The power of plain

Your personal safety in everyday life is no different than a deep cover officer’s operational security abroad. [Image](https://) Greetings Everyday Spy, When I was at CIA, my peers and I spent a surprising amount of time talking about clothes. We weren’t comparing fashion or style. That's best left to trendy magazines and bubbly people on TV screens. And we weren’t testing tensile strength or tear resistance. That’s a topic for engineers testing new military-grade field equipment. Instead, our conversations focused on one topic: - What clothing was indigenous to the operating area? Procuring local clothes is one of the most important (and difficult) steps to being a field operator. You wouldn’t think it, but being able to fully dress yourself in indigenous clothing is complicated. For example, most of the clothing in the Middle East and Southeast Asia is either native/hand-made or bad knock-offs of major brands. If you walk the street in genuine Levis or actual Nikes, you’re gonna stick out like a sore thumb. And that makes you a target for everyone from muggers to local police. If you are an American prepping in Frankfurt for a mission in Laos, how do you get local hand-made Laotian footwear and socks before you board the plane? The best answer is classified… But the unclassified answer is that you use guidebooks, YouTube videos, and people who have been there to help understand what ‘plain’ dress looks like in your target country. And then you dress like that. As if getting the clothes wasn’t hard enough, the next challenge is wearing the clothes correctly! There are 8 different pieces in the typical Middle Eastern Kandora. The Vietnamese Aobaba has 5 unique components. Wearing just one part of the clothing wrong during a covert operation is the equivalent of wearing a sign that says, ‘I do not belong here!’ [Your personal safety in everyday life is no different than a deep cover officer’s operational security abroad.]( If you plan to travel far from home, start planning your wardrobe now. If you live in a rural area and wear sturdy, outdoor clothes – get yourself a cheap hoodie, some second-hand jeans, and a comfy pair of sneakers before you go into the city. If you fancy yourself a trendy urbanite, invest in a pair of Dickies slacks and a front-zip corduroy jacket before traveling through the fly-over states. Human threats like muggers, kidnappers, pick-pockets and con men specifically target people who look out-of-place. The first and easiest method to find a viable target is to look at what they are wearing. To a bad guy, your Gucci purse (in eastern Montana) or your John Deere cap (in Miami) mean the same thing… ‘I do not belong here!’ And once a bad guy starts to target you, it only gets harder to spot their ‘tells…’ Godspeed, #EverydaySpy P.S. - Ready to start spotting lies and catching liars like professional spy? [Join Shadow Lessons today and pair-up with ex-CIA and ex-KGB officers excited to teach you how!]( Follow @EverydaySpy on Social Media! [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [LinkedIn]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Andrew Bustamante, Founder of EverydaySpy.com, is a former covert CIA Intelligence officer, decorated US Air Force Combat Veteran, and respected Fortune 500 senior advisor. Learn more from Andrew on his Podcast (The Everyday Espionage Podcast) and by following @EverydaySpy on your favorite social media platform. This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Don't want to receive these emails anymore? [Unsubscribe]( EverydaySpy, 411 Walnut St. #20309, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043