From APRIL, 1990 ISSUE of "DIRECTIONS: A Magazine for the Survivalist" Copyright (C) 1990 by Live Free, Inc., Chicago, IL All rights reserved. Executive editor: James C. Jones Managing editor: Duncan Long Production and mailing: Marie Jones Back issues (as available): $1.75 Year's subscription (12 issues): $15 Live Free, P. O. Box 1743, Harvey, IL 60426 THOUGHTS ABOUT THE EVENTS IN EASTERN EUROPE By DAVID LOBDELL [While nearly everyone in the West has been joyfully watching the new freedoms being given those in Eastern Europe, many also wonder what the final outcome of the turmoil in the region will be. This article takes a look at some of the possibilities and sorts out what we as a civilization might do to maximize our survival chances of various eventualities.--DL] Everyone is delighted by the new freedoms and end of one-party rule in the Soviet Satellite States. Many people will hopefully soon be leading much better, richer lives because of these events. But what if these changes are just the result of a ploy that got out of hand? Russia is just as strong militarily as it ever was. We have not deployed our strategic defenses: SDI (the "Start Wars" shield), and the blast and radiation shelters which constitute the US "suit of armor" have been all but forgotten. How should we respond to the events in East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and the other Eastern Europe countries? How should we in the survivalist community respond as knowledgeable people when it comes to our own families? First off, it really seems to me that we still need to deploy the "Star Wars" shield and blast shelters. We need these right now as an insurance policy. These devices are moral; they can't be used to kill people. (On a more personal level, you should clean out and restock your shelter as an insurance policy for your family.) That said, let's look at some possible scenarios along with our responses to them as well as the consequences to us and the US if we are correct and if we are wrong. First of all, what if the reforms are genuine? I'm assuming a 50 percent probability that the reforms are truly genuine. If so, the Soviet Union has given up its long-term goal of world conquest. And what could go wrong? Here're some thoughts (and I'm assuming a 10 percent chance of at least one of the above occurring in each decade): A) The Soviets could launch one or more missiles by accident ((after all, Chernobyl was not supposed to melt down!). This would likely provoke a response in kind by the US. B) Gorbachev could fall from power and be replaced by Ligachev or some other super-hawk like him. C) Terrorists could obtain some of the Soviet's weapons-- including nuclear, chemical, or biological agents--as the empire fragments. D) There is even a one-in-a-million chance of one or more of their nuclear reactors having a "China Syndrome." E) The Soviet Union disintegrates. One of the products will be an Islamic state--with nuclear weapons. Now, what should we do to counter some or all of the above? First, we should cut spending on offensive, first-strike weapons and use the money to deploy Brilliant Pebbles (small "smart" missiles capable to knocking down warheads from space). We should then develop particle beam and laser "ray guns" as quickly as possible. These should be alongside the deployment of well-distributed blast and radiation shelters so we have time to get to them whether we're in rural or urban areas. The Soviet Union may well have only temporarily shelved its plans for world conquest until we bail them out and get them back on their feet. Reforms may well be genuine only because things got out of hand. They may well see that to win they must adopt our more efficient methods of production. If we bail them out, sell them factories, food, and technology, we might well allow them to "use the rope we sold them to hang the capitalists" (us)--as Lenin said they would. We should therefore respond by pulling their teeth and make Russia democratize and sell us their nuclear weapons in exchange for our help. Democracies tend not to attack democracies (in the last 500 years of history at least). We can solve the Soviet's problems. All they have to do is develop free-market economies and political freedom, with honest government officials. (And I figure there's a snowball's chance in hell that they'll agree! Those wishing to explore the basic hypothesis can read Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy.) This first assumption then has a 10 percent chance that we'll need shelters and/or the SDI. And we'll also need to be ready for a change in the wind blowing from the USSR. A second assumption would be that the reforms are actually a ploy to get us to disarm. There are a number of possibilities to this as well: A) We do not fall for the ploy. Instead, we continue as we have been going with MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) as a deterrent to war. Given even a 1 percent chance of a war or accidental launch, the time may finally come when we will die as a nation if there is ever an all-out attack upon us. We would suffer needless, horrible casualties if such an event occurs and we're still following our outdated MAD policy. Eventually, the Soviets will get their own shelters and SDI so heavily deployed that they can choose whether to blackmail us into surrender or give us the nuclear version of Pearl Harbor-- with our enemies winning this go