 9.1. Most keyed locks are pin-tumbler types whose basic operating principle can be seen in (C). When a key is inserted, it pushes up on spring-loaded pins of various lengths. When the tops of these pins are in perfect alignment with the "shear line," the entire "plug" in which the key is inserted can be turned and the lock opened. In most locks, all of these parts are made of brass to prevent corrosion, and its relative softness makes drilling easy. As you can see in (D), the drill is used to destroy the pins along the shear line. Be careful not to drill too deeply into the lock since this can damage the locking bar deep inside making it impossible to o0en. Drill in only to the depth of the keyway (3/4-inch in most padlocks). A "drill stop" found with the power tools in a hardware store can be used to pre­set this depth and prevent drilling too deep.

Inserting a pin, like a nail, will keep the damaged remains of the top pins above the shear line. Otherwise they will drop down and prevent the lock from opening. You may need to put the drill bit in a couple of times to chew up any pin fragments that might interfere with opening.

Finally, insert a narrow-bladed screwdriver (F) into the keyway and turn it to open the lock. Before using this method in the field, buy a cheap padlock or two and practice at home.

FIELD NOTES

* Large bolt cutters can be used to slice open a padlock.

* Some monkeywrenchers say a much easier way to remove unwanted pad­locks is with a crescent wrench. Just slip the jaws, from the side, over the brass body of the lock and twist. The hasp is made of hardened steel which is hard to cut but brittle. You can supposedly break a lock in seconds with an 8 inch crescent wrench (called a shifter in Australia).

* The use of lock picks can provide access to many outdoor and indoor secured areas and equipment. A basic set consisting of several rake picks, feeler picks, base keys, and torsion wrenches can take care of many pin cylinder type locks. The procedures and practice techniques are described in Lock Picking Simplified (Desert Publications, 1975) available from mail-order outfits like Loompanics. One monkeywrencher reports, "In the year since making my first lock picks, I have opened about 30 locks."

"The practice should focus on constant but light pressure on the torsion wrench, and judging the correct depth of insertion to insure that the farthest pin will be depressed. The door locks and padlocks used in my practice have usually been opened in less than a minute. Several rusty locks took consider­ably more time. However, the time used in attempting to pick these locks would appear to be justified before using destructive techniques. A small sec­tion of hacksaw blade used similar to a rake pick, can be used to open locks with small keyways."

Combination Locks

You may also encounter the combination-type padlock as seen in illustration 9.2. To "jam" these, pry off the dial face. Although this can be accomplished with one screwdriver, two make the job easier. First insert a narrow-bladed screwdriver behind the dial face (A). After it is pried up sufficiently, insert a second, heavier screwdriver (B) to finish the job. Without a dial face, the lock owner will be unable to open the lock without forcing it.

These locks can often be opened with the same drill and bit described previ­ously. Note how the notch in the shackle (D) is locked in place by a spring­loaded bolt (E). By drilling a hole in the back of the lock case directly over the bolt (F), you can insert a small nail and push the bolt back out of the notch in the shackle (G) and the lock will open.

Some expensive high security combination padlocks are designed to pre­vent prying the dial face off, and have two locking bolts, one on each side of the shackle. These can still be jammed by drilling a hole in the back of the casing and forcing glue inside.

Fences

Garages and parking areas for heavy equipment, and offices are often pro­tected by fenced yards or compounds. The most common type of fence is made of chain-link "fabric" with openings of 2 inches or less to make climbing difficult. Seven feet is the minimum effective height. Often a "top guard" is added, consisting of an angled brace (or two) holding either barbed wire or the newer barbed tape. These fences can be climbed with the aid of a ladder. If you plan to climb the fence without a ladder, wear tennis shoes for the best grip.

The top guard wire can either be cut, or covered with a scrap of old carpet and climbed over. If you chose to cut it, use good bolt cutters. The newest type of barbed tape is reinforced with a steel cable core that wire cutters can­not cut, but bolt cutters slice right through.

