Escaping the notice of those around you falls entirely to psychology. And it's important during the collapse. How do you do this? Follow the steps below.

1. Demeanor is your biggest ally and your biggest enemy
The absolute number one way I’ve gotten into places I wasn’t supposed to was by my demeanor. You learn early on in the military, or at least the Army, to “walk with a purpose.” That’s actually the biggest key to looking like you’re supposed to be somewhere and not standing out.
If you’re walking through an area and don’t want to be noticed, act like you’re supposed to be there. It helps to look like you’re in the middle of something important so they don’t automatically assume you’re just walking through.
On the flip side, if you’re in an area where you may be at risk for someone targeting you for something like a kidnapping, unless they’re total noobs at it, they’re going to watch you for a while to get what’s called your “pattern of life.” They’ll watch where you go, when you go there, what routes you take, and what you do there and along the way. That way they can see where you’re most vulnerable as well as whether you’re an easy target.
This is where you’re the one looking for demeanor. Look for someone who doesn’t fit in. Look for the only guy in the park outside a college who isn’t studying or hitting on a co-ed. Look for the one guy sitting by himself trying to look deeply involved in something that he’s not actually doing. Yes, you’re actually looking for what you see in movies and TV here.
2. Dressing for OPSEC doesn’t mean a disguise
Here’s another one that gives a lot of people away – what you wear. Whether you’re trying to watch someone and not be noticed or trying to not be picked out of a crowd, the point isn’t to look different, it’s to not be noticed and remembered.
Your goal, whether you’re trying to walk through an area you might not supposed to be in, or you’re trying to not be the one picked out of the crowd to be their next victim, is not to look like someone else – it’s to not be noticed.
Essentially, this is the same thing as your demeanor. In most cases, you’ll want to dress like others there. If everyone’s dressed in board shorts and t-shirts, you don’t want to be in a long-sleeved dress shirt and khakis. If you’re in the yuppie part of town, you don’t want to be dressed in a sweatsuit.
3. Don’t let your guard down at home
Just as with your demeanor and your dress, a key point is to not stand out.
If your neighbors park their car in the garage – you do too. If they have a clean yard – you do too.
Also, if you’re living in a foreign country, don’t have something like a Terrible Towel hanging in your window, or anything else that could give you away as a person not from around there. If anything, pick a local team or the host country’s flag.
Don’t let bushes grow next to your house that would allow someone to hide in them and peek in your windows and don’t forget that people can see in windows at night even when you can’t see out.
4. Don’t give away your capabilities
If you somehow find yourself in a disaster scenario like Katrina or during one of many blackouts you’ll face in a third-world country, be careful if you dig out that loud generator. A quieter one like the Yamaha generator would be a much safer choice (and it’s a really good generator anyway but that’s for another post). If someone hears it going on at night, they’ll know your home is prepared for emergencies and will assume you have food and money as they sneak in and steal your generator after the lights go out.
5. If you look vulnerable, you look like a target
Certain things you do or wear can make you more inviting to an enemy that might have otherwise just passed you by.
Did you know that wearing that gray hooded sweater’s hood up can make you a target? Those hoods block your peripheral vision, and not only keep you from seeing behind and to the side – it LOOKS like you can’t see around you. Subconsciously you look more vulnerable even if they don’t realize it.
Same goes for headphones. When people are wearing headphones, they’re usually zoned out. People catch onto that and will assume (again, sometimes unconsciously) that you’re not paying attention – and are more vulnerable. When’s the last time you interrupted someone at a coffee shop or a park who was reading or typing while wearing headphones?
Just as with headphones, people who are staring into their cell phones, texting away about their day are not paying attention to the world around them – especially if they’re walking. What makes it harder is that if you occasionally look up and around while you’re texting so you don’t look like a target – now you just popped up on their radar if you weren’t previously. People don’t normally do that.

One key idea to take away from this is that you aren't trying to fool peoples' five senses and escape detection. You are simply slipping through their senses in such a way that nothing stands out. Think about being in an area with a lot of people all talking to each other. If you tried to hone in on one person's conversation you could probably do so without much difficulty, despite the background noise. What you want to be is the background noise. You know it's there but it doesn't concern you because it doesn't pose a threat. And that's the first step. Be as unthreatening as possible and people are much less likely to notice you.

If you tried to hone in on one person's conversation you could probably do so without much difficulty, despite the background noise. What you want to be is the background noise. You know it's there but it doesn't concern you because it doesn't pose a threat. And that's the first step. Be as unthreatening as possible and people are much less likely to notice you.

For more tips and tricks from a counterintelligence agent, go to Greywolf Survival.