What Is Tradecraft?
Tradecraft is the craft of clandestine work: the techniques an officer uses to operate, communicate, and survive without being seen.
It is discipline before it is anything else. Every move is rehearsed; nothing is left to chance.
The Surveillance Detection Route
Before any meeting, an officer runs an SDR — a long, unremarkable route designed to surface a tail.
The goal is not to lose surveillance. It is to confirm it: calmly, over hours, while appearing to do nothing at all.
Figure 1 — a four-leg detection route, one observation point.
The Dead Drop
A dead drop lets two people exchange material without ever meeting.
One conceals a package at a pre-agreed spot; the other retrieves it later. A chalk mark on a postbox signals the drop is loaded.
Cover
Cover is the story you live, not the one you tell.
Cover for status explains who you are. Cover for action explains what you are doing here, now. Both must hold under a bored official's gaze.
Core Principles
- Blend in; be forgettable
- Rehearse every route
- Trust the plan, not your luck
- Assume you are watched
- Leave nothing to chance
"In this work, the careful man dies of old age. The careless man dies young." — Station Chief, Berlin