It is also a simple matter to cut through the chain-link fabric, and a hole suf­ficiently large to pass through can be made in less than half a minute. Never buy cheap bolt cutters to do this, for they will eventually let you down. Remember that any cutting, unless hidden in a low or concealed spot of a rarely patrolled fence, will reveal your presence the next morning. By cutting only at the bottom (just enough to allow you to crawl under) you can minimize this problem. Also, you can carry a few scraps of wire to tie the fence fabric back to a semblance of its former condition, perhaps delaying discovery.

The gates on these fenced compounds can usually be quickly forced open with a 6-foot pry bar. In an emergency, a car or pickup truck can easily drive through either a gate, or directly through the chain-link fabric itself, sustaining little more than a few paint scratches.

FIELD NOTES

* It is much faster to cut a hole in chain-link fencing than to try to get three to five people over the fence. When cutting chain-link fence, use small bolt cut­ters or a fence tool and cut the same vertical strand of wire repeatedly each time it slants to the left or right (not both). You will need to cut the bottom ten­sion wire also. Study how chain-link fences are constructed. Watch for electri­fied or alarmed fences.

* If chain-link fences must be climbed, running shoes with knobby soles help. The old Adidas TRX model was great.

Lighting

The presence of security lighting often reveals the location of a sensitive target. The effectiveness of security lighting in bad weather is minimal. Time your hit accordingly.

If necessary, these lights can be knocked out, even if mounted high on a pole or the side of a building. An air rifle firing BBs can break an exposed bulb. It is best to avoid using air rifles firing either .177 or .22 caliber pellets, even though these are more effective, because these soft lead pellets pick up dis­tinctive rifling marks as they pass through the barrel and can often be matched back to a specific gun.

A slingshot is probably best for knocking out lights, but it requires practice to develop the necessary accuracy (see section on Slingshots in the Miscellaneous Deviltry chapter). Also, some security lights are protected by a piece of Plexiglas to deflect low-velocity projectiles.

Closed-Circuit Television

Before penetrating any fence, develop the habit of checking for CCTV surveillance. These cameras are mounted high on poles or the sides of build­ings to prevent tampering, and may be concealed by a round or box-like weatherproof covering. The effectiveness of CCTV surveillance is severely limited by bad weather. Also, right-angle corners of fences might create a blind spot through which you can quickly move. Study the layout carefully. To pre­vent blind spots at corners, some fences avoid the 90-degree turn and use three 30-degree bends at corners.

Alarms

Although many types of alarm sensors are visible from the outside of a structure (like the metal foil on windows), some are not readily detected. The surest way to check for presence of an alarm is to force entry. This may trip lights, bells, or sirens. If it does not, there may still be a silent alarm system in place designed to summon guards or police without alerting the intruder. These can be detected by forcing entry and hiding a safe distance away to see if someone arrives to check out the target. Most responses occur within a half hour, usually substantially less.

Of course if your hit is to be quick, like breaking windows to toss in paint bags, an alarm will not deter you since you'll be long gone before someone arrives.

Before climbing or cutting fences, check to see that they are not wired to an alarm system. Any heavy wire or conduit attached to the fence from four to five feet above the ground (as seen in illustration 9.3 A) could indicate an alarm system designed to detect both climbing and cutting. If you look farther, you will find sensors attached at intervals (see B, C, & D).

These can be circumvented by digging under the fence, but you must be careful not to bump the fence. Another way to neutralize this type of system is to trigger numerous false alarms by shaking the fence and quickly leaving the area. Enough false alarms might bring about the shutdown of the system. Since high winds can trigger these alarms, windy nights are the best times to do this. In addition, numerous false alarms on a windy night can cause imme­diate shutdown, allowing you to enter later that same night.

FIELD NOTES

* In urban areas watch for passive infrared motion and heat detectors. Several different types are currently in use. They can be wired to turn on lights, sound horns, or quietly notify a guard at a security station.

Guards

Most security guards work for only about minimum wage, and bring little enthusiasm to the job with them. A lot of them are pensioners seeking extra income, and retired cops. A surprising number are ex-cons and wackos who want to carry guns but are too unstable to be hired by police agencies. You never know what type you'll encounter, so always be cautious if you suspect they might be in the area.