around. B) We deploy SDI and shelters for everyone. A period of peace then ensues in which neither nation has the power to destroy the other. The arms race might next move into space, a la Britain in the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries on the high seas. Mankind moves out into the Solar System, and everyone gets so rich that (hopefully) no one will want to go to war--this is the best possible outcome. Or... We might fall for the Soviet ploy, disarm, and fail to deploy SDI or shelters for everyone. This would likely lead to the worst possible outcome. At a time of Soviet choosing, all the democracies of the world go the way of Carthage. This scenario could lead to survivalists with shelters surviving to later die fighting, facing a firing squad, or possibly living as slaves--if the Soviets are generous. Another possible outcome of this scenario would be for the Soviet Union to fall apart after a partial victory. We would then become warriors like the Sioux or Afghans; we'd then find ourselves fighting off repeated, half-hearted attacks by foreign powers. Now if you add the assumed accidental dangers in the above two possible outcomes of things, then my horseback estimate is that we have a 60 percent danger of needing shelters some time in the next ten years. (If we need them and don't have them, some bureaucrats will be in danger of being lynched by mobs of survivors.) Proper defenses reduce this danger to 10 percent (leaving only the accidental component); better yet, the casualties due to an accident will be cut to 10 percent or less of what they would be without defenses. If the Soviet reforms are a ploy and we fall for it, then I predict either a nuclear Peal Harbor in a few years or our surrender in the face of overwhelming military might. If we surrender, I predict the complete execution of all our educated classes and no potential leaders will survive the purges. Concerning Global Warming: The burning of fossil fuels pumps huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere and is likely responsible for the "Greenhouse Effect." One way to reverse this dangerous trend is to support our space program. Solar power from geo- synchronous satellites can beam to Earth as microwaves (to antenna "farms" in place within twenty years) would make nuclear and fossil fuel power-generating plants obsolete. Power would be produced at two thirds the current costs. Princeton physicist Gerard O'Neill and his students calculated, in the late 1970s, that a massive program of lunar mining would cut the costs of gigawatt electric generating plants to less than comparable nuclear plants on earth. Of course there are no fuel costs and the life expectancy of such a plant would be in excess of 150 years! Think of what cheap electricity would permit: A green revolution in agriculture, especially in the under-developed countries. It takes a lot of energy to produce nitrate fertilizers; electricity works very well for this purpose. And economical power would permit cheap refrigeration; in rural areas, refrigeration would cut down on the spoilage of food. These two things would temporarily eleminate starvation, give contraception a chance to stop the population explosion in under-developed countries. Cheap electricity would also cut down on the use of fossil fuels. Automobiles can be run on hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water--no more smog! Such a program will also produce economical space travel. This will make deployment of space defenses inevitable. The SDI shield plus blast and radiation shelters (of at least Soviet quality) for everyone, will assure us that no Russian Pearl Harbor attack on us will take place. Then the USSR might really give up hope of world conquest, if there were no hope of success in the foreseeable future. The nation which controls space in the 21st Century will control the earth, just as the nation (the UK) which controlled the seas in the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries controlled the earth. (By the same manner, the USA controlled the air and much of the earth during the 20th Century.) Thus, for one about what we spend on one year's Pentagon budget, we could 1) deploy the SDI shield, 2) solve the greenhouse effect and smog problem, 3) end world huger and the population explosion (saving the rain forests in the process), 4) gain undisputed mastery of the moon and space travel, and 5) finally gain access to the riches of the asteroid belt (with many asteroids seeming to be mountains of nickel-iron alloy, just waiting to be made into useful things). * * * * * Editor's note: David Lobdell is one of the first of our writers to tackle the job of analyzing the new world situation and defining the role of survivalism for the 90s. Some of our other writers are also working on this subject, but may well have other viewpoints and proposals. As we face the tasks ahead, we must keep in mind that with our limited resources and virtually no access to political power or the communications media (both of which are really the same), we are not going to sell preparedness, shelters, personal arms, etc., to the public. Let's face it, the most energetic promotions of FEMA, TACTA, Fighting Chance, and Live Free combined have not sold as many people on personal preparedness and self-reliance as bought Nintendo games last month. Dave Lobdell ties his ideas to more popular and positive concerns (clean air, low cost power, food for the poor, etc.) which is the key to the future of survivalist ideas. Survivalist concepts can be the solution to most of today's social/economic problems. BUT we must be able to make the connection and prove this to the public.