INSURGENT ACTIVITY

INDICATORS
SCOPE OF PRESENTATION
• Introduction
• Definition of Terms
• Types of Indicators of Rural
Insurgent Activity
• Types of Insurgent Activity Indicators
in Urban Areas
• Summary
Insurgent Activity Indicator
• Overt occurrence or indication which the
insurgents can do to influence and direct
a society toward revolution
 DEFINITION
• Rural Area - includes all farming areas, any
town or village up to 5,000 people, and any town
or village up to where the town’s people, if not
engaged in farming, earn their livelihood in
agricultural service industries.
Types of Indicators of Rural
Insurgent Activity
• Population Indicators
• Propaganda Indicators
• Commodity Indicators
• Environment Indicators
POPULATION INDICATORS
• General Activity.
• Actions to gain support of the people.
• Activity against the government.
 GENERAL ACTIVITY
• Identification of insurgents, their supporters and
sympathizers who suddenly appear in, or move
out, of an area.

• New faces in the community.

• Unusual gatherings among the population.

• Disruption of normal social patterns.

 ACTION TAKEN TO GAIN
SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE
• A refusal of peasants to pay rent, taxes, or loan
payments or unusual difficulty in their collection.

• Trend of hostility on the part of the local

population toward gov’t forces.

• Occurrence of actions considered taboo by the

populace.
 ACTION TAKEN TO GAIN
SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE
• Disappearance of the population from or
avoidance by the people of certain areas.
• Unexplained disappearance or dislocation of
young people.
 ACTIVITY AGAINST THE
GOV’T
• Strangers attempting to join local security forces.

• Reports of the people being approached for

purposes of intelligence recruitment.

• Unusual short absences of gov’t employees.

• Failure of police and informant nets to report

properly.
 ACTIVITY AGAINST THE
GOV’T
• Unexplained destruction or loss of government
identification papers or passports and increased
forgeries thereof.

• Closing of rural schools.

• Murder and kidnapping of local government

officials.
• Growth of general hostility toward the
government.
PROPAGANDA INDICATORS
• General propaganda indicators
• Directed against the established government
• Directed against the national military forces
• Directed against the educational system
 GENERAL PROPAGANDA
INDICATORS
• Dissident propaganda from unidentified sources.

• Increase in the number of entertainers with a

political message.

• Intensification of religious unrest.

• Increased agitation on issues for which there is

no known reform movement or organization.
 GENERAL PROPAGANDA
INDICATORS
• Circulation of petitions advocating standard
insurgent demands.
• Reports from other countries that the country is
ripe for revolution.
• Increases activity by insurgent organizations
thought to be dormant.
 DIRECTED AGAINST THE
ESTABLISHED GOV’T
• Discrediting attacks causing embarrassment and
ridicule of national or public officials.

• Discrediting the judicial system and police

organizations.

• Characterization of government leaders as

puppets and tools of a foreign government.
DIRECTED AGAINST THE
ESTABLISHED GOV’T
• Movement to remove strong anti-insurgency
leaders.

• Agitation against long-term gov’t projects and

plans.

• Rumors resulting in public acceptance of

untruths about the gov’t or governmental
leaders.

• Advocacy of a popular front gov’t.

 DIRECTED AGAINST
NATIONAL MILITARY FORCES
• Attacks to embarrass or ridicule military officials.

• Characterization of military leaders puppets and

tools of a foreign gov’t.

• Movement to remove strong anti-insurgency

leaders from the military.

• Characterization of the armed forces as enemy

of the people.
 DIRECTED AGAINST
NATIONAL MILITARY FORCES
• Exhortations to youths to refrain from joining the
military service or similar exhortations to soldiers
to desert with the resultant rise in the number of
AWOL or a decline in the enlistment rate.

• Civilian avoidance of and failure cooperate with

the military.
 DIRECTED AGAINST
THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
• Appearance of questionable doctrine in the
educational system.

• Charges by students and others that the

educational system is not adequate and is only
training the youth of the nation to do the
government’s bidding.
COMMODITY INDICATORS
• Crops
• Animals
• Arms and Ammunition
• Clothing
• Drugs
• Communications
 CROPS
• Diversion of crops from the market.

