A few days ago a friendly stranger suggested that I do a series of articles on practical things that people can do to progressively turn folks from being sheepoles (sheep people) to well prepared survivalists. So I have decided to write an article here on some of the basics to get you started in hosting your very own safe house.

Some things to buy:

- A pack of several Life Straws (water filter) (being prepared for dangers outside of just common threats is a good thing; what if the stuff hits the fan and your safe house looks as though it may potentially be broken into; you don't want your place to be seen as a source of food, drink, and shelter. They go for about $20 USD each and last for 1 thousand liters of water filtration.

- A VPN would be good for your safe house's Internet connection. I would suggest IPVANISH, as it works on Windows, Mac, and even [yes!] Linux! You want it set so that people can not disable the VPN. You should have two computers available, one being connected to the net through IPVANISH and the other not having any Internet connectivity at all whatsoever.

- Install VeraCrypt on the computer system not connected to the Internet and use it for secure computing. VeraCrypt, like all other software presented here must run on Linux as Windows has a very long and bad history of major security issues and vulnerabilities.

- Stock enough food to last for a month, being stuff that can still be consumed in a situation where the power is out, making it so that it can still be eaten without being cooked.

... prepare as a Prepper would, it can be entertaining and rewarding, and there are so many things that preppers excel at that can be beneficial for your efforts at starting out on the development of a safe house. I would suggest acquiring some Survivalist Magazines and reading them over and over again.

... like everything I post I'm not encouraging criminal activity, but rather the kind of stuff that can be used in places like Iran where a Christian would need protection from the government to stop the potential murder of your client. Some people would say, "this information should not be shared as it encourages criminal activity." What I would say is that around the world not every country is "free" like we are in the West, and being able to keep a person from being snuffed out is a respectable and positive benefit to those oppressed people under evil regimes.

... one last note: if you need a safe house managed in a sensitive location then hire a local who is familiar with the area as they will be familiar enough with the area so that they don't draw attention to your safe house. Foreigners can stand out like a sore thumb and are obvious. Go with local help and pay them well. This is the safer bet.

Some chat to chew on,
Have fun with this.

Cheers!
-warmfuzzy

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Lifestraws are currently available in a four pack for $40 at Costco. $10 a piece isn't bad (that's usually about what they go for if Amazon is offering a Lightning Deal on them).

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On 04 Oct 2022, warmfuzzy said the following...

So I have decided to write an article here on some of the basics to get you started in hosting your very own safe house.

Some things to buy:
- A pack of several Life Straws (water filter) (being prepared for

You correctly have identified that you need safe water. This can be filtered/treated or stored. At a safehouse consider storing enough to not suddenly appear as a new water draw. (more on this towards the end).

- A VPN would be good for your safe house's Internet connection. I would

You will not have a safehouse if you tether it to the net without a lot more precautions than a singular VPN for obscurity. If you do absolutely need to be tethered, consider having enough 24/7 regular traffic that suddenly popping up via VPN is not in itself revealing.

- Install VeraCrypt on the computer system not connected to the Internet

You will need to insure physical security while on standby as well. You may need a way to clear the machine in short order. Your printer needs to be included, and anything with persistence like photocopiers. You need to manage metadata, especial file types that include positional data. Disc Encryption is a good start, but only checks off one risk vector.

- Stock enough food to last for a month, being stuff that can still be

Food, supplies, and perhaps reading materials for the expected duration. You may not want to use the toliets and showers/baths as the flowage change may be a revealer, so you might want to figure other ways for waste and hygine.

If the likely users of the refuge type safehouse require regular meds, you need them stockpiled too.

You will have to handle the trash, first aid level health needs and consider power/water off situations.

Light discipline may be important.

You need a replenishment and an exfoiltration plan and resources.

Defense of the safehouse should be thought through.

Use of a local trustee as mentioned is likely going to be part of a safehouse system unless you have another way of servicing the site.

Tnen you get to sticky stuff like paying for the place, paying the bills, and dealing with the outside world. You need a ledgend that makes the stand-by-readiness acceptable or you have to conceal this from the inspectors and such who will visit. Whether it is the once every five year reassessment inspector or say a search for a lost child, official types will show up. Personally I woke up in the wee hours to see flashlights all over my very private back yard, and when I investiagted I walked up to a police office I know who was part of a large group searching for an injured fugative.

There is a lot to be said with a saferoom option, where a safe space at a hotel is secured. A few more people in the place won't be a big deal or attract attention. Downside is the higher traffic allows easier surveillance of your safehouse.

About the water, internet and power - you can't turn on long dormant services without raising a flag. If there is a search usage patterns are checked, as are infrared searches and searches for your personal transponder (your cell phone). Conversely if you start moring about outside of your safethouse without a transponder it attracts attention.