Monitoring is boring, and the long hours tend to dull the senses. The guards who manage to stay awake often do so with the aid of television, radio, or mag­azines, all of which greatly hinder their effectiveness.

Some guards remain relatively stationary, guarding a specific building or heavy equipment parking lot. Others patrol irregularly, often using pickup trucks at remote sites. All have a tendency to hang out near well-lit areas or in the nearby shadows. Sometimes making a complete circuit of a target will reveal the silhouette of a guard's truck parked with a view of the target.

Always be patient when looking for security guards. The slightest sound or glow of a cigarette will often tip you off to their presence. If you have not been able to locate any guards, but are still unsure, use your flashlight or make some loud noise to see if you can draw them out. Make sure you have a con­cealed escape route handy.

If a guard is sitting too close to your target, you may want to consider using lights and noise to decoy him away-especially if your hit is to be a smash­ and-run type. Remember to close your eyes in those brief moments when using a flashlight as a decoy or bait, to prevent loss of night vision.

Among the tools useful in your check for guards is a flashlight equipped with a red lens, or covered with electrical tape so that it emits only a pinhole of light. With these you can illuminate small things without alerting a guard. Another useful piece of equipment is a good pair of binoculars. For maximum light ­gathering at night, they should have fully coated optics and an objective lens of at least 50 millimeters.

If, despite your precautions, you are surprised by a security guard or other self-appointed guardian of the mindless machine, your best option is immediate flight. When running at night, keep one or both arms fully extended in front of you to prevent being slapped in the face by a tree limb or worse. A heavy jacket provides good protection from unseen obstacles. (This writer once ran full tilt into a barbed wire fence that was invisible on a moonless night. The fence bowed almost to the ground, then sprang back up, leaving me standing a bit surprised, but none the worse for wear thanks to the heavy army-surplus jacket I wore.)

Finally, an inexpensive, battery-powered device, worn on a cord around your neck, can make it difficult for a pursuer to follow you in the night. Pointed at a pursuer on a dark night, a compact strobe light (as is used as a flash attach­ment for 35 mm cameras) can cause him to lose his night vision. You, of course, should keep your eyes closed when flashing the unit. Many types are available, so shop around. Look for one that is easily operated manually (by a small push button) and can be used while wearing gloves.

PURSUIT AND EVASION

Any combination of error and bad luck may find you being pursued by police, security guards, or a suspicious citizen. Even if the pursuers are trappers, dirt bikers, loggers, surveyors, bulldozer jockeys, prospectors, or ranchers, avoid panic. While planning, you should have considered the possibility of pursuit, so you should know a good way to escape. If you must run at night, keep your head down and your arms extended ahead of you to block tree branches and to break a fall. Lift your knees high to step over small obstacles that might oth­erwise trip you. Stop running as soon as possible and listen for the sounds of pursuit. At night you can sometimes hide and allow pursuers to run past you. (Do not attempt this ploy if your pursuers are using dogs. For this eventuality, see the section on Tracking Dogs.) Do not lead your pursue,*s directly to where your driver is supposed to pick you up.

Pursuers following your footprints will have a difficult if not impossible task at night. Trackers working cross-country at night will be moving slowly, so you can outdistance them. Generally, if being pursued at night, you will want to stay in open areas to allow quick and quiet movement, and need not worry about leaving footprints.

When moving by day, use roads or hard-packed trails when out of sight of pursuers. Otherwise, step on rocks or clumps of grass to minimize tracks. Walking on the outside edge of your foot will also diminish tracks. Learning to follow tracks yourself will be the best way to learn how to avoid leaving any. (See the earlier section on Tracking).

Vehicular Pursuit

You may find yourself being pursued when in your vehicle. Again, your pur­suer may be a police officer, a private security guard, or an irate citizen. Even skilled pursuers can sometimes be safely eluded by the driver who keeps cool and plans ahead. However, it is unlikely that you will be able to outrun law enforcement vehicles. They know what they are doing. They also know they don't need to catch you-all they have to do is radio ahead and wait for you to screw up. You have a better chance, however slim, of eluding police than out­running them.

Remember that a high-speed chase can endanger innocent people, not to mention yourself. This is morally indefensible. Fortunately, simply outrunning the opposition is rarely as successful as outmaneuvering and outthinking it.

