The Concept of Ethical Obligation Essays

Account of the work of the CIA, discussing in some detail the nature of the relationship between the intelligence-gatherer and the policy-maker. Since the 1970s the CIA has provided intelligence to Congress as well as to the executive, so that it now "finds itself in a remarkable position, involuntarily poised nearly equidistant" between them. It has not however abused this freedom of action, probably unique among world intelligence agencies, so as to 'cook ' intelligence. CIA deputy director.

Well, to me it sounds like the Central Intelligence Agency really does not deal with the problems that arise. I say this because in Kent Pekel’s article titled, “Integrity, Ethics, and the CIA” he tries to bring up that the Central Intelligence Agency really does not deal with ethical problems that arise; he interviews many different people and we get to know their side of what it is like working at the Central Intelligence Agency and what happens when ethical problems happen and how they are usually told to handle them. According to Pekel (2011), “They argued that when people fear they will be blamed for anything short of an optimal outcome, pressure is created to do whatever it takes to achieve that outcome, including cutting ethical corners and covering up mistakes” (p. 1). Sometimes when people who make unethical choices in a situation only do so because they feel pressure to get the job done. A point was raised about how the Central Intelligence Agency can attempt to weed out the rotten ones from the association while giving a couple of necessary ethics instructional meetings to remind other people to be ethical; however, this can be considered shallow and it is bound to fall flat (Pekel, 2011, p. 1). It is interesting to see that this would fall flat if they tried to do this, but it makes sense because it is hard to weed out the

Beginning in 2001 Intelligence about the impending nature of an attack was increasing, not only from US Intelligence sources but also from 11 other countries such as Britain, Israel, India, Egypt, Morocco and even a top Taliban commander from Afghanistan (Thompson.) Beginning in August warnings become coming in from everywhere, foreign governments, CIA and FBI sources and so on however, next to none of this information was shared between the many intelligence agencies. In April, NORAD launched a training scenario in which the pentagon was to be incapacitated by a hijacked airliner however the Joint Chiefs of Staff disregarded the scenario as “too unrealistic” (September 11 attacks advance-knowledge debate.) On august 19th the Israeli’s gave US intelligence personnel credible information including, the list of 19 suspected terrorist’s names and the fact that a large aircraft would be the primary weapon involved. The names were not shared by the CIA with other intelligence agencies (Robinson.)

The study of George Tenet’s actions leading up to the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan leaves little doubt about the dysfunction within our government from the appointment of officials to the decision making process itself. Tenet was appointed by President Clinton as Director of the Intelligence (DCI) in 1997, just 19 months after becoming deputy to DCI. It was noted that Tenet had never managed a large organization, worked as an intelligence officer or serviced in the military, all of which would have provided the experience and expertise needed

He confirms his reasoning with the fact that when his book ‘Day of deceit’ hit seller’s shelves, almost immediately, NSA began withdrawing records regarding Pearl Harbour from public records. The fact that Stinnett has gone to many different lengths to prove his perspective superior, demonstrates how strongly he feels about

Once Tenet became a part of the President’s inner circle not only did he brief the President every morning but he also attended White House Policy meeting and his focus no longer became rebuilding the CIA. Some of the CIA officers felt that he could not carry out his role because he was too close to the President. It became a dilemma when he wanted to please everyone involved instead of letting the analysis speak for itself.

