by Crimethinc. Workers' Collective
Available in 284 free installments
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quite hot for a few minutes measures are ejjedwe, it shouldnt even matter Don t waste your energy and make yourself
paranoid and unsociable suspecting everybody you meet. If you keep all sensitive information inside the circle of people it concerns, only collaborate with reliable and experienced friends whose history you can verify, and never give away anything about your private activities, agents and police informers will be powerless to gather evidence to use against you. A good security culture should make it practically irrelevant whether these vermin are active in your community or not. The important thing is not whether or not a person is involved with the cops, but whether or not he constitutes a security risk; if he is deemed insecure (double meaning intended here), he should never be permitted to end up in a situation where anyone's safety depends on him.
Learn and abide by the security expectations of each person you interact with, and respect differences in style. To collaborate with others, you have to make sure they feel at home with you; even if you're not collaborating with them, you don't want to make them uncomfortable or disregard a danger they understand better than you. When it comes to planning direct action, not abiding by the security culture accepted in a given com-Securitv Culture munity can blow not only your chances to cooperate wdth others on a project, but the 466 possibility of the project happening at all?for example, if you bring up an idea others
were planning to try in a setting they deem insecure, they may be forced to abandon the plan as it may now be associated with them. Ask people to outline for you their specific security needs before you even broach the subject of direct action.
Let others know exactly what your needs are when it comes to security. The corollary of abiding by others' expectations is that you must make it easy for others to abide by yours. At the beginning of any relationship in which your private political life may become an issue, emphasize that there are details of your activities that you need to keep to yourself. This can save you a lot of drama in situations that are already stressful enough; the last thing you need on returning from a secret mission gone awry is to end up in a fight with your lover: "But if you trusted me, you would tell me about this! How do I know you're not out there sleeping with ...!" It's not a matter of trust?sensitive information isn't a reward to be earned or deserved.
Look out for other people. Make explicit to those around you what risks you may pose to them with your presence- or with actions you have planned, at least as much as you're able to without violating other precepts of security culture. Let them know to the extent you're able what risks you run yourself: for example, whether you can afford to be arrested (if there are outstanding warrants for you, if you are an illegal afien, etc.), what responsibilities you have to be free to keep up with, whether you have any allergies. Don't imperil others with your decisions, especially if you're not able to provide concrete support should they somehow get arrested and charged on account of your behavior. If someone else drops a banner in an area immediately adjacent to a fire you set, the police might charge them with arson; even if fiie charges can't stick, you don't want to risk their ill will, or accidentally block their planned escape route. If you help initiate a breakaway march that leaves the permitted zone, try to make sure you keep your body
*A hiianoui example of why this is important occurred when Crimethlnc. agents Paul F. Maut and Niclt. F. Adams attempted to return to the continental United States afier a period spent hiding out in Alasi<:a. They were worried about how the Canadian customs agents would fee! about the massive quantities of assault rifle bullets they had with them, so they removed the panels on the doors of their car and secreted the bullets behind these. On the way to the border they picked up a [continued on next page]
Security Culture 467
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hitchhiker, o nondescript, clean-cut
fellow who seemed harmless. At the
border checi(, both Crimethlnc. worken
held their breath as the customs agent
ran their I. D.s, but were relieved to
receive them back without incident.
They thought they were going to pass
through the border without a hitch until
the customs agent ran the hitchhiker's
I. D.; suddenly armed officers surrounded
their car and ordered them out at
gunpoint. The hitchhiker, it turned out,
was a long-time Greenpeace activist
who had arrests in thirty countries!