We were once actually pursued by an enraged citizen on some dark country roads. Unfortunately our trusty steed, an ancient automobile, could not go over fifty miles an hour. Our pursuer came howling down on us like a banshee and was fast closing the gap. Since we were unable to outrun him, our survival depended solely on our wits (two halves make a whole). Since our advanced planning had included a study of all the roads within miles of the target, we knew that just over the next rise were several small intersecting side roads. When the opposition was within thirty seconds of us, we topped out on the slight rise in the road and were briefly out of sight. In those precious few sec­onds, we jammed on the brakes and whipped off onto a side road. We then cut the headlights and coasted along slowly in the dark, finally stopping with the parking brake to avoid signaling our location with a flashy display of brake lights. (See Vehicle Modifications in the Vehicles and Heavy Equipment chap­ter.)

Our pursuer roared past moments later, in hot pursuit of a car that had been well ahead of us on the same road. Once clear, we turned our lights back on and left the area by the back roads.

This tactic can also be used in urban areas, especially if your pursuer never gets close enough to see what your vehicle looks like. Whip into a parking lot or even into the driveway of a house, shut off the lights and engine, and allow the pursuer to pass. Once it's safe, quietly leave the area in the opposite direction.

The trick of this and other types of evasion is getting out of sight of your pursuer. This can be accomplished by turning in and out of side streets and alleys. We have used this type of evasive maneuvering more than once to evade police cruisers in downtown business areas.

Those who try to rely on speed alone to escape police find that they can't outrun the radios used to alert interceptors and set up roadblocks.

In rural areas, forest and range roads may offer avenues of escape. If you have thrown your pursuer off the track, this may be a good time to rid yourself of any incriminating evidence. But don't just drive to the end of the road and then walk off into the forest or desert to bury the goods. An experienced tracker can detect what you've done after a brief examination. Instead, stop at some random point along the road, preferably at a spot where rocks, hard ground, or a thick bed of pine needles allow you to walk without leaving foot­prints. Make sure that nothing you dispose of could carry your fingerprints. Burn all papers, maps, etc. (Obviously, if you think a pursuer is still some­where in the vicinity, don't start a fire.) After disposing of the incriminating material, leave the area and play dumb if questioned.

Carry camping gear in your vehicle. If forced to hide out on a remote back­road, you can set up camp and pretend to be camping should any police inquire. If you are forced to take this approach, pay attention to details of your alibi. For example, don't say that you've been camping for a week if you have only one fire's worth of ashes in your fire pit.

If you are not discovered, get out your highway or forest map and plot the shortest, safest route out of the county (and possibly the state). Avoid driving through the county seat or other main towns, if possible, as this is where you are most likely to encounter a roving sheriff's deputy. Under dire circumstances, you may want to arrange for only the driver to leave the area, and have a second vehicle, unknown to the police, come later to pick up the rest of the team at a pre-selected rendezvous site.

FIELD NOTE:

* Because of the danger of high-speed auto chases to yourself and others, the unlikelihood that an amateur can outrun or evade the police, and the additional criminal charges for running, we discourage trying to escape from police in your vehicle. However, if this is something you want to be able to do, shell out the money and go to one of the professional driver schools that teach chauffeurs for executives how to evade kidnappers. See their ads in the backs of magazines like Police Gazette. Most important for vehicular escape is to know the escape routes beforehand. You should know the area and its roads better than your potential pursuer.

Self Defense

One of the most serious dangers faced by monkeywrenchers is the very real possibility of being assaulted by security guards (or more likely, by miners, ranchers, loggers, and other assorted yahoos) if apprehended in the midst of an operation. Should you come unexpectedly face-to-face with a real or self-appointed guardian of the mindless machine, under circumstances in which no amount of talking is likely to persuade the guard of your innocence, the best policy is to turn and run. (Of course, if you're staring down the barrels of a 12­gauge double at five paces, running might be the last thing you should do. In fact, if you do run under such circumstances, it may be the last thing you ever do.) Most of the people on the other side are dreadfully out of shape, and any good monkeywrencher should count it a matter of professional pride to be in top cardiovascular fitness. Being able to run fast, and for several miles can save your sweet ass.

