Burn Notice - Season 01 - Episode 06 Spy Tips and Tactics

Burn Notice Season 01 Episode 06 "Unpaid Debts" was first aired last August 2, 2007 and below are the spy tips and tactics:

* For most people, a night out at the Miami clubs is a chance to see and be seen. When you're under government surveillance, it's a different story. You still want to know who's watching you, but the reasons are a little different. Sprinkle a mixture of flour and Day-Glo powder on your floor before you go out and you'll know whether you've had any visitors and what they were after. You don't always have to get that clever though. Sometimes they want you to know what they're up to.

* There are two kinds of government surveillance -the kind that's there to look for something and the kind that's just there to make your life difficult.

* You can tie up a lot of resources by keeping a bugged phone line open. As long as it's open, they're supposed to keep listening. Say a few cryptic things now and then and they'll be stuck in their little van trying to figure out what the hell you're doing. They can't go home, can't grab a bite to eat, can't take a leak. And the longer they're stuck in a van with a set of headphones the more you can find out about them.

* As a rule, spies don't like dealing with cops. Covert ops are illegal by definition. If they were legal, they wouldn't need to be covert. Still, the police can be useful if you need a little insurance against people shooting.

* When you're going into a meeting with people you know nothing about you have to be extra careful. Pay attention to every detail map out an escape route or two just in case and never, ever show up as yourself.

* Another thing you look for is people who seem overly upset that things have changed -details that shouldn't matter so much.

* You can turn an old TV into an oscilloscope with about $150 worth of hardware. It'll electrocute you if you're not careful, but it makes a decent bug detector. If you don't want to tip off anyone who might be listening you have to be prepared to keep talking for a few hours. Of course, when you have to keep talking it's an opportunity for someone to hijack the conversation for their own purposes.

* The optical bug is a high-tech toy that shoots a light beam at a window picks up vibrations from the glass and translates it into speech. Can't see the beam with the naked eye but take the infrared filter off a digital camera, and it shows up nicely. As high tech as a laser mike is, they're not hard to defeat. They pick up vibrations on the glass, so you supply your own vibrations.

* When working a cover identity the safest thing is to let the target take the lead. You've got more information than he does. You want to keep that edge.

* Anyone with a security clearance is going to know not to leave anything in a hotel room. They'll keep the important stuff with them. Usually, it'll be in a secure laptop with a few layers of encryption. Means you can't break into it. But if you're just looking to make somebody angry, you don't need to break into it. Put a big enough magnet where the laptop is going to be and you can turn it into an expensive paperweight.

* Doctors are well-known to be the worst patients. Similarly, anyone with special ops training is tough to protect. They think they can handle anything.

* When something serious is going down it's a good idea to show up nice and early so you can see the ground and assess the situation.

* When enough people hate you, sometimes the only move is to just stand in the middle and hope they kill each other before they kill you.

* Anyone who's ever handled large amounts of cash can tell you -it's one of the toughest things in the world to move. It's heavy and dense dead weight. If it's on fire, of course, that complicates things further.

* Getting information out of someone who doesn't want to give it up is all about upsetting the target's emotional balance, impairing their judgment. Fear's good for that and Anger's not bad either.

* Sometimes intelligence gathering involves sophisticated techniques and a lot of high-tech equipment. But sometimes it's as simple as picking someone's pocket.