--J.C.Jones EMERGENCY COOKING--IDEAS BY PHIL HUNTER Since most disasters knock out the utilities, microwaves, gas ranges, and electric stoves are probably not going to be available for your use. If you camp, you may wish to simply using your camp stove or building a camp fire. (This will work with most disasters EXCEPT for a nuclear war aftermath or a time when your neighbors might turn you in for having food the government was supposed to "take care of" for you.) For those using candles for lighting and have freeze-dried or other "water" dishes, then it's even possible to warm a cold meal in a "casserole dish"--real or improvised. Small camping stoves that require special fuel are ideal for an occasional hot meal, but not too practical for long-term utilization since storing fuel for them becomes a problem. If you wish to use a camp stove, check an outdoor/camping store. If possible, purchase a stove that uses solid fuel rather than liquid or gas. This are easier to store food for and less dangerous as well. An excellent emergency cooking stove (and camping stove) is the "Zip Stove." It's compact and buns almost anything from scraps of wood and paper to grass or charcoal. The stove does need one "C" cell battery to operate--be sure to stock up. (The single battery will keep the small fan going for about eight hours--long enough to do about a week's worth of cooking for an average-sized family). Cost of the Zip Stove with several pots and a grill that fit it is $53. A "Zip Oven" that has a built-in temperature gauge is also available to go with the stove unit for an additional $30. Both are available from Nitro-Pak. Alcohol Stoves are good for warming small meals or MREs. When you run out of alcohol, the stove can be fueled with paper, cardboard, or other expedient kindling if you need to do so. One important point: don't try to run any stove or build a fire indoors or in a shelter if you can't vent it's smoke and fumes outdoors. Charcoal or some other stoves can burn inside without producing smoke while they DO produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. Unless you wish to kill yourself, avoid using any portable stove inside. To minimize clean-up, "lick the platter clean" after each meal with each member of your family keeping their own utensils so they can use them for the next meal. For short-term emergencies, paper plates and MREs are ideal since they can be easily discarded to minimize clean up chores. Whenever possible, have one person eat directly from the serving dish after everyone has got their portion from it. This will cut by one the number of plates you need. Give some thought to your food storage for emergency use and the utensils and equipment you'll need to prepare and serve food. Someday, you may be very, very glad you did. WHO'S BUGGING YOU? By Duncan Long In this day and age, if someone wants to listen to your conversations badly enough and has the money to buy equipment, he's going to be able to "bug" you. But there's a lot you can do to keep your privacy and thwart the efforts of over-zealous government snoops and criminals who have no business knowing what you're doing and saying in private. With this in mind, let's look at some of the equipment designed to eavesdrop on us "common folk" as well as countermeasures you can take. One simple edge you can give yourself is to shift locations of important conversations frequently. This is an important point for you to keep in mind since it greatly reduces the chances of part or even all of a conversation being overheard by someone spying on you. If you carry on all sensitive conversations in one room, all an eavesdropper has to do is place his bugs in a few key rooms and he has you. Even if your home is thoroughly "bugged", if you wander from room to room discussing things in a low voice, anyone spying on you will be more apt to lose information from time to time. This is because it is nearly impossible to cover each room completely even if several bugs are placed in it. Furthermore, you'll be more likely to discover attempts to bug you since more equipment will be needed to hit you if you're a "moving target." What type of equipment might be used to spy on you? As most readers know, "bugs" are devices that pick up face-to- face conversations. "Taps" are gadgets that allow a user to listen in on phone conversations or receive data transferred by fax, computer, or telex via a phone line. Both are often hard to detect and--if anything--are becoming harder and harder to detect. Even if you could afford to have your house "swept", chances are good that one or more bugs or taps would be missed by even the most skilled of experts. Of the various devices an eavesdropper has at his disposal, the audio bug has the greatest potential for capturing your most secret of conversations. Modern bugs consist of a small microphone--dwarfed in size by a penny--coupled to a preamplifier/transmitter or a recording device if the bug will be retrieved at a later date. The basic features of a bug are simple in concept. But the actual bug can be quite complex with IC (Integrated Circuits) giving a tiny bug the equivalent of hundreds of transistor, capacitor, and resistor