There is a readily available tool that can greatly deter a pursuer, should you unexpectedly encounter someone at close range, without causing permanent injury. This is a small, hand-held, battery-powered strobe light (normally used for taking flash photos). Select a unit that will flash at a very rapid rate. Buy unobtrusively through a large discount house or catalog showroom.

A short strap or cord will allow you to hang the strobe unit around your neck or secure it to your wrist for quick deployment. If the trigger button of the strobe is exposed and easily depressed, use a thick, hard adhesive to build up, layer by layer, a protective ring around it. The ring should allow your gloved finger to reach the button, yet should protect the button from accidental discharge (as, for example, might happen should you be forced to lie down on top of the unit).

The strobe unit can be used on daring daylight raids to distract and temporarily blind prospective witnesses, but is most effective at night. Practice with the unit before taking it on operations, lest you trip it accidentally and reveal your presence.

When using the strobe at night, flash it several times at the guard or other individual who steps around the corner or pops up from behind a bulldozer. Remember, close your own eyes when activating the flash, or you will lose your night vision. Hold the light at arm's length out to the side. After a few flashes, turn away and run like hell.

If your flash unit can be set to repeatedly flash automatically, it can be left behind to distract pursuers. Lay the unit on the ground or roll it to the side before running. Don't do this unless you're sure that there are no fingerprints on the unit or on the batteries inside.

Do not attempt to use the flash unit if you are looking down the business end of a gun barrel. A sudden move on your part might cause a nervous guard to pull the trigger in panic.

Other devices may be of benefit in deterring pursuit. Tear gas sprays may be effective under certain circumstances, and will not cause permanent injury, but their mere possession is a felony in many states, and their use by a mon­keywrencher would probably be construed as an assault. The large spray units designed for use by law enforcement personnel are the only reliable ones; the small purse and key chain size devices may be ineffective. Some have suggested tear gas sprays be carried only for use against dogs, but even in this case you would be violating the statutes against possession, and pep­per sprays are more effective.

All in all, the best self defense is to be prepared, and to avoid sudden surprises. A carefully prepared escape plan (including alternate times and loca­tions for meeting with other team members or drivers), and a pair of good, strong legs will do more for insuring your continued freedom than any other factor.

If you must restrain a guard or watchman, do not use his own handcuffs. Police and security guards frequently carry hidden cuff keys. Restrain the guard with heavy duty cable ties and duct tape. Call police anonymously to free the guard as soon as you are clear of the area. Of course, if you are later arrested, you may be also charged with kidnapping or assault and battery if you physically restrain a guard.

ARREST

If You Are Arrested

If, despite all of your precautions, you fall into the hands of the police, remain calm and collected. What you say at this point may well make the difference between being freed and imprisoned.

When dealing with police, be polite. An angry cop will go out of his way to make life difficult for you. However, being polite does not mean you have to acquiesce in everything the cop wants. Don't be intimidated by the uniform and gun. Never (if you still have any say about it) consent to a search of your person or vehicle. When asked, politely but firmly say "no."

Most police are well aware of their power to intimidate. They know that putting someone in handcuffs or driving them "downtown" is sometimes all it takes to make a suspect cooperate fully in incriminating herself. The shock of arrest, isolation from friends and family, and well practiced questioning are all designed to force the suspect's cooperation, confession, and the implication of others.

If you are arrested, do not talk to police until you have talked with your lawyer. You will be read your "Miranda" rights only if police officers wish' to question you. Do not be lulled into casual conversation; this is a standard method for lowering a suspect's defenses and causing a slip of the tongue. Your only safe answer to questioning is to politely tell the police that you have nothing to say until you have talked to a lawyer. Then say nothing, not even small talk. This measure alone may spare you from later conviction.

Don't believe the cops if they say it's too late at night to get a lawyer. You can call one any time (or else have one appointed when the courts open in the morning).

Watch out for the "nice" cop who wishes you would cooperate for your own good. His partner will often come on with the "tough guy" approach to make the "nice" cop seem friendlier still. Another classic ploy is to tell you that "we know everything, anyway." If the police really knew everything, they wouldn't waste time asking you questions. Sometimes the police will reveal a few bits of information and tell you that they are only trying to fill in "a few minor details."

