Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and were well prepared. But there is a flip side to this equation. Surveil-
lance can be detected. If you are going to be the target of terrorism or
common crime, it is very likely that the bad guys will be watching you for
some time before they are ready to strike. It is during this period of pre-
assault surveillance that the potential victim has the opportunity to iden-
tify the surveillance and take action to thwart their plans. This is true
whether you are an agent protecting an ambassador or a civilian who may
be in someone's cross-hairs.
COLOR CODE SYSTEM
How do you learn to become aware of your surroundings? DEA instruc-
tors teach a color code awareness system borrowed directly from Colonel
Jeff Cooper's excellent topic
Principles of Personal Defense.
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This system
breaks down levels of awareness and readiness into four colors: white,
yellow, orange, and red. It is a simple and effective system for teaching
this most important lesson and is worth repeating here.
The white stage is the sleep state, the dream state, the state in which
you are completely unaware of your surroundings. It is mentioned first
because the most important point to take away from this chapter is that
you must never allow yourself to be out in public in condition white.
We can all
relate to the experience of driving a car while lost in thought. When we
arrive at our destination, we are somewhat surprised as we really have little
or no conscious recollection of making the trip. Despite this fact, we were
able to keep the car on the road, brake when necessary, and avoid other
vehicles. While we were driving, we were on autopilot. Driving becomes
an almost unconscious, reflexive ability. We become so used to driving that
we allow our ordinary sense of awareness to slacken. This is common to
many of the routine tasks that we perform each day. Routine actions tend
to lull us into condition white.
The lowest level of awareness that you must ever allow yourself to
reach in public is condition yellow. This condition will be your new state
of preparedness each time you leave the house, whether at home in the
United States or abroad. It is the state of relaxed alertness. You are aware
of your surroundings and are not yet aware of anything warranting closer
attention or an upgrade in your condition of readiness. Basically, you are
just paying attention to the world around you. You are relaxed and you
are able to notice the unusual. When in condition yellow and you leave