parts. Use of compression (making soft sounds louder and loud sounds softer), filtering, and other special effects to enhance the signal sent from the bug will all quickly add to the complexity of the device. Often a small receiver and switch are added to a bug or tap so the unit can be toggled on and off remotely. This enables an eavesdropper to shut down the device to conserve its batteries or avoid detection if he believes a search is being conducted for it. Solid state "recorders" may also soon find their way into use as bugs or taps. These devices record and store information digitally. These could be designed to send a high-speed burst of recorded information rather than broadcasting continuously. This would make them less likely to be detected since they'd be sending out an intermittent RF signal. Sometimes a bug or tap may consist only of a mic on a long cable. This cable can be snaked through a wall from the area being bugged to the eavesdropper's recorder. This arrangement allows the bugging of a room without actually entering it. The eavesdropper just drills a small hole that extends into the room he wishes to bug and then extends a small mic through the hole into the neighboring room. Such a set up is rare and will work only in situations where the eavesdropper can secure a room next to those being used by those he wishes to steal information from. (The directional mic might also be thought of as this type of bug; more on these devices later.) Extending a mic into a surveillance area with a long cable through a wall might also be employed to place the majority of the components of a bug or tap in one room with its mic in the next. While this would make the bug more apt to be detected visually, it would create a bug that would be hard to detect with some types of electronic "sweepers" since the bug's electronics would be some distance from its mic and the area actually being bugged. Another variation on this type of bug, and one that won't be spotted in a sweep, can also be created by using a speaker in an intercom or stereo system. A cord is attached to the speaker (which acts as a microphone whenever it isn't actually being used). The main shortcoming to this system is that the cord must run off the speaker. If you carefully inspect stereo speakers, radios, etc., having a speaker that might be exploited for this type of bug, you'll generally be able to detect it. The wires will usually lead to a remote RF transmitter, (though occasionally a listening post may be set up in a nearby room if the bug is planted in a hotel room or in a nearby apartment). The message transmitted from the bug to the eavesdropper's recorder is often processed to increase the clarity of the speech. The simplest processing consists of using a band-pass and/or equalization filters that remove frequencies of sound most often outside the tones found in speech and--occasionally--a narrow band within the speech frequencies to remove noise sources that obscure speech. Complex eavesdropping setups often incorporate several bugs, giving the eavesdropper the ability to switch from one sound source to another to obtain the best coverage of a conversation or to reverse the polarity of one of the sound tracks, thereby creating a filtering effect to remove background sounds originating close to one of the bugs. Your home computer can also be "bugged." These bugs pick up the signals a computer creates and then relays them to the eavesdropper's recorder or computer. These signals can then be processed to duplicate the information being manipulated on your PC. So how do you keep these bugs out of your home? The best way to prevent bugging is to keep a would-be spy out of sensitive areas. Make some effort to keep people out of your home who don't belong there and try to develop methods of telling if someone has defeated your locks and entered your home without leaving any clue of their entry behind. (The old trick of placing threads or a match stick in a doorway to see whether or not it has been opened still works, PROVIDED you don't make things too obvious.) If you suspect that a bug has been placed in your home or apartment, often you'll be able to detect it with a careful visual search. Check your home from the foundation to the roof searching for wires or electrical devices that don't belong or are out of place, areas in the earth that have been freshly spaded, small patches of new mortar, dry wall repair, or repainted surfaces. Other tell-tale signs are small mounds of sawdust or plaster dust which may point toward an area above them where a bug has been embedded into a wall. Check wall outlets, vents, light fixtures and other areas where a bug might be hidden should be disassembled if necessary and inspected. Flooring should be checked to be sure it is secure. Look behind and under furniture, cabinets, and appliances. If you're really worried about being bugged, one of the more common types of equipment that can be used to locate a bug is the "sniffer." Sniffers carry price tags ranging from $75 to the hefty $1,500 range. There are three different types of sniffers: the diode detector, the field strength meter, and the grid dip meter. All detect the changes in strength of electromagnetic fields that will radiate from a bug or tap that broadcasts a radio signal. Sniffers aren't without their shortcomings. They tend to pick up all types of transmissions without being able to distinguish