"Sounds good. Our electronics guy has been asking about overtime shifts."
Hardware Proposal: Custom Button Camera 2.0
The button camera project was not our techs' finest hour. The lack of a wireless interface or other real-time interface neutralized them for many surveillance applications. Furthermore, the lack of audio capture was a serious design short-coming that also limited deployment. Simply put, version 2.0 introduces a small bluetooth antenna and pin microphone and the software to operate them. With a nearby smartphone, our custom button cameras should now provide realtime audio/video.
Difficulty Modifier: Easy (+1)
Crunch Time Penalty (-1)
Roll (2d4): 8
Result: 8 - Kinda Amazing (CRIT HIT)
Ops Chief Neil MacCauley's admires the device in his hand, "Now this is what I'm talking about."
The electronics tech beams, "Wait til you see what I did with the Wave app."
"Wait, you updated the Wave app as well?"
"Consider it an apology for 1.0."
Despite its concealable size, the Custom Button Camera 2.0 now has an impressive amount of features. In terms of collection, both a pin microphone as well as an IRNV sensor have been added. While only so much can be done with such a small device, it now functions on par with some larger devices for low-light and audio collections.
The wireless interface works flawlessly. The device can pair with a smartphone under five meters away. (Too strong a signal would be both a drain on battery life and a security vulnerability.) The encrypted datastream includes basic controls, diagnostics, as well as audio/video data. Furthermore, our "Wave" app has been updated inhouse to relay this to/from other Wave users. For example, a team leader could watch live-feed from an undercover asset whose phone is broadcasting from a concealed button cam.
In terms of data security, all transmitted audio/video data is compressed with custom codecs. Raw data on the removeable NM card is protected by a basic password encryption system.
As before, the case of the camera has small loops so it can be sewn in/onto clothing. Non-marking double-sided tape is included for attachment to hard surfaces.
Custom Button Camera 2.0 (Quantity: standard issue)A custom inexpensive watch-face-sized HD video camera designed to be worn or otherwise concealed. IRNV sensors have also been added. Bluetooth pairing allows a real-time audio-video feed to a smartphone. With the inhouse fork of the Wave commo app, can also stream encrypted video from one smartphone to another for remote viewing. Includes removable 24hr battery, removable encrypted NM card, and included non-marking double-sided tape.
"Wave" Open Source Commo App, Ocean PMC Fork (Quantity: standard issue)An open source app that can be installed on most smartphones to convert them for operational use. As a security precaution, the app disguises itself on the device, and will uninstall if accessed improperly, such as during an invasive search or capture. Forked inhouse to relay encrypted audio/video feed and control among networked devices.
WhiteFalcon! Covert Entry Kit
Like the BlackHawk!, this kit is designed to gain access to secured locations in a variety of ways. However, the crucial difference here is that they are all supposed to be covert in nature. Lock pick sets, snap guns, a set of skeleton/master/bump keys for mechanical locks, key card cloners and the like for electrical locks, some basic safe cracking gear (cinema says a stethoscope is useful), and if the budget allows additional tools for the more paranoid systems like biometrics.
Another critical difference is that we probably don't need more than two kits, so we should have some leeway for high value tools.
Difficulty Modifier: Hard (-1)
Crunch Time Penalty (-1)
Roll (2d4): 7
Result: 5 - OK
Neil works his contacts going through the laundry list of items. Most of the mechanical stuff can either be made in house or found on the hobbyist market. However, locksmiths and other security specialists tend to be protective of their craft, and are reluctant to compromise their careers by aiding malicious extralegal actors.
Neil has the inhouse machinists put together a pocket-sized tool roll of a wide variety of picks and torsion wrenches. Your operators get familiarized with 'raking' low security mechanical locks, but require specialization for slower but more versatile single pin picking. Speaking of rapid lockpicking, your machinists also make some decent quality 'snap guns.' A snap gun is a simple spring-loaded device that can 'bump' open many low security mechanical locks in a matter of seconds. Pulling the trigger on the metal pistol-like device snaps a spring that feels and sounds much like a common staple gun.
Unfortunately, just about everything else in the kit requires out-sourcing or knowledge of trade secrets. Although none of the hardware in the kit should be that expensive, Neil has to track down a few security specialists who need some 'apprenticing fees' (totally not a bribe). Neil tries to get get infuriated at how a keyring of tryout keys ends up costing four figures. Getting a stock of key blanks to make 999/bump keys is a whole 'nother set of apprenticing fees. At the end though, the WhiteFalcon! Covert Entry Kit should be able to pick most everyday mechanical locks.
