The FBI operated a program called COINTELPRO (1956-1971) that used infiltrators to insert information into activist networks in order to sow confusion, doubt, and enmity among activists.
Sadly, this problem had been solved 200 years earlier, but the activists of the sixties were too young to make use of it.
During the American revolution (1765-1783) patriots could not depend on official news sources, since these were subject to control by the British. Massachusetts saved the day by forming “Committees of Correspondence.” Events that became known in one town were written about in letters and pamphlets. These were transported by a trusted person and delivered to another trusted person in a distant town. In this way, there was a chain of trust. The Committees of Correspondence were an underground information distribution network that was so effective, it formed the backbone of resistance and helped form the first Continental Congress.
Modern Correspondence Network (MCN)
The way it would work today is that when you get a piece of information from a trusted source, you call your friend of thirty years who lives in another town, and you say, “I’m sending you a file which says X,Y, and Z.” You would not forward information from someone you met at a protest last year. You forward information only from your oldest, most trusted friends. Because you have friends in different states and even different countries, you have much more reach than an American revolutionary would have. This is your inner circle.
What is noteworthy here is that this is a system that requires older people. They have a critical role to play in uncertain times.
Outer Circle
You can share information with the non-networked people around you (outer circle), so that they can act on it. They look upon you as a distribution point. But you don’t transmit information from them, unless it is information you have been able to verify personally. The reason is that people you’ve met recently can be anyone with any number of motives.
Unverified Information
If you receive unverified information that it is potentially very important, you indicate your doubt when you forward it. In your personal notes, you record who gave you the information so that if the information turns out to be false, you forward that name (or identifying information) through your network. This is how infiltrators and provocateurs are disabled.
Key Ideas
- Set up a safe personal notes system
- Resuscitate your old friendships
- Talk to your MCN about this system and teach them how it works
- Remember to verify information that doesn’t come from your inner circle
- Keep notes of doubtful information and its sources