between a powerful radio station a mile away and a weak bug within an office. And you home PC will also set these devices off so be sure to turn it off if you use one of these devices. Talented spies may avoid detection by sniffers by using bugs that are remotely activated; these can then be shut off when he suspects you're sniffing out his bugs. So don't tip your hand by telling someone you're looking for bugs. Otherwise he'll shut his bugs off. (This might be useful in order to force someone to quit bugging you for a few moments so you could speak freely--but it wouldn't be surefire. And you might get a poor eavesdropper who couldn't shut off his bugs--and would hear what you were saying!) Another type of bug detector is the "sweeper." Prices of these ranges from $6,000 to $42,000 making them out of most of our pocketbooks. However, sometimes you can hire a person using a sweeper to check out your home for you. In such a case, "renting" the sweeper for a few hours is considerably cheaper than buying it outright. Sweepers, as their name suggests, search for RF (Radio Frequency) bugs by sweeping through a wide band of frequencies to actually detect the bug or tap's radio broadcast. Use of audio feedback on a sweeper makes it possible to create a feedback squeal when the band the bug or tap is detected. This squeal makes it simple to detect a surveillance device, but also alerts the eavesdropper since he'll likely hear the sound and may flee his listening post or otherwise pull out making it impossible to actually catch him. Therefore, the best sweepers use headphones to signal the location of a bug or tap. This makes it possible to locate bugs without alerting the eavesdropper. The best sweepers have a tunable receiver that allows very narrow bands in the RF frequency range to be inspected. These gadgets take longer to use and are more expensive, but also are more apt to find a sophisticated bug that broadcasts on a very narrow frequency range. Spectrum analyzers are also expensive with typical costs running from $8,000 to $10,000. These devices are similar to a sweeper, but use a video screen to display various frequencies and modulation modes of any bugs that are detected. Non-linear junction detectors are also used for locating bugs. Prices run from $17,000 to $20,000 for one of these. The non- linear junction detector generates a special microwave that will be reflected off the transistors or ICs used in a surveillance device. This radar-like reflection can then be used to locate a bug or tap once it is detected. The non-liner junction detector can also locate a bug that isn't broadcasting which gives them a real edge in detecting bugs. Bug technology isn't standing still. LED (Light-Emitting Diode) transmitters, for example, are becoming more readily available on the commercial market. This makes it likely that you might be bugged by a device that frequency-modulated signals and sends them over a beam of infrared light to an optical receiver some distance away. (Such a signal would not be in the radio frequency band, so conventional RF sweeping equipment wouldn't detect it. While the distances over which an LED can send a signal are quite limited, it would also be possible to create a series of LED transmitters and receivers leading to a conventional RF transmitter. Or it can be coupled to a laser modulator, similar to those used to send CCTV signals from one location to another, giving the bug a range of up to one mile.) Since LED (and laser transmitter bugs--more on these in a moment) will show up with night vision equipment, if you have such devices you might want to give the outside of your home the once over from time to time to visually sweep for any LEDs including those operating in the infrared region. When you find a bug, you have several routes you can take to counter it. One is to leave it in place and then feed false information into it. This is tricky, however, and if you're dealing with a government entity, you might be hearing what you say in jest played back in ernest in a court; don't say anything that can be misconstrued by an ambitious prosecutor! If you don't suspect a government entity of spying on you (or suspect that rouge agents are operating outside of the law), then you may wish to report the bug and let law enforcement put some pressure on whoever is spying on you. If you do this, care should be taken not to touch devices which you discover since they may have fingerprints or other "clues" which could later lead to the conviction of the eavesdropper. (New DNA identifying procedures promise to make it possible to identify and link the owners of bugs to their devices.) When one bug is present, others will likely be there, too. So if don't stop searches just because you've found a single bug. Unfortunately, bugging doesn't even have to have discrete devices located in the area being bugged. It is now possible to "remote bug" without ever entering an area so a few words on these is in order. Directional mics are one type of bugging device that has become very sophisticated. These are often employed by TV news and sports crews to pick up conversations over some distance--often to the horror of politicians or athletes. Needless to say, these same devices can be employed to pick up your conversations outdoors or through open windows. Therefore, avoid conducting important conversations in the open or near windows opening to the outside. The