An Update on The Moscow Rules

(updated on 09.13.15  15:15 hrs) 

It has been awhile since we discussed the basics of extreme competitive strategies and field survival strategies.

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Following is an update on our previous Moscow Rules post:

The original list were said to have contained 40 different rules, and may never have existed in written form; former agent Tony Mendez wrote “Although no one had written them down, they were the precepts we all understood … By the time they got to Moscow, everyone knew these rules. They were dead simple and full of common sense…”.

1. Assume nothing.
2. Technology will always let you down.
3. Murphy is right.
4. Never go against your gut.
5. Always listen to your gut; it is your operational antennae.
6. Everyone is potentially under opposition control.
7. Don’t look back; you are never completely alone. Use your gut.
8. Go with the flow; use the terrain.
9. Take the natural break of traffic.
10. Maintain a natural pace.
11. Establish a distinctive and dynamic profile and pattern.
12. Stay consistent over time.
13. Vary your pattern and stay within your profile.
14. Be non threatening: keep them relaxed; mesmerize!
15. Lull them into a sense of complacency.
16. Know the opposition and their terrain intimately.
17. Build in opportunity but use it sparingly.
18. Don’t harass the opposition.
19. Make sure they can anticipate your destination.
20. Pick the time and place for action.
21. Any operation can be aborted; if it feels wrong, then it is wrong.
22. Keep your options open.
23. If your gut says to act, overwhelm their senses.
24. Use misdirection, illusion, and deception.
25. Hide small operative motions in larger non threatening motions.
26. Float like a butterfly; sting like bee.
27. When free, In Obscura, immediately change direction and leave the area.
28. Break your trail and blend into the local scene.
29. Execute a surveillance detection run designed to draw them out over time.
30. Once is an accident; twice is a coincidence; three times is an enemy action. (taken from Ian Fleming’s novel Goldfinger)
31. Avoid static lookouts; stay away from chokepoints where they can reacquire you.
32. Select a meeting site so you can overlook the scene.
33. Keep any asset separated from you by time and distance until it is time.
34. If the asset has surveillance, then the operation has gone bad.
35. Only approach the site when you are sure it is clean.
36. After the meeting or act is done, “close the loop” at a logical cover destination.
37. Be aware of surveillance’s time tolerance so they aren’t forced to raise an alert.
38. If an alert is issued, they must pay a price and so must you.
39. Let them believe they lost you; act innocent.
40. There is no limit to a human being’s ability to rationalize the truth.

source: http://blog.spymuseum.org/the-moscow-rules-still-rule/#comment-628

Click here for our perspective of the Moscow Rules and click here on a past post on the Phoenix Rules


Comments From the Compass Desk 
By being mindfully perceptive enough, one should be able to identify the gaps and the psychological perception flaws within the Moscow Rules. 

One can only guess that it works for those who spent their time drinking volka by the gallons while competing against "remedio" strategists.  

In an extreme Darwinian situation, which approach would you preferred to use - Using the Moscow Rules while living for the moment or Assessing the Big Tangible Picture (BTP) methodically while being mindful of the "concealed" influencing factors - before deciding on any strategic move?

There is a technical weakness with each approach.   Whether one is are to able to deduce that distinction point is a different story. 

... In the realm of extremity, there are some field strategists who usually live off some sort of misguided set of principles without ever understanding the configuration of the Big Tangible Picture (BTP). Their survival-ability is frequently based on the "chance" factor and rarely ever knowing whether he/she is ahead or behind the situation.

In the case of the Big Tangible Picture (BTP), the patient strategists who are ahead of "The Big Tangible Picture" curve, usually preferred to understand the configuration of the situation before delineating the ranking of choices.  The approach enables them to make a more efficient choice.

--- eof

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