• Unexplained decrease in the production of a

given crop.

• Increased reports of pilfering of foodstuffs.

• Strangers attempting to purchase crop or

produce.
 CROPS
• Discovery of caches of staple foodstuffs.

• Farmers marketing a crop that are smaller than

usual, yet showing no signs of subsequent
financial difficulty.

• Fluctuation in crop prices indicating the

existence of an insurgent taxing authority in the
area.
 ANIMALS
• Diversion of meat from the market.

• Reports of loss of hides or diversion of hides

from the market.

• Disappearance of wild game from an area in

which it was previously plentiful.

• Disappearance of pack animals in certain areas.

 ARMS AND AMMUNITION
• Increased loss of weapons by military and police
forces.

• Increased pilferage of weapons.

• Discovery of arms caches.

• Unexplained attacks on patrols resulting in loss

of weapons and ammunition.
 CLOTHING
• Unusual scarcity of any type of material that
could be used for footwear.

• Discovery of caches of clothing or of materials

which may be used in the manufacture of
clothing or uniforms.
 DRUGS
• Scarcity of herbs and plants used as drugs.

• Large scale purchasing or theft of drugs and of

the herbs used in their manufacture.
 COMMUNICATION
• Increases in purchase and use of radios.

• Discovery of caches of commo equipment.

• Unusual increase in communications traffic in

amateur radio operations.
 ENVIRONMENT
INDICATOR
• Evidence of increased foot traffic in the area.

• Increased travel within and into remote or

isolated areas.

• Unexplained trails & cold campsites.

• Establishment of new, unexplained agricultural

areas, or recently cleared fields.
 ENVIRONMENT
INDICATOR
• Concentration of dead foliage in an area; possible
indication of camouflage.
• Presence of foot traps, spikes, & the like, in an area
not noted for hunting.
• Presence of obstacles such as roadblocks and canal
blocks.
• Unusual smoke, possibly indicating the presence of
a campsite or a rudimentary form of communication.
TYPES OF INSURGENT ACTIVITY
INDICATORS IN URBAN AREAS
• Population Indicators
• Psychological, Propaganda, and Agitation
Indicators
• Commodity Indicators
• Environment Indicators
POPULATION INDICATORS
• General Activity
• Activity to gain the support of the people
• Activity against the government.
Psychological, Propaganda,
and Agitation Indicators
• Against the general situation
• Against the established government
• Against the military and police
• Against the education system
COMMODITY INDICATORS
• Foods
• Arms and Ammunition
• Clothing
• Drugs
ENVIRONMENT INDICATORS
• Apartment and housing being rented but not lived as
homes.
• Slogans written on walls, bridges, and streets.
• Defacement of government and police information
signs.
• Disappearance of electric lines.
• Pollution of the urban area’s water supply.
• Discovery of message drops.
ENVIRONMENT INDICATORS
• Isolated terroristic acts directed at the
destruction of government buildings and
installations and the homes and businesses of
community leaders.
• Changed in residence of suspected subversives.
• Apartments and houses apparently being used
for purposes of other residences.
• Increased smuggling of currency, gold, gems,
narcotics, medical supplies, and arms into urban
centers.
ENVIRONMENT INDICATORS
• Reports that local currency is being bought up in
world markets by pro-insurgency oriented
countries.
• Appearance of abnormal amounts of counterfeit
currency in country of concern.
• Increase in bank robberies.
• Work stoppages or slowdowns in essential
industries.
ENVIRONMENT INDICATORS
• Marked decline in product quality in essential
industries.
• Marked increases in equipment failures in
essential industries.
• Mass strikes and sympathy strikes in essential
industries.
• Appearance of known agitators or suspected
subversives in picket lines.
• Explosions in or bombing of essential utilities
and industries.
ENVIRONMENT INDICATORS
• Escalation of peaceful strikes to violence against
property and non-striking personnel.
• Roadblocks and mines on main lines of
communication, power lines, and aqueducts
leading to urban centers.
• Malicious damage to industrial products or
factory machinery.
SUMMARY OF PRESENTATION
• Definition Terms
• Type of Indicators of Rural Insurgent Activity
• Type of Insurgent Activity Indicators in Urban
Areas