range of directional mics is limited to several hundred yards at the most; noisy environments will drop this distance considerably so, if you must speak outside, do so in noisy areas. The very most diabolical of remote eavesdropping devices is the "laser listener." This gadget sends out a tight beam of laser light toward the area to be bugged. The laser bounces off the window or an object inside the room. As it bounces back, its wavelength is altered ever so slightly as the object it ricochets from vibrates from sound within the room. This slight modulation can be read by an optical receiver which demodulates the laser's beam, stripping off the "sound" in the process. Some lasers function with light in the visual band; but the most suitable for a laser listener operates in the invisible ultraviolet or infrared ranges. These can be operated without ready detection by anyone not wearing night vision goggles-- which is one way of detecting the use of a laser listener at night. At one time, the laser listener could be thwarted by placing a white noise generator on window glass or even simply gluing a small transistor radio speaker to a glass pane. Either of these caused the window to resonate so loudly from the white noise or music that it was impossible to pick the softer vibrations of conversation within the room. Newer laser listeners have become capable of bypassing the window and using a hard object (such as a mirror, shelving, metal door, etc.) inside the room being bugged as a resonator for the laser beam. Thus, the practice of placing a speaker on a window no longer protects it from being bugged by a laser listener. One counter device that may work is an ultrasonic sound generator. Human beings won't be able to hear ultrasonic vibrations, but the high-pitched sounds will cause objects in the room to vibrate. The harmonics created by this movement disrupt the carrier wave on the laser listener--in theory at least. The catch is there's no good way to test an ultrasonic sound generator to be sure it's functioning--or whether it's broken down. Consequently, the ultrasound generator isn't all that great to use as a countermeasure. A better solution is to block windows with opaque glass or soft curtains coupled with a white noise generators on each window-- or talking in rooms without windows. You should also remember that the old idea that vehicles can't be bugged it totally false. Nearly all the bugs mentioned above will make it simple to collect information from conversations in cars or vans. Finally, remember that anyone you talk to can be "wired" with a small transmitter or tape recorder to bug your conversation with them. Such devices can be placed in a briefcase, shirt pocket, or carried under clothing. Another class of eavesdropping devices is the phone bugs or "tap." These present extra security problems since a phone line can be tapped at any point between the two phones in use. This means that even if you have sniffers, sweepers, spectrum analyzers, and non-linear junction detectors, you still may not be able to detect a 25-cent bug placed on the phone line outside your home. To date, NO type of device will detect every type of tap that might be in place on your phone (advertising to the contrary). The only way to be positive a line isn't tapped is to inspect every inch of it from one phone to the other--and often that's not too practical. The good news is most spies don't have the time and can't take the risks involved in attaching a bug to most points that are hard to inspect. Too, new fiber optical telephone lines are nearly impossible to tap into. Consequently, most taps can be detected by fairly simple counter- surveillance methods. But you should be remembered that NO phone is entirely secure and data transmitted from one phone to another--say with a computer modem--can be waylaid. Especially insecure are cordless and cellular phones. Tapping these only requires a receiver that operates on the same frequency your phone is using. (Southwestern Bell and several other companies have marketed cordless phones with scrambler features that jump between several different FM frequencies used by the phone transmitter/receiver. These give a degree of security but such signals might still be capable of being "read" by a skilled wire tapper. Don't assume these phones are secure, either.) If you must use a cellular phones, the Drid Sac portable has a "STU-3" (Secure Telephone Unit #3) feature which many experts feel is fairly secure. These telephones also have a modem feature that allows a computer to be utilize the scrambler as well. Standard phones can also have scramblers mounted on them. Costs run from $500 to $14,000 per phone with at least two keyed scramblers necessary to carry on a conversation. Unfortunately, some of these aren't all that good. Perhaps the worst of the phone scramblers are those using an audio masker or jammer. These add the sound of modulated "noise" to the telephone transmission. This noise masks the speaker's voice until it is filtered by a second phone with an identical device. The problem is that filters capable of removing this type of noise are readily available. In fact, many telephone companies implement such devices into their systems to reduce line noise so these phone signals are often capable of being heard WITHOUT the jammer telephone. So you're better off not spending $400 to $3,500 for one of these "jammers" since the phone