Perhaps the most common ploy is to tell you that it will all go easier for you if you cooperate. In reality, your cooperation will only make it easier for them to convict you. Never forget that the interrogating officer is a trained profes­sional, in his own element, and that you are out of yours. If you try to talk your way out of trouble, you will probably only make it worse. Say nothing until you've seen a lawyer.

Even should you slip up and reveal something damaging to the police, you are under no obligation to continue talking or answering questions. In such an instance, when you come to your senses, stop talking immediately.

Before undertaking serious monkeywrenching, read up on a few pertinent points of law. Most important, read if An Agent Knocks, available free from the Center for Constitutional Rights, 666 Broadway, NY, NY 10012. This booklet gives the best and most accurate advice available on your rights to refuse to talk.

A book well worth reading is The Outlaw's Bible, by E. X. Boozhie. (In the second edition of Ecodefense, we reported it was available from Circle A Publishers in Arizona for $12.95 postpaid. They seem to no longer be in business. But some folks have ordered it through bookstores like Walden's for $11.95.) It tells you how a few extra precautions may maximize the protection of your "constitutional rights," something most people take for granted until it is too late.

-Clarence Darrow

FIELD NOTE

* Never talk to the FBI. They usually come calling in pairs, and one is carrying a concealed recorder to catch everything you say. Don't try to outwit them. Ask them what they want, then tell them you have nothing to say. Warn your friends immediately after the agents leave, as they may be visited next. But be cautious when warning your friends! You may be under electronic or physical surveillance and the FBI visit may have been designed only to spook you into leading them to your associates. They're crafty devils. Have a planned, innocent-sounding code phrase which you can insert into a pay phone or face­-to-face conversation to warn others that law enforcement is snooping around.

MEDIA RELATIONS

Although the secrecy so essential to monkeywrenching generally dictates against contacting outsiders about clandestine activities, it may on occasion be necessary to communicate with governmental bodies, target industries, or the media. Keep in mind that all of these contacts will be reported to the police, who will run down every lead in their efforts to identify and arrest you. At any face-to-face meeting with media representatives, there may be plainclothes police officers masquerading as reporters. Any written messages, even the envelopes they come in, will be chemically treated in the crime lab to reveal fingerprints. Any handwriting samples will be carefully filed and compared with samples of every suspect's handwriting. (In the Arizona Five case over a dozen individuals were served with subpoenas requiring them to not only provide fingerprints to the FBI but detailed handwriting samples. A trained agent sat in a room with the person giving the handwriting sample and dictated many things to write, then print, and then all over again several times. The repeats were designed to ferret out any deliberate attempt to disguise an individual's handwriting. The feds were trying to match various postcards, notes, signatures, and other writing found in their investigation.) Telephone calls may be tape-recorded, and valuable voiceprint evidence may be obtained this way. All telephone calls to police agencies are routinely tape-recorded. (All phone calls made from jail cells are monitored and many are recorded.)

When dealing with the press or other media, never assume that they are interested in impartially presenting the facts to the reading or viewing public. Some news people will gladly turn you in to the police. Others, whose code of professional conduct will not allow active cooperation with the police, will nev­ertheless not hesitate to fabricate lies, distort truths, and seek out anyone who will provide a derogatory quote about your actions, if that will make a more sensational story. The truly impartial reporter/newscaster is unfortunately rather rare, and must be treated with care. (Nonetheless, there certainly are friendly, supportive, and professionally ethical reporters.) Never lie to the press. Never give information to the press that might reveal your identity, numbers, or intended actions. If asked revealing questions, politely say you cannot answer that question. When in doubt, leave it out.

The four basic forms of contact with the press and others, in descending order of security, are communiqués, telephone contacts, photographs, and personal interviews.