True safecracking is a whole 'nother can of worms. Most practical safecracking is a high skill endeavor that involves destructive power tools for forced entry. Yet many consumer grade safes still use embarassingly vulnerable keyways so your lockpicking hardware should have some versatility here. In terms of basic capabilities, Neil throws in a stethoscope, cordless drill set, and some 'punch rods.' (Punch rods are long thin metal rods that can be punched through drilled holes to manipulate internal mechanisms.) Still, it's a very technical procedure that varies between safes, and your operators won't be remotely effective using them without specialized training. The rods and drill set add a lot of weight and bulk to the overall kit, and Neil stages them as a standalone kit bag.
Defeating electronic (magstripe, smart card, RFID, etc.) and biometric (fingerprint, voice, iris scan, etc.) systems is more problematic. These kind of locks are installed and serviced by smaller community of security specialists who are very well compensated for their secrecy. But common magstripe and many RFID systems are unencrypted and can be cloned or emulated. (The front desk clerk of any good hotel has the hardware, software, and training to do this on a moments notice.) However the hardware to crack the encryption schemes and signal protocols for more advanced electronic systems remain outside your grasp. Your kit includes a palmable magstripe skimmer, a larger but still pocket-sized magstripe reader/writer, and a couple handheld RFID reader/writer tools for some more common RFID protocols. For the purposes of electronic key cloning, the kit includes a handful of blank magstripe cards, RFID proximity cards, and RFID proximity key fobs. Note that your kit does not include the means to emboss, sticker, or otherwise graphically design these counterfeit physical keys, and they will likely appear visibily different than a genuine key.
WhiteFalcon! Covert Entry Kit (Quantity: 2)A small tool bag of devices to pick mechanical locks and clone low security electronic keys. Includes picks, torsion wrenches, snap guns, bump keys, and tryout keys. Unspecialized operators should be able to bypass most everyday mechanical locks without leaving obvious evidence. Palmable magstripe skimmer, pocket-sized magstripe reader/writer, and a couple of handheld RFID reader/writer tools allow cloning of many common electronic keys in the field. More advanced or exotic locks, not to mention those integrated into a centralized security system, will likely require additional hardware and/or training.
WhiteFalcon! Basic Safecracking Kit (Quantity: 2)A medium tool bag that holds a cordless drill set, punchrods, and a stethoscope. Unfortunately, spending a half hour drilling through a hardened steel case is actually the easy part of safecracking. Knowing exactly where to drill for a specific safe requires specialized training.
Specialist Phase"Well Ma'am, now we finally have some serious espionage gear."
"That being said, the gun walking job looks pretty high risk. Not only are we going deep downrange but our guy has to play a role that could benefit from some weapons intelligence training. Say the IRA starts talking about needing Dskha's and Spg-9's, or the difference between an RPK and a PKM, or the wide variety of RPG-7 rounds out there, a supposed arms dealer would at least know what the hell they're talking about. We already heave two operators who I've done some weapons intelligence training on. But, Templar is already out on mission, and Chapman could be used elsewhere"
Specialist: Weapons Intelligence SpecialistWow, mankind sure loves inventing means of killing each other, eh? There's just so many weapons system out there. Yet most operators are only trained on a handful of systems. Why should an operator know about a system they're never going to use?
Well in SOF situations, such a kind of professional gun geek is actually quite useful. Fighting irregular forces in the middle of nowhere, it's sure nice to have a guy on hand who can identify what kind of gear the enemy is packing, and how it works. Furthermore, when it comes time to train a local militia with whatever-the-hell-gear-they-just-showed-up-with, he might have some pointers about using 'foreign' systems he can pass on to the militia. From small arms, to crew served weapons, and even some common munitions, no weapon gets forgotten by the Weapons Intelligence Specialist.
Ethan Hunt will be trained as our Weapons Intelligence Specialist
(OOC Rule Reminder! You've now read plenty about your individual operators and should have a decent understanding of their individual strengths and weaknesses. Operator personality will be factored into the difficulty of the Specialist Design.(1) Ethan "Zero Cool" Hunt, the Weapons Intelligence Specialist: Ops Chief
You fidget with your hair as you scroll through the morphology selections. You've designed a "new you" several times now, but you've never had the ability to alter ten other bodies at your fingertips before. You smirk to yourself, "With all the work I'm putting into this, those ingrates better like it."