company may defeat it before it even gets to the person you're calling. Quality scramblers are a bit better but you should never assume they aren't capable of being defeated. Whether scrambled or standard over-wire phones are being used, there are several points that taps can easily be used to pick up their signals. One of the more common points to connect a tap is at the junction box or--with large businesses--the "punch-down box" outside the building where company phones are routed to the telephone system's wiring. The simplest taps are simply connected to the phone lines with allegator clips. These are often easy to detect, PROVIDED the box is inspected. So be sure you check from time to time. You'll have to inspect the junction box carefully since more skilled wire tappers will use a wires the same color as those found inside the box so that even phone company personnel will not notice the addition to the punch-down box during casual inspection. Security personnel looking for taps should inspect the inside the junction box. So it's a good idea to be familiar with what does--and doesn't--belong in your junction box so you'll know if something is amiss. Taps placed on your phone line's wiring are harder to spot because wiring is often snaked inside structural members in building framing, above false ceilings, or along walls behind furniture. If a wire tapper has the time to do so, placing a tap on a phone line hidden from view can be very effective and it can be located only by careful inspection or RF sweeping. The only tools necessary for making the tap are a pair of wire strippers, the tap, and a little know-how. So you need to be very vigilant to locate one of these taps. The old-style tap that could be dropped into the mouthpiece of a phone has become all but obsolete with the variety of phones that have exploded onto the marketplace with the breakup of AT&T. However, similar taps (which are actually bugs placed on the phone since they generally contain transmitters) are available which can be placed within a telephone receiver. These work well and are very hard to detect except by the use of an RF sweeper. One cheap way of detecting these is to purchase one of the new transparent phones sold in some discount stores as a novelty item. These have a clear plastic body that allows the insides of the phone to be inspected without taking the phone apart. This makes it ideal for quick bug/tap inspections without dismantling the phone. Many modern taps are "parasitic." They draw power from the phone itself. These can sometimes be detected by the voltage they pull. The simplest detection device is an electrician's voltmeter connect to the line; there are also devices that can be connected in series between a phone and its cord that will achieve the same level of detection. Some of these are quite sophisticated and will detect changes in capacitance and resistance in the line as well as voltage changes. Prices for these devices ranges from $50 to $700. Telephone analyzers are also used to locate taps. These devices are similar to voltmeters/tap detectors but considerably more sensitive. Cost runs from $3,000 to $5,000 making them out of the reach of most of us. Neither the telephone analyzer or tap detectors will nab more sophisticated devices, many of which only draw very minute amounts of power. And neither will detect any bugs beyond the junction box or on the phone being called if it's outside the company's system. So users of detectors that warn of taps must not put too much faith on the tap detector's abilities. Another interesting bug/tap is the "infinity bug" which is created by modifying the electronics of the phone itself. Once modified, the phone won't ring when a coded signal is given to it; but the phone behaves as if it had been lifted from the hook with the sounds in the room being picked up by the phone's earpiece. These sounds are then transmitted over the phone, making it possible for the person on the other end to hear what is being said around the area the phone occupies. One sure sign an infinity bug is on your phone is people tell you they've been trying to call but your phone is busy (and you weren't on it). Another give away is when you pick up the phone quickly and it takes longer than normal for the dial tone to start up (because the eavesdropper must disconnect his phone connection before a dial tone will sound). The infinity bug can be defeated by physically removing your phone from the line. This is simple with many "modular" plugs. But it also removes the ringer from the line so you don't know when you have incoming calls. If you purchase a phone with hold and line buttons, you can also disconnect your phone from the line when you have a conversation that is better not overheard by anyone. Both of these techniques will also disable "parasitic" taps on the phone since they get their power from the phone itself since the power will be cut when the phone is unplugged or its line buttons disengaged. You can also modify your standard phone so the headset is cut off when the phone is hung up. Or you can have a switch added to it to turn the headset off when you're not using it. This way, the receiver can't transfer its sound to the phone line until the receiver is lifted from its cut-off hook. Infinity bugs can be discovered by placing a high-gain transistorized amplifier to a phone line. If the phone has been compromised, you'll be able to