Our Story
Unforgettable Edutainment Experience
Covert Academy teaches life-saving self-protection and critical intelligence techniques using dynamic exercises to help you develop real-life practical skills. In a time when the need to be consistently aware of potential harm to yourself, loved ones and your finances, you can no longer afford to do nothing about it. Become a warrior in this age of violence and cyber crime, ... you can immerse yourself in the action of fighting back and have a great time doing it!
This is not a reality show, not an over-the-top movie and it's not a video game. We offer a collection of real true-to-life operations where you get to be the agent. Your mission may be to save yourself and your family, it may be to protect your finances from on-line cyber criminals, or you may learn to track and evade suspicious characters out to harm or defraud you. It's as exciting and dramatic as you wish it to be, and the skills you learn are real.
Did you ever imagine you were James Bond or Lara Croft? Have you ever wanted to go on a Black Ops mission? Can you be John Maclane in a high-rise full of terrorists? Are you Batman?! You don't need to be a superhero to do these things, you only need a can-do attitude, Covert Academy will teach you the rest. The abilities and confidence you gain will make you a surprisingly effective force against the evil in our world.
No need to be lean and mean, your body type doesn't matter. No prior experience with self-defense or combat tactics is required. All that's necessary is the will to do something. Register now. All sessions have limited seating to insure personal attention.
Workshops limited to 20 attendees max.
Our Instructors
... have all enhanced their own real life experiences from various backgrounds by training in Covert Academy workshops. Once achieving a rank of spy master, students are encouraged to participate as an assistant to eventually become an instructor.
Featured
Joseph Fuoco
5th Dan TKD Master Instructor, Founder, & Chief SpyMaster
Bill Shaw
Survivalist SpyMaster & Author
Rick
Event Manager
Mr. C.
Prorgam Assistant
Our Workshops
Survive, Escape & Evade
Nobody expects they will be robbed or carjacked at the moment it happens. People victimized by home invasions and kidnappings did not wake up one morning thinking it would happen to them that day ... but it did. This workshop will help ensure it doesn't happen to you! If you and your family travel overseas yet sometimes wonder about the potential for harm awaiting you, this workshop is a must. American students in a foreign country are especially at risk, they often have few resources to turn to while possessing little experience to deal with severe adversity. This workshop will address these serious concerns using fun situational exercises. It's one thing to watch big screen actors turn the tables on bad guys, it's much more fun to actually do it yourself! Using a mock kidnapping scenario, you will get a chance to escape and evade your pursuers and frustrate them while laughing at attempts to counter your movements.
Founder / Chief SpyMaster
Essential Street Defense
Every day people find themselves in situations they would have rather avoided but sometimes it's not possible to remove one's self from the confrontation. We tell our children to just walk away but how do you walk away when there is a weapon at your chest, what do you do if accompanied by someone unable to flee with you? Would you know when a stranger asking for directions is legitimately lost instead of distracting you while your valuables are stolen? Upon facing that drunkard at a ballgame going from just being obnoxious to getting physical, can you dispel the situation without being locked-up with him? Covert Academy teaches you how to counter physical aggression and avoid legal entanglements. You will learn to deflect and dissipate threats destined to become physical. If finding yourself in a life-and-death struggle or unexpected attack, you will be able to defend yourself with devastatingly effective combat techniques anyone can learn. Everyone from zero-experience to seasoned black belts discover secrets of defeating aggressors -knives, guns, multiple attackers. We empower you to stop aggression before it's too late --date rape, domestic violence, hoodlums seeking an easy mark, that stranger lurking along a jogging path. Be prepared! Do something! Don't become a victim.
