Surveillance Detection & Counter-Surveillance Flashcards

What is 'technical counter-surveillance' and how is it used in CP?

Answer: Using electronic detection equipment to find tracking devices, listening devices and hidden cameras in vehicles or locations

Technical counter-surveillance involves systematic sweeping of vehicles, premises and equipment using radio frequency detectors and physical search to find hostile surveillance devices.

Why might a CP team conduct a vehicle sweep before the principal uses a vehicle?

Answer: To check for tracking devices or explosive devices that may have been planted by a threat actor

A vehicle sweep checks for GPS tracking devices that could reveal the principal's route and schedule to hostile actors, or IEDs that could be triggered during travel.

What is 'route security' and what does it involve?

Answer: Pre-assessment of planned routes for threats, choke points and emergency diversion options before the principal uses them

Route security involves advance reconnaissance to identify threats, vulnerable points, diversions and emergency resources (hospitals, police) along planned routes, minimising exposure.

What does 'ground sign awareness' mean in a counter-surveillance context?

Answer: Identifying physical traces or evidence that a location has been observed or visited by a threat actor

Ground sign awareness involves looking for physical evidence that someone has been observing a location — cigarette ends, footprints, parked vehicle marks — indicating prior surveillance.

Why should the CP team debrief after every movement to discuss surveillance indicators?

Answer: To build a cumulative intelligence picture and identify patterns that no single team member may have noticed individually

Individual team members may notice apparently minor anomalies; post-movement debriefs combine these observations, revealing patterns that confirm hostile surveillance which no individual account would show.

What is the role of open-source intelligence (OSINT) in supporting counter-surveillance?

Answer: Gathering publicly available information about potential threats, including social media, news and public records to build threat actor profiles

OSINT from social media, news reports, court records and other public sources can identify threat actors, their capabilities, affiliations and potential intent, supporting proactive threat assessment.