The Inverse Rule of Security — the more you have, the less secure you are

When I consult with clients about the Area Study and preparation for disastrous events, I often run into those who favor a fixed position for their Bug Out Hide Site. In fact, there are people who’ve poured millions of dollars into such a place.

There are many advantages to a fixed location.

There are also disadvantages.

One of those is the inverse rule of security. A fixed position is a known target. I often joke that the poor man’s survival guide is to find you nearest heavy prepper with a fixed site and take it. I get pushback from those people almost daring people to try it.

Then I have to walk them through how they are actually going to secure that site. One person cannot pull 24 hour security, seven days a week. You need more people. Every person you add, increases the security but also increases the threat.

Backing up from that, what about the people who built and stocked the fixed site? Unless one acts like an ancient Pharaoh and buries them inside (aka what I did in Area 51: Earth Abides) they know where it is. The locals know where it is. I have never deployed to any place in the world, even over a hundred miles from the nearest town, where the locals didn’t know we were there, no matter how covert we were trying to be. This applies to those who do it themselves on their own property. Your neighbors, no matter how distant, know you’re there and they have a good idea what you’re doing. I’m sure there are those who’ve gone so remote, they are hidden. Kudos to them. On the opposite end of that spectrum are the advertisements for multi-million dollar survival condos inside renovated missile silos. Nothing like advertising one’s location and I covered this scenario in Area 51: Invasion.

As a writer of both fiction and nonfiction, I have learned to improve each side by dipping my brain into the other. I had to think through a survival silo in writing those scenes in Invasion. At the same time, it caused me to update material in my Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide.

So, you’re going to need guards. Here is an image of the security detail, publicly posted, for one of those silos. Note that there weapons take different calibers of ammunition, which by itself, rings a warning bell. I have no idea what the qualifications of these people are as far as security.