Founder / Chief SpyMaster
Survive a Terrorist Attack
There is often no way to know when terrorists will attack. Authorities monitor chat and movements to plan for intercepting them but when and where is often an educated guess, yet there are plenty of techniques you can learn and practice to be prepared. Do you know where in an airport you are most likely to become a victim? What time of day or night is most common for a bombing? Can you recognize a mass-shooting suspect before he draws a weapon? And where do you run when the bullets start to fly?! A workshop on terrorists and how to survive a deadly, well-planned, attack requires being mindful when others are vulnerable, focused on themselves. You will learn techniques to be vigilant and prepared for that moment when chaos brings death to others.
Founder / Chief SpyMaster
SHTF: Lessons for Day One
This workshop is designed to teach you how to develop a comprehensive plan for dealing with any catastrophic unknown of the future --a pandemic, civil unrest, electromagnetic pulse, coronal mass ejection, economic collapse, superstorm disaster, etc.
You will need to collect and connect with family, reach resources, obtain accurate official information, and know what to do … while avoiding life-or-death pitfalls along the way.
You may be at the office when disaster strikes, your partner working out in the gym or stuck in traffic, while kids are at school. Who goes to get them? Can they get home on their own? What about having plenty of food and water to last a while? Will it be days, weeks, or something permanent? And how do you manage any of this when the cell network is down?
This workshop helps you build a roadmap to be prepared. It exposes challenges you might never have thought of and reveals how to solve them.
Founder / Chief SpyMaster
Survival 101
Learn skills that can save your life and those you love. Starting with three core concepts critical to survival, this workshop teaches hands-on practical skills and covers aspects of both short-term and long-term concerns most people never incorporate to their survival strategies.
Taught through four modules, every attendee receives special gear for each module. Together with the training, this is a great foundation to build from.
In addition to receiving both a small and large survival kit, you will become acquainted with equipment and essential items to add for always being prepared.
Survival 102 is an extension of the basics learned from Survival 101. Tough decisions have been made for you, such as staying in place, moving to a better location, gathering with like-minded friends and family to tough it out indefinitely.
It's now time to gather more resources, grow your own food, create defenses, and monitor for intrusion. You'll need an unlimited supply of water, and it will be critical to know who you can trust, and who poses a threat even when unintentional.
All participants receive a copy of Bill Shaw's popular survival guidebook 'Planning for WTSHTF'.
Survivalist SpyMaster
Bushcraft: Thriving in the Wild
Covert Academy schedules wilderness retreats where you practice skills of bushcraft and outdoor survival. You make your own tools, build your own shelter, and set your own gear to be comfortable in a survival scenario.
This isn't your typical survival class, you will learn well-kept military survival secrets and perform tasks with ease that most struggle to do even at a fairly proficient level.
You will create various types of pot hangers for cooking, use plugs for setting gear, and practice simple one-handed knots, a critical skill when injured or extremities frozen from the cold.
Survival SpyMaster
CyberSecurity, ID Theft Protection
Long gone are days of malware and viruses held at bay simply with software, today social engineering scams and identity spoofing abound. Threat actors are not individuals looking for a quick score, they are mature groups coordinating efforts around the globe using automated bots which number in the tens of thousands and reap untold advantages from artificial intelligence.
Today you can have your home stolen from you, and a business ruined, simply by a computer connected to the Internet. There are places in the world where the norm is young people hired to scam people daily who live on the opposite side of the earth, and they don't think of this as immoral or inappropriate. It's simply an early step in their career, the same as everyone else they know.
Opening a bank app on your phone, clicking an email you recognize as perfectly legitimate, just answering a call from whom you think is a member of the IT team can mean the loss of thousands, sometimes millions. Use this workshop to learn about crypto pitfalls, understand cyber-crime, ID spoofing and how AI is battling on both sides of the threat landscape.
Founder / Chief SpyMaster
Home Security & Family Defense
Did you know you can protect your home from break-ins using a $3 item from Walmart? Alarms and video surveillance are also good, they're also expensive. This workshop will teach you practical methods to better protect your home. Included is a list of best practices and inexpensive tips for alarm and video systems along with guidelines to better protect your family from harm.