Communiqués

Never write a communiqué by hand. Anything you may do to disguise your handwriting can be nullified by an experienced handwriting analyst. It is much safer to use a typewriter (preferably a rented one), or better still, the classic method of cutting words out of the newspaper and pasting them up on a sheet of paper to make your message. Don't make the mistake of leaving the chopped-up newspaper in plain view or throwing it in the trash where police can easily (and legally) retrieve it. Take it out somewhere and burn it. An argument against this method is the classic criminal aura it carries.

Do not deliver the original. You may have accidentally touched the paper and left fingerprints that can be revealed through chemical fuming in the labo­ratory. Another drawback is that a typewritten original (and possibly even a clear copy) can be linked to the exact typewriter that produced it. (It is particu­larly important not to deliver the original if you use the classic method of cutting words out of a newspaper and pasting them on a sheet to make your message.)

Photocopy the original communiqué and deliver only the copies. Use only a photocopy machine whose location or amount of use makes it unlikely that someone will accidentally observe what you're doing. If you are copying something incriminating and someone walks up before you are through, calmly stand so as to block their view, or else gather up your materials and leave. You can always come back later. Copying machines are common, and are now found in libraries, post offices, and supermarkets, so finding a suitable one should be no problem.

Note: Don't use a copying machine where you are known, or near your resi­dence or place of employment. Don't repeatedly use the same copying machine. Investigators may be able to trace a copy to the exact machine that produced it, due to irregularities in the glass, etc. We have heard that copy machines may leave some other kind of identifying characteristic on photo­copies which can be traced to the specific machine.

Run off several copies of your communiqué. When finished, pick up the copies by handling only the outside sheets. Slip them in a folder or large enve­lope, and later (with gloves on) destroy the outside copies you touched. Never handle with bare hands the copies you intend to send. Do not forget to pick up your original before leaving the copy machine. If you fail to do this, somebody is likely to get quite a surprise!

The importance of taking precautions to avoid leaving fingerprints on both message and envelope cannot be overstressed. Recently a gang of arsonists in Boston was caught because part of a single fingerprint was uncovered by the crime lab on the inside (gummed portion) of a postage stamp on an enve­lope used to send a bragging message to the authorities.

If the copy machine you are using has an adjustment for lightness and dark­ness, set it as light as possible while still allowing the message to be readable. This is especially helpful in disguising the origin of a typewritten original. It also may help to make a copy, photocopy that copy, and then photocopy that copy to make a poorly reproduced copy that will mask the identifying marks of the typewriter used.

Delivering a communiqué can be dangerous, and should be well planned in advance. If your message could be construed as threatening in any way, you should avoid using the U.S. Mail, as this may needlessly violate Federal law. However, if you are simply sending a matter-of-fact statement of some action that has already occurred, you are probably not incurring any additional legal penalty. Certainly, using the mail simplifies delivery.

If you choose not to use the mail, there are a number of ways of delivering your message. You might tape your message to a door or bulldozer. Of course, wear gloves and leave no prints on paper or tape. For delivery to the press, you might leave your communiqué in a remote location, such as in a phone book in a phone booth, taped to the bottom of a garbage can, or in any number of locations. Once away from the area, call the newsroom at the newspaper or TV station and briefly tell the person who answers where your message can be found. Ask them to repeat your directions. Don't forget that any communiqué that you deliver to the press will be photocopied by them before being passed on to the police.

If you choose to mail your communiqué, make sure the envelope, as well as its contents, have no fingerprints or other distinctive identifying characteris­tics. You might type the address ahead of time on a sheet of paper with a rented typewriter, then Xerox the address sheet as described above. When you are ready to send your communiqué, you can cut out the address and glue or tape it on an envelope you have pulled from the middle of a package of envelopes, wearing gloves during this process. (Wearing gloves while using the rental typewriter would eliminate the necessity of using glue, but if some­one were to see you so attired they might be suspicious.) Once you have your envelope addressed and sealed, ready for mailing (be careful with the postage stamps-fingerprints!), place it inside another envelope for carrying until you are able to mail it. Always use a sponge to moisten stamps or envelope flaps­, saliva can be identified as to blood type and for DNA. When you are ready for mailing, take the inner envelope out (wearing gloves, of course) and drop it unobtrusively in a mail box far from your usual haunts. If you are operating in a rural area or small town, mail communiqués from some nearby large city,