FORTUNE FAVORS THE PREPARED · THE GROUP SECURITY PROGRAM · SEC-07

Watching the Watchers: Operations

Five modules plus capstone. Surveillance detection routes, countersurveillance team operations, technical surveillance awareness, and reporting.

The operational skills SEC-03 told you exist.

Prerequisites

SEC-02: Know What You’re Showing and SEC-03: Watching the Watchers must both be complete before enrolling in this course. SEC-03 taught you how a surveillance team organizes, how to tell fixed/mobile/technical collection apart, and what makes any surveillance effort vulnerable. SEC-07 turns that knowledge into operational skill: designing and running a route built to expose a follower, operating as part of a team, recognizing technical collection, and reporting what you find in a form your group can act on.

Bottom Line Up Front

SEC-03 taught you to recognize surveillance and understand why it’s beatable. SEC-07 trains selected members to actively confirm it, counter it, and report it. This is operational work: designing a surveillance detection route, running a countersurveillance team protecting a group event or movement, recognizing technical collection methods, and escalating findings correctly. Sourced from FM 2-22.3 HUMINT and CI doctrine, FM 34-2-1 Reconnaissance and Surveillance, MCRP 3-11.3 Scouting and Patrolling, AR 530-1, and Camp X SOE tradecraft — adapted for civilian MAG intelligence and security roles.

Three Operational Skills This Course Builds

SKILL 1

Surveillance Detection

Designing and running a surveillance detection route. Identifying surveillance team signatures. Confirming a pattern without revealing you are looking.

SKILL 2

Countersurveillance Operations

Team roles, communication, and abort criteria. Protecting a group meeting or moving principal. The pre-event countersurveillance walk.

SKILL 3

Technical Surveillance Awareness

Electronic emissions, RF detection, overhead platforms, vehicle tracking, and fixed camera infrastructure — capabilities, limitations, and countermeasures.

The Five Modules

MODULE 01 · 2 LESSONS

Surveillance Detection Routes

What an SDR is, what it isn’t, and why the design matters as much as the execution. Choke points, observation windows, and the discipline of natural behavior throughout. SDR on foot vs. SDR in a vehicle. Common SDR mistakes and how trained surveillance teams recognize a poorly run route.

MODULE 02 · 2 LESSONS

Reading the Environment

Pattern of life analysis applied: establishing what normal looks like so anomalies register. Area baseline assessments for locations the group uses regularly. The observation post in a civilian context — positioning, duration, rotation, and logging. SALUTE reporting format adapted for surveillance observations.

MODULE 03 · 2 LESSONS

Countersurveillance Team Operations

The difference between surveillance detection and countersurveillance. Team roles: the principal, the cover element, the outer ring. In-operation communication: signals, check-ins, and abort criteria. Protecting a group event or meeting with a pre-event walk. Route protection for a moving group or convoy.

MODULE 04 · 2 LESSONS

Technical Surveillance Awareness

Electronic emissions and what your devices reveal at range. RF surveillance: wireless, Bluetooth, and cellular — what is detectable and at what distance. Overhead awareness: satellites, UAVs, and fixed-wing — capabilities, orbital limitations, and practical countermeasures. Vehicle GPS tracking: detection and response. Fixed and mobile camera infrastructure.

MODULE 05 · 2 LESSONS

Reporting, Decisions, and Escalation

What to do with what you find: confirm, report, respond, or continue. The Surveillance Incident Report format. Escalation criteria — when a detection becomes a group emergency. Abort protocol for a countersurveillance team. Connecting findings to the group’s intelligence picture: ASAR, Pattern of Life, Daily Threat Report.

★ Capstone: Full Scenario Exercise

A MAG believes it may be under surveillance before a planning meeting. Plan the SDR, design the countersurveillance team deployment, write the incident report, make the escalation decision. Worked answer provided after submission. Required for course completion.

What Each Module Includes

The Doctrine — FM 2-22.3, FM 34-2-1, MCRP 3-11.3, AR 530-1, Camp X SOE Manual, and CI for National Security
The Application — adapted for civilian MAG intelligence and security roles; not a law enforcement or military course
Scenario Exercises — student works each scenario before seeing the analysis; no spoon-feeding

Operational Companion Guide — SDR planning template, Countersurveillance Team SOP, Surveillance Incident Report format, Area Baseline Assessment
Knowledge checks built into each lesson — 80% required to unlock the next
Field Cards for every module — downloadable quick-reference

Who This Is For

Selected MAG members assigned to an intelligence or security role — not every member of the group. This course assumes SEC-02 and SEC-03 are complete and that the student has been specifically designated for active detection or countersurveillance duties.

The skills taught here are operational. They require judgment, composure, and the discipline not to act on incomplete information. The capstone scenario is the minimum standard before a student is considered ready to operate in a live context.