Do you know the things not to do when planning a vacation? Does your home have a window or door that is easily defeated? You will be surprised to discover how easy it is for anyone to get in! How can you protect your valuables from a robbery at home, on your person, or in a hotel room? What if your family become victims of a home invasion? Would your children, especially teenagers, understand how to react without endangering themselves and others? In this workshop, you will gain the information and understanding to deal with these and many more situations.
You will see how easy it is to open a door by picking a lock because you will get a chance to do so. You will actually install a hi-tech wifi alarm system by yourself and test it. You will get to play the intruder and probe the defenses that your classmates implement. Families learn life-saving tactics and have fun critiquing one another's strategies ... or lack thereof.
Founder / Chief SpyMaster
Agent Field Exercises
This workshop could save your life! It is an opportunity to get out and see how well suited you are for dealing with dire situations. You may need to bug-out during a civil collapse after a mega-storm --remember Superstorm Sandy? Katrina? The Japanese earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima Daiichi disaster? Survival could be the new norm. You could find yourself in the midst of a mob like the Arab Spring or Baltimore riots and need to get your family to safety. Perhaps you'll get a Special Ops assignment to locate a double-agent, thwart his actions and return safely. Individuals looking to learn life-saving skills should sign-up immediately for this elite agent spy class.
During Phase I of this workshop you'll receive special training and the opportunity to practice your new skills. In Phase II you will be given an agenda to follow, locations to visit, and contacts to make, all while avoiding being identified, tracked and ensnared by those trying to counter your efforts. Our special Q Branch may supply necessary gadgets to help you get the job done.
This is a scavenger hunt, treasure search, geocache quest, and intelligence strategy role-play game all rolled into one exciting adventure. Will you choose to accept a mission? The tactics you learn could save your life!
Founder / Chief SpyMaster
Spy-Trade Secret Gadgets
This is a fabulous practice lab. You get to use and become familiar with hi-tech, and some low-tech, spy gadgets that are easily obtainable for your own security, entertainment ... or special ops missions. You will actually get the opportunity to …
- use a micro-DVR, totally unrecognizable, to record a covert session and play-back on a computer
- learn to become a human lie detector
- use spy glasses, a wearable camera, night vision, and a super-hearing audio device
- practice installing surveillance gadgets
- use counter surveillance techniques to locate audio recording bugs and hidden cameras
- use a diversion safe to hide things in plain sight
- check-out GPS tracking devices
- test computer surveillance software
Event Manager
Advanced Surveillance & Detection
This dovetails from our Spy-trade Secret Gadgets workshop but instead of playing with toys, you learn to put them into real world practice. Become familiar with covert tactics, recognize when to use them, and when they are being used on you.
Track people, objects, money, and trace where and who is handing out misinformation, … and what to do about it.
- see amazing advantages tech wearables offer
- know when someone is talking about you in a foreign language, and what they are saying
- learn what to do when being followed on foot, and, more importantly, what *not* to do
- be prepared for pursuit from a vehicle, counter road rage tactics, and get them to flee from you
- practice recording calls on your cell phone
- send text messages anonymously
- use diversion methods to distract and confuse pursuers
- verify whether your partner is hiding secrets
- understand how and why a self-storage unit is ideal, and what to keep in it
Program Assistant
Learn a very particular set of skills
The first step in being prepared for adversity is to recognize its potential for reaching you. The next step is to do something about it.
Earn Certifications
Operative
1 Workshop
Learn Skills
Have Fun
Complete a Mission
Choose any workshop to get hooked on great fun!
TestimonialsSpecial Agent
3+ Wkshps
Apply Skills
Have More Fun
Complete Multiple Missions
You will have learned much to become a Special Agent
TestimonialsSpyMaster
6+ Wkshps
Master Spy Skills
Enjoy & Have Great Fun!
Plan More Missions
Mastering spy skills qualifies you to become an instructor
Testimonials