As the country goes through its tenth year of the war on terror one can look back and see some of the policy differences that has plagued this country when, as a nation, our young men are sent to war. Everything, in this author’s view needs to be on the table, and transparent. Of course, troops strength, strategy, and general war plans should be kept from the enemy, the need of informing our own people has been a tight rope that is not easy to balance on for any one person. This was especially true of the “enhanced interrogations” used by the Bush administration at the beginning of the War on Terror. What this paper plans to do is to explain the four greatest

The 9/11 attacks opened the avenue for a scrutiny of the performance and ability of the intelligence community to detect any threats to the safety of the United States. The media, politicians, reformists and other interested parties would not comprehend how such an attack would happen without the knowledge of the intelligence community. However, it is important to consider the fact that the attack was one of its kind and could not be approached with the resources and expertise used in other initiative such as the cold war. Therefore, the need to restructure the intelligence community arose from the view that it was still operating in the mindset and spirit of the cold war even in the modern era that had seen a revolutionary change of warfare

By disregarding cues of possible terrorist attacks and constant mistakes within the American Intelligence for not planning ahead, the United States failed to achieve its number one goal as a governing body: not keeping its citizens safe. It is important to dig into the issue of the disaster of 9/11 and completely understand the reason for failed prevention efforts. Moreover adding to these issues was the lack of communication and information shared between the two agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Central Intelligence Agency.

When retired General Petraeus’ name is uttered, some recall his stellar 28 year career culminating in the stabilization of war-torn Iraq while everyone remembers his extramarital affair culminating in the release of classified information to his mistress. Similar to a Shakespearian play full of scandal that ends in tragedy, I will assert how General Petraeus is a visionary leader by stabilizing war-torn Iraq from 2007 to 2008 who became an unethical leader while serving as the director of the CIA by having an extramarital affair and releasing classified information to his mistress. To enhance my claim that he is a visionary leader, I will be focusing on his transformational leadership behavior of inspirational motivation and “Lewin’s Phases of Change” during the stabilization efforts. To enhance my claim that he is unethical, I will focus on two contributing factors to his affair and release of confidential material which are: the ethical trap of loyalty syndrome and the ineffective use of intellectual integrity. Finally, I will be detailing my personal relevance utilizing visionary leadership to revector my organization before a Nuclear Surety Inspection and how I became an unethical leader while serving as a team chief in my earlier years. In order to stabilize war-torn Iraq in 2007, a visionary leader was required to enact a revolutionary plan to ease the mind of the American public.

The United States has involved itself in several missions shrouded in secrecy throughout the nation’s short history. Operations, like the Iran-Contra Affair, and the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) role in Afghanistan are just two examples of these types of secret government missions, which have become public knowledge. Both operations occurred under the helm of President Reagan, who outlined a clear agenda, promising to fight the spread of the Soviet social influence of communism. Moreover, other similarities are observed between the two covert missions, like providing armaments, equipment, and training to foreign rebel forces to assist in combating communist influences (National Security Archive 2006, Johnson 2011). Moreover, various government agencies were used in the operations for distinct purposes. The comparison of the Iran-Contra Affair and the CIA’s role in the Afghanistan war, aid in revealing a picture of how covert operations were used in the 1980s, in combat communism, while achieving other presidential agenda items, like securing American hostages (PBS n.d.).

The government became consciously aware of what could possibly happen. Work was done to improve our Intelligence Agencies policies and procedures to allow for them to work together. Emphasis is placed on the observation of the various

In 2011, he was awarded Ridenhour Prize for TruthTelling and was co-recipient of Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII) award. As we progress into this paper, we will discuss various stages of this crime such as what were his actions in NSA, NSA inquiry and acknowledgement, Inevitable Whistleblowing, FBI raids, Indictment, Court proceedings, Government arguments, final disposition, what happened since 2012. In this paper we will also discuss the Espionage act and Whistleblowing, what is a part of the McCarran Internal Security Act and what was the Nation Defense information, classified information which was mishandled by Thomas Andrew Drake.

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.

Lastly, I will also show that Ms. Rice and I share the goal of ethical leadership, but there have been times in both our careers when we have fallen into the ethical trap of Loyalty Syndrome and lacked Healthy Skepticism discussed during this course. Ms. Rice was blindly loyal and therefore, failed to question an Air Force General’s opinion regarding a routine mission that cost many lives. I too was loyal and failed to question my Chief during a routine Below-The-Zone (BTZ) murder board that cost many hours of work and respect.