Covert Action Research Paper

Confidential informants have been helpful for many years in helping law enforcement capture criminals. Confidential informants are useful because they help law enforcement conduct information on criminal involvement by wiretapping, recordings, and videos. Although, confidential are helpful to law enforcement it comes with a cost of them potentially risking their lives because they are working with the police and getting others arrested. According to Alameda County district attorney office, “using informants to obtain information has been known as “dirty business” (Le.alcoda, 2016). These individuals are targeted by criminals because they are known as snitches, rats, narcs, turncoats, among many other names. As the old saying goes “snitches get itches”, this is true for confidential informants. Confidential informants are vital because they are considered to be law enforcement most effective tool. In order to protect confidential informants, their identity is kept secret to protect them against contribution from those involved in crime. In addition, most informants are involved in criminal activity themselves. Law enforcement gets their best information from individuals that have the knowledge about the crimes or been involved in crime. According to Sergeant Clay Akon’s, of Shelby County sheriff officer says, “80 to 90 % of their informers have become informants following an arrest (Moore & Monier, 2010).” The reason these individuals become informants is because

The use of U.S Government Acts to surveil it's citizens and corrupt can be traced back to 1917, when the Espionage Act first took place. The Espionage Act was a law which prohibited many forms of speech, including any "disloyal,profane,scurrilous, or abusive" language about the form of Government in the United States. This law was later extended under the name of The sedition act of 1918 to "cover a broader range of offenses,notably speech and expression of opinion" that obstructed the war effort.As time passed the laws were slowly extended, it was until the Red Scare hysteria when the fear of the bolshevist and anarchism kicked in and the justification was "the safety of the people".To Avoid for

Counterintelligence is one of the most vital areas of the United States intelligence system, and is heavily intertwined with our history, laws and ethics. According to the National Security Act of 1947, counterintelligence (CI) is defined as “information gathered and activities conducted to protect against espionage, other intelligence activities, sabotage, or assassinations conducted by or on behalf of foreign governments or elements thereof, foreign organizations or foreign persons, or international terrorist activities.” It consists of five activities and functions: operations, investigations, collection, analysis and production, and functional services. In this aspect, CI is unique in that it is both an activity and its product. U.S. intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) collect and analyze both CI information and foreign intelligence. There are many counterintelligence activities that the United States is involved in, as both CI and foreign intelligence play an important role in countering threats to our country’s national security. Among these most controversial and misunderstood activities are counterespionage and disinformation.

Espionage, the use of spying to obtain secret information regarding the intentions and capabilities of other persons, groups, organizations, or states is largely seen as a modern twentieth-century phenomenon (Burds, 2012). In reality, it is one of the oldest political and military acts, appearing in historical and literary accounts since the beginning of recorded history. A vital tool of statecraft, espionage shapes foreign policy and changes how wars proceed. Unbeknownst to many Americans, subterfuge and secrecy would play an important role in the Revolutionary War. George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, was well aware that he needed reliable intelligence to triumph over British forces which outmatched and often outnumbered his own. To achieve this, Washington would establish numerous spy networks over the course of the war, the most successful being the Culper Spy Ring.

Contrary to popular belief, the art of intelligence and counterintelligence is not really all that new to the United States, but goes all the way back to the days of The American Revolution. Had it not been for the bravery of men and women alike, and the utter will to be free from the British rule, our military leaders would not have been so well prepared to engage the enemy and win in decisive battles.

There are many conspiracy’s that were and to this day, still operated by the government that cause major disruption in the United States. Conspirators and other similar persons around them began to wonder what the government was really up to behind closed doors. The Conspiracy of Operation Northwoods, a false flag Operation, was a proposition presented to President Kennedy via the DOD and JCS; Operation Northwoods was going to be used to gain political support for a war against Cuba – Northwoods was a conspiracy of which terrorist attacks were going to be planned to kill innocent Americans and Cubans in the United States and place blame on Cuba; In connection, the terrorist attack of September 11th were said to be conducted by the United States but was blamed on al Qaeda; Operation Northwoods seemingly shows how ruthless, cruel and the distance the government is willing to go in order to gain political support by attempting to start wars with foreign communist countries.

The article also addresses the difference between covert action and traditional military activities. Several historical instances of U.S. involvement in unconventional warfare (UW) touch upon this subject. ATP 3-05.1 Unconventional Warfare states “UW often inhabits the gray area of political engagement where it blends into warfare. It is crucial that Soldiers planning and executing UW pay careful attention to legal considerations and respect for authorities” This is a point of contention with the Title 10 and Title 50 debate as the word “covert”, and

Counterintelligence: exposing, preventing, and investigating intelligence activities on U.S. soil; foreign espionage strikes at the heart of national security, impacting political, military, and economic strengths.

The term “Covert Action” brings with it a connotation of shadowy figures wrapped in secrecy and intrigue. It also brings with it a substantial amount of moral questions as to “what is right.” The use of covert action has been widely publicized since the early seventies, but trying to find out the truth to these events has been difficult to say the least. What is even more difficult, is historically recording these events into categories of successes or failures. These operations are difficult to dissect because of their secrecy and although events have been recorded, some facts simply aren’t apparent. This paper will seek to identify the complex issues associated with covert operations.

As we seen in the readings, covert action is a third option in itself regardless of whether it is accepted or not to US policy. The readings give many examples which present themselves as appropriate actions to take in previous cases mentioned. One of the cases is the US involvement in the Afghan-Soviet War resulting in the Soviet Union withdrawing from Afghanistan. (Clark, 2007) This may be interpreted as a future issue, but nonetheless giving assistance pushed the Soviets out of Afghanistan. The paramilitary and equipment assistance given to the Mujahedeen gave them the ability to fight the Soviet Invaders to the point of becoming detrimental and pushing the military force out. During WWII an involvement of Covert Action became necessary

In addition, he notes, the CIA began covert operations within the region to supplement other operations. These included instigating in propaganda, distribution of

Covert operations are defined by the Department of Defense as “an operation that is so planned and executed as to conceal the identity of or permit plausible denial by the sponsor.” (DOD, 2010) When it comes to covert operations, the President has identified the Central Intelligence Agency as the main agency/organization which will conduct such operations. This is not to say that another agency/organization can’t conduct these operations, but if another agency/organization is going to conduct these types of operations the President would have to designate that organization. Congress would also have to be informed of this decision by the President.

The CIA shipped weapons to us made by the Soviet Union so it looked like they were our friends. And it looked like they were helping us out. They made it look like we were their allies. To prove that they were

The United States has the most capable intelligence apparatus of any country in the world. The information produced by various agencies gives the United States a substantial advantage when it comes to understanding world events, predicting and preparing for unsettled times, fielding military forces, and making a host of other political and economic decisions. From an ethical perspective, it means that the United States Intelligences information can create the risk of security for the United

Counterintelligence (CI) involves actions aimed at protecting the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage from penetration and disruption by hostile nations or their intelligence services (Lowenthal, 2014). Three main components of Counterintelligence include collection, defensive and offensive. The collection is the ability to gather intelligence information about rivalry capabilities against own nation; defensive part of CI involves measures to prevent and thwart other nations ' attempts to penetrate into own nation 's intelligence system; while an offensive aspect deal with running double agents to penetrate, manipulate, exploit, and control targeted adversaries. CI is said to be the most essential aspect of the intelligence disciplines, in the sense that it helps in collecting vast quantities of secret information and produce an excellent analysis of intelligence, although, ineffective counterintelligence measures may diminish confidence in the final results (Van Cleave, 2013).