hear what's being said in the room over the amplifier. If you have a number of phones lines in your home, you'll need to remember to test each pair of wires since any one might contain an infinity bug. If an infinity bug is discovered on your phone, you might be able to catch the wire tapper in place in several ways. One would be to contact the phone company (on another phone) and ask them to trace your calls. Another way would be to use one of the devices that displays a phone caller's number (these were available from Sears stores for a time). When you're away from home, remember that restaurant tables, homes, cars, or other places can be bugged (or simply have a cassette recorder hidden in them). More than a few people have been recorded and overheard when private detectives or the government were working on cases not involving those who were inadvertently eavesdropped on. While, in theory, such conversations are illegally obtained, an unscrupulous detective or government agent might use the information against you or even initiate tapes or bugs against you. So, "be careful out there!" While it is impossible to be completely safe from wire taps or bugs these days, a few simple precautions and taking the time to inspect your living area from time to time will minimize your chances of being successfully bugged. President's Corner THE RISE OF "DUMBOCRACY" By James C. Jones I find myself wondering why it is that in a state that is supposed to be run "by the people, of the people, and for the people" the people let the state consistently act directly against their best interests. For the majority of middle-class Americans, the government seems to be in business to take more and more of their money and chip away at their individual liberties. We survivalists are particularly concerned with the lack of any effective civil defense program and the obsession with disarming the people. The whole idea of representative government is that the state will do what is good for the people. The founders of this nation set up a representative Democracy: a system of government by which an educated and well-informed people would elect representatives and control the action of the state. So what went wrong? As it always does, technology changed the rules. We now have a system which could be called Dumbocracy. It's a system by which a poorly-educated and misinformed people are consistently fooled into electing incompetent representatives and supporting government actions that are contrary to their best interests. The continuing decline in general education (especially history and geography) and the acceptance of large numbers of uneducated immigrants is creating a docile, uneducated voting mass that can not make political decisions based on technical, legal, historic, or geographic knowledge. This mass acts and votes on emotions, (ie, fear, hate, anger, sorrow, prejudice, etc.). These emotions are easily manipulated through mass-media hype and hysteria. The mass media--of course--is in business to entertain, get ratings, and make money for a small group of people--not help the people make wise political decisions. So we see American in a self-destruct mode as Dumbocracy destroys our freedom, our ideals, our spirit, and our people. This is one reason civil defense programs never get support or why more and more gun laws get passed, etc., etc. All of our logical arguments, all of our facts and statistics, all of our historic examples can not change what the public support and what the government does because the majority of the public no longer has the educational background to see our point even if we had the media to get it to them. So while the media applauds the spread of "democracy" in Europe, what they really are welcoming is more "dumbocracies" to manipulate. There are some signs of hope coming out of the continuing technological revolution. The whole concept of a "mass media" is beginning to collapse. Centralized communications media (big newspapers, big TV stations, etc.) are being replaced by thousands of small, independent sources like tiny TV stations, video tapes, computer BBS, and newsletters. New, diversified educational systems must soon replace the totally obsolete central education system. The technology exists for returning power (ie, knowledge) to the people. What we saw in East Europe was the collapse of the weakest centralized industrial systems. Before the end of this century, revolution in a variety of forms will rock all of the centralized industrial societies, East and West. Challenges, dangers, and opportunities will abound in the 90s. And victories will go to those who understand what is happening and are flexible enough to adapt. TACDA/DDP SEMINAR SET FOR CHICAGO AREA IN AUGUST The American Civil Defense Association and Doctors for Disaster Preparedness have informed us that their 1990 Seminar will be held August 10, 11, 12, and 13 at the Ramada Inn in Northbrook, IL--a Chicago suburb. Preliminary plans include a banquet with Edward Teller, and General Dan Graham of High Frontier as speakers; civil defense exhibits; workshops; and round-table discussions. Live Free will have a delegation and an exhibit. Here is an opportunity for Live Free members to get together and to support TACDA/DDP at the same time. (Please note the change from the Woodfield Hilton planned earlier). For complete information, contact: TACDA, P.O. Box 1057, Starke, FL 32091 (904) 964-5397.