Are your "full spectrum breachers" actually half spectrum breachers?

Most professional tactical operators would say that having Mechanical, Ballistic, Power Tool, Hydraulic, Thermal, and Explosive competencies would make someone a "Full Spectrum Breacher." That's the end of the story, right?

1. Mechanical Breaching

2. Ballistic Breaching

3. Power Tool / Cutting Tool Breaching

4. Hydraulic Breaching

5. Thermal Breaching

6. Explosive Breaching

Many of the top-tier government operational students I have the privilege of working with have had little to no exposure to lock picking and other non-destructive entry skills. Furthermore, most of my students think that Non-Destructive Entry, "Lock Picking," as a tactical skill encompasses little more than just... lock picking.

Most operators in our courses have their jaws drop to the floor once they have tools and locks in their hands and they realize how small of a package most lock picking tools are and how big of a punch they pack even on particularly large locked obstacles. It makes me proud that within the first few minutes of my courses, the "Full Spectrum Breaching" students in the room realize that the full spectrum that they have been shown has rightfully earned a little room at one end for a very deserving up-and-coming skill.

1. "Lock Picking"

2. Mechanical Breaching

3. Ballistic Breaching

4. Power Tool / Cutting Breaching

5. Hydraulic Breaching

6. Thermal Breaching

7. Explosive Breaching

Many of the standard breaching spectrum options require a minimum of a 2 day certification course and can even run up to 5+ days of training in order to receive an initial capability certification. And almost all tactical instructors will agree that after your certification you still have much to learn before you are a master at your the specific sub-fields of the entry crafts.

What I have seen from many of my students is that they experience hands-on successes with lock picking and they think "Wow, this lock picking stuff is life changing" but what they mean by that is that just "Lock Picking" is a life changing skill.

But... what if putting two little tools into a keyway (lock picking) was only one of the sub-fields of Non-Destructive Entry (NDE)? What if the little "+Lock Picking" on the spectrum wasn't the end of the story? What if lock picking is just ONE of the sub-fields within the larger spectrum of NDE?

That would mean...

...that there is an entire spectrum of destructive entry, and an entire spectrum of non-destructive entry skills, each sub-section with its own width and depth of nuance and craft.

Lock Picking (just the act of putting tools into the keyway to manipulate the pins) is its own field of study that has no end to its depth of craft. There are people who study only lock picking for decades and decades and still have not reached perfection and who still have not reached "the bottom of their craft."

Bypasses are not considered an act of lock picking, most bypasses do not involve touching the pins of the lock at all. There are even sub-fields of bypasses with their own width and depth of knowledge and practice.

There are Request to EXit bypasses (REX), there are bypasses where you reach through a keyway to lever open a heel-toe mechanism or where you reach into a keyway to spin a cam.

There are magnetic bypasses on locks, and kinetic bypasses where you can bump certain locks in a certain place and it will pop open.

There are Furniture Bypasses where you leave the lock alone and just manipulate the furniture that the lock is mounted to, ie unscrewing a hinge with a screw driver, or taking the hinge pins out of a hinge. And much more...

There are NDE decoding methods including brute forcing both a digital and a physical combination lock. There are manufacturer default codes for physical and digital combo locks. There are master codes for some electronic combination locks. And many ways to discover what the right combo is, non-destructively.

There are key lock boxes that can be opened destructively or non-destructively which often (but not always) can give you a key, or even a master key to an entire structure or facility. If you are only focused on destructively going through a door then you may miss the keyed lock box entirely.

And the second biggest "Jaw Dropper" for the operators that earn our certifications is another myth, another unknown that most operators are improperly informed or uninformed about. The speed of non-destructive entry methods...

Explosive Breaching cannot be beat as far as the time it take to push the button - and to receive an open door. But... when do you start the timer?

If you start the timer right before the button push, of course explosive breaching only takes an instant. But what if you started the timer with "Oh... we might want to consider explosive breaching!"

Even the world's most incredible top-tier operators don't carry C4 in their pockets... and even in the rare chance that they do, they don't carry it all the time, 24/7.

Many NDE techniques, yes, can take several minutes or even hours to complete, but many non-destructive entry methods can be implemented immediately, or even in just a few seconds. And you can carry a full suite of NDE tools in your pocket without breaking a sweat or changing the rest of your loadout.

If you want to certify your top-tier unit with non-destructive entry skills

from a company that speaks your operational language

and who understands that theory and practice are two different things

here are three ways you can get involved.

1. Grab a copy of our two volumes of our book Tactical Lock Picking by Pat Watson (Currently available only on Amazon, available on this site in the near future)

2. Join the Tactical Lock Picking Group here on this site, for immediate access to other practicing NDE professionals, and a huge backlog of posts about this unique and powerful craft. HERE.

3. Email Pat@utac.io and we will create a custom quote for you.

-Pat Watson

May 2025