Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
those following you believe you are going to stop somewhere of interest
to them, they will combine a wiretap with a full-court surveillance, meaning
they will combine the technical surveillance with an aggressive physical
surveillance. Remember, tapping a phone is far easier in many countries
than it is in the United States. In addition, it is not all that difficult to
place a transmitter in a vehicle or other location to eavesdrop on your
conversations. Cell phone and cordless phone calls can be intercepted
with simple equipment available at Radio Shack.
Surveillance is frequently augmented with video cameras and micro-
wave transmitters. This is a bit high tech for the average criminal or poorly
trained terrorist, but it is certainly within the grasp of well-funded and
well-trained terror groups. Needless to say, if you are being targeted by
an intelligence service of a foreign country, expect them to rely heavily on
such devices. It is also quite easy to place tracking devices on your vehi-
cle, which gives the opposition the luxury of being able to track your
movements without needing to put a physical surveillance team on you.
Actually, that is not entirely accurate. It is still important to keep a sur-
veillance team on the subject even when tracking devices, or “bird dogs,”
are being used. The advantage to using a tracking device is that it allows
the team to keep well behind the target. The device will provide the team
with the target's direction. By measuring the signal strength, the team will
gain a rough estimate of how far ahead the subject is. Some of the better
devices, including those that make use of cell phone cell sites or the global
positioning satellite (GPS) system, actually provide information that seems
like it came from something “Q” developed for James Bond. These units
actually can place the target on a map accurately to within several feet.
They also can measure the target's direction of travel and speed, and show
which intersection he or she is approaching. Obviously the use of this level
of technology makes detection all but impossible. That is the bad news.
The good news is that it is extremely unlikely that any terrorist cell, no
matter how well funded it is, will have this type of equipment. And even
if the terrorists do have such equipment, there is always the human factor
to consider. A mistake by surveillance operatives can compromise even
the most elaborate operations. In fact, even a competent team keeping
mistakes to a minimum can be observed and compromised by an alert
subject. In law enforcement parlance this is referred to as “burning the
surveillance” or simply “getting burnt.”
What should you do if you believe you're being followed or monitored?
The general rule is to avoid making it obvious to those watching you that
