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Guerrilla Security and Communications

The principles of clandestine security are fairly simple, but must be followed to the letter. The very existence of the guerrilla force depends on its ability to remain unseen and elusive, constantly hidden from the state security forces which are looking for it. Captured guerrillas can hope for little mercy; they will most likely be tortured for information and then publicly executed as a warning to others.

The organization of the guerrilla forces must be characterized by compartmentalization, with each section or division being isolated from the others. All information is exchanged on a strict "need to know" basis. No one should know anything more than that needed to complete his work.

The guerrilla forces should make no attempt to contact or work with prominent or outspoken critics of the regime. These persons will be under constant surveillance by the state security forces and will almost certainly be arrested for questioning. If they know nothing about the operations of the guerrillas, they can betray nothing.

The guerrillas are very dependent on secure communications to provide a flow of information and intelligence. Ambushes cannot be planned without carefully gathered information. Operations in an area cannot be coordinated unless different guerrilla units can communicate quickly and clandestinely. For these reasons, the resistance network must develop a secure method of passing
information and intelligence.

Sensitive matters should never be discussed over the phone, as the stale security forces will almost certainly have the telephone system tapped. No sensitive matters should be discussed in the safehouse, either, since, once they have discovered it, the security services will infiltrate it with listening devices and cameras.

Some state security forces have the use of laser devices which can pick up the vibrations of a closed window from considerable distances and decipher what is being said on the other side. The best method of communication for the guerrillas are couriers and runners. These should be unsuspected persons such as children, women and senior citizens, who provoke little suspicion among the security forces. Sympathetic mail-carriers, priests or repair-persons can also serve as couriers, since they can move freely and visit many people without raising any suspicion. Guerrilla couriers can also use captured military or police uniforms. Long-distance couriers can pose as truckers, airline employees or train employees.

The courier system must be heavily compartmentalized to provide security. Messages to be communicated are given to a trusted intermediary, who then passes the message to a courier. The courier does not know what the message means, who it is from or who it is going to. His job is simply to transport it to another intermediary, who passes it on to the recipient. Thus, no single element in the chain, if captured by security forces, is able to compromise the entire network.

The system can be made even more secure by the use of "dead drops." Dead drops are nothing more than out-of-the-way spots where packages or envelopes can be safely stashed until they are
picked up by an intermediary or courier. Suitable dead drops might include a hollow tree, a crack in a particular wall, under a particular rock or board, or any other location in which a package can be hidden safely. Some signal must be pre-arranged to let the courier know that there is a message in the dead drop. Suitable signals include a mark on a particular lamp post, a certain folded newspaper left on a park bench, a colored piece of paper left in a particular spot, or any other method which is noticeable but does not arouse suspicion.

The following example illustrates how this guerrilla communication network works: A resistance fighter prepares a message for transmittal and leaves it in a secure dead drop. The intermediary is informed by pre-arranged signal that a message awaits him, and he retrieves it from the dead drop. He leaves it in another dead drop, from which it is retrieved by another courier. This courier transports the message to the desired destination, where he leaves it in another dead drop. It is retrieved by another intermediary who leaves it in a final dead drop for delivery. The recipient receives it there.

Obviously, this method will take a great deal longer than a simpler method of communication, but its foolproof security makes it useful for high-level orders and sensitive intelligence data. Less secretive messages can be delivered simply by using a courier to transfer the message.

In any case, the message must be in a code or cipher so that the courier is unable to read it and so that it is useless to the state security forces if they intercept the message. Codes and ciphers used by guerrillas must fit a number of criteria. They must be simple to use and easy to decipher. Each ciphered message must have one, and only one, possible deciphered message. It must be secure enough to serve its purpose before it can be broken.

The simplest form of code or cipher is the single substitution cipher. In this method, the code letter is formed by a pre-arranged pattern of deviation from the message letter. For example, if the agreed-upon code is to use the second following letter of the alphabet, the code letters for SEND WEAPONS becomes UGPF YGCRQPU. For greater security, the cipher letters should not be divided according to the words formed, but should be grouped into uniform blocks of four or five letters. Thus, the message SEND WEAPONS would be ciphered as UGPFY GCRQP USJEX. The final letters in this message SJEX are fillers which have no meaning. They are only there to complete the block of five letters.

Single substitution ciphers are easy to break, however. They can be cracked using the knowledge that certain letters in the English language appear more frequently than others. By counting the number of limes the code letter appears in the message, it is possible to assign frequencies to them which permit educated guesses as to which letter each code represents.

Look out for more Linkbase articles in the future on cryptography.