How people arrive to the safehouse is important. Modern vehicles have their own transponders and many metros quitely have installed large networks of plate readers.

There is some thought that creating a durable-decoy at your usual home, that fails-over to other decoys at places other than your first safehouse, may be the way to go.

A lot more to this than meets the eye!

--- Steve K9ZW via SPOT BBS

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A couple of questions I have - so lets say you get the worlds most secure safe house set up and no one can find or track you as easily - What are you going to do while you are there? It is not healthy mentally nor physically to sit and do nothing for long periods of time.

How do you plan to keep your water and food
supplies stocked while you remain invisible? I myself am not the biggest fan of indoor gardening because it requires a significant amount of power to artifically produce what the sun is capable of producing. It would also require a good amount of water.

Your food storage is only going to last you
for a finite amount of time. Do you buy your food from the grocery store? If so, you are leaving the securities of your safe house. Does someone else gather the food for you? What if they rat you out?

As for internet, I'm not sure I would have any internet connected computers in my safe house. There are plenty of security vulnerabilities being discovered with VPNs (either with the protocol or with the service provider) on a daily basis. If I did have an internet connected PC, even with a VPN, it would only be for anonymous covert communications that reveal nothing about myself nor the parties involved.

No matter what we do, we are going to pop up on someones radar. We should be considering how we handle and navigate that.

KG7UJH
Debian

How ya gonna do it? PS/2 it!

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The mental health impact of prolonged isolation can be a huge issue. A lot will vary on the secured persons and what the expected duration of security is to be.

I know there were some previous threads that discussed Bin Laden's safe house. I am sure he did work while in those safe locations.

For short term many can be left to their own, excepting the paniced and the hyper. Those catagories may need to be either restrained or bluntly medicated. lest they break security for everyone. The safehouse is a Transitory situation and can be treated as such.

How long are we considering short and long term? Different people have different thresholds before they start to loose control - the covid lockdowns were proof of this. Some could handle the isolation for extended periods while others formed depression and committed suicide or self medicated. Drug and alcohol consumption rose during the lockdowns.

Medium term tasking the secured will fill some time, along with patroling/standing watch. At this level the safehouse is a true Refuge type Safehouse.

Longer term some normalcy needs to be created. This is more a Sanctuary situation and perhaps diserves a separate discussion.

Agree. If things progress from bad to worse, it is possible that the safe house would have to become a sanctuary.

On the matter of comms - I am still not sure I would have internet, but I would atleast have one way communications into the safe house. Probably a battery operated radio with good shielding so any digital or analog noise the radio produces is minimized. You can run a Zenith Transoceanic Royal 1000 off of a 12v 20aH battery for several years off of one charge - its power draw is very low.

KG7UJH
Debian

How ya gonna do it? PS/2 it!

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On 11 Oct 2022, debian said the following...

These are all very good discussion points

What are you going to do while you are there? It is not healthy mentally nor physically to sit and do nothing for long periods of time.

The mental health impact of prolonged isolation can be a huge issue. A lot will vary on the secured persons and what the expected duration of security
is to be.

If the shelter time is rather short, mental health preps can me minimal.

For short term many can be left to their own, excepting the paniced and the hyper. Those catagories may need to be either restrained or bluntly medicated. lest they break security for everyone. The safehouse is a Transitory situation and can be treated as such.

Medium term tasking the secured will fill some time, along with patroling/standing watch. At this level the safehouse is a true Refuge type Safehouse.

Longer term some normalcy needs to be created. This is more a Sanctuary situation and perhaps diserves a separate discussion.

At each level romantic couples being secured may introspectively use up a fair bit of time.

How do you plan to keep your water and food
supplies stocked while you remain invisible? I myself am not the biggest

Logistical Resupply is more a concern for a Sanctuary or replishing a Refuge. The outside team creating the safehouse in the first place, should have this figured out.

If your personal safehouse is just a secure bolt-hole your resupply options are restricted. You may want to consider caches that can be tapped, or provisioning for the long run from the onset.

As for internet, I'm not sure I would have any internet connected computers in my safe house. There are plenty of security vulnerabilities

If you hook up your risks skyrocket. That said if a you are consuming utility supplied resources (water, electrical) you will stand out if you don't connect to the internet.

No matter what we do, we are going to pop up on someones radar. We

Logistic planning needs to include waste, medical routine and emergencies, dental, replacement of things like broken glasses, personal hygine, possible planned moves, emergency moves, secured person deaths, cleaning, and so on.

Of the safehouse's design, is it one use or reusable? What allies will know about it? Will the secured persons know how to get there or be told/guided at the time? What happens if the duration extends?

Who owns the safehouse and how do you hide ownership?

Who pays the outside bills?

Lots to think about!

--- Steve K9ZW via SPOT BBS

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