Introduction Employed as a “tool of statecraft” since the Revolutionary days (Daugherty, 2004, p. 1), covert action has long been used as instrument to achieve a number of United States foreign policy objectives. These clandestine activities to influence economic, political, or military conditions in foreign states have been widely regarded as an attractive third option to many Presidential administrations as a cost-effective middle ground measure between diplomacy and overt war. When integrated as but one part of a comprehensive plan, and for specific and achievable objectives, success has often resulted. However, there have been other instances where this tool has been wielded poorly and/or for the wrong reasons, bringing disastrous consequences. Additionally, even outcomes that were initially determined to be successful often had unintended deleterious repercussions later. In spite of this erratic track record and questions of moral ambiguity, covert operations have been utilized by every U.S. President since World War II. Whether undertaken as part of a larger campaign or as a measure of last resort, whether directed at a government or an individual, and whether implemented during peacetime or war, covert operations have been executed to achieve any number of stated, as well as veiled, foreign policy objectives. Covert Action and The Containment of Communism: Defensive Policy Following Second World War Stalin began an aggressive expansionist campaign, and United States security policy was soon dominated with Soviet-related issues. Scholars and advisors surrounding the Truman administration maintained that the Soviet republic would either collapse or change if it was could be geographically contained and thus forced... ... middle of paper ... ...intelligence. Transaction Publishers. New Brunswick, New Jersey. Hill, Cissie Dore. (2001, October 30). “Voices of Hope: The Story of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.” Hoover Digest. 2001. No. 4. Retrieved from: http://www.hoover.org/publications/hoover-digest/article/6270 Johnson, Loch K. (2009). Handbook of Intelligence Studies. Routledge. Third Avenue, New York, NY. Lowenthal, Mark M. ((2012). Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy. SAGE Publications. Thousand Oaks, CA. McMurdo, Torey L. (2012, June). “The Economics of Overthrow: The United States, Britain, and the Hidden Justification of Operation TPAJAX.” Studies in Intelligence. Vol. 56, No. 2. Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol.-56-no.-2/pdfs/McMurdo-The%20Economics%20of%20Overthrow.pdf
The alliance formed between the US and USSR during the second world war was not strong enough to overcome the decades of uneasiness which existed between the two ideologically polar opposite countries. With their German enemy defeated, the two emerging nuclear superpowers no longer had any common ground on which to base a political, economical, or any other type of relationship. Tensions ran high as the USSR sought to expand Soviet influence throughout Europe while the US and other Western European nations made their opposition to such actions well known. The Eastern countries already under Soviet rule yearned for their independence, while the Western countries were willing to go to great lengths to limit Soviet expansion. "Containment of 'world revolution' became the watchword of American foreign policy throughout the 1950s a...
In Overthrow, some of the CIA’s actions that brought massive destruction, death, and chaos to foreign countries are dissected. The disposing of Iranian leader Mohammed Mossadegh by Secretary of State John Dulles can only be described as unfounded and irrational. Which, as told by Kinzer, was a common thread in US foreign policy during the 50’s. Fueled by hate and fervor against communism- many nations faced the brunt force of US policy- by the hand of our leaders. All of which, was done legally and with authorization- sometimes encouragement from US Presidents. Such incidents are certainly blunders on behalf of the US. Although, what Kinzer fails to mention or recognize is instances where Covert Actions helped achieve ends which would never be possible otherwise. The Cold War was a turbulent time for the US and most of the world’s history. One country, the Ukraine- formerly a part of the Soviet Union, has an especially sordid past. The ethnic inhabitants, Ukrainians, suffered under Soviet oppression for many years and endured a man made famine- orchestrated by Stalin to suppress Ukrainian Resistance movements. Such an event, “Holodomor” which killed approx. 3 to 12 million people are considered by many countries to be a genocide. The US, while not directly intervening in warfare, did send agents to assist
A third character, the Ambassador Gilbert MacWhite, is a patriotic diplomat who lives up to many of the SOF Imperatives, but fails at one. His intent is admirable and the Ambassador realizes the actions required to combat the communist threat. One of the SOF Imperatives that he abides by is to ensure the legitimacy and credibility of Special Operations. ADRP 3-05 defines this as “legitimacy is the most crucial factor in developing and maintaining internal and international support. The United States cannot sustain its assistance to a foreign power without this legitimacy.” The publication also elaborates that decisions and actions that comply with U.S. and international laws foster legitimacy and credibility. This concept ties into several
McCraw, David, and Stephen Gikow. “The End to a Unspoken Bargain? National Security and Leaks in a Post-Pentagon Papers World.” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 48.2 (2013): 473-509. Academic OneFile. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
During the Cold War, the United States engaged in many aggressive policies both at home and abroad, in which to fight communism and the spread of communist ideas. Faced with a new challenge and new global responsibilities, the U.S. needed to retain what it had fought so strongly for in World War II. It needed to contain the communist ideas pouring from the Soviet Union while preventing communist influence at home, without triggering World War III. With the policies of containment, McCarthyism, and brinkmanship, the United States hoped to effectively stop the spread of communism and their newest threat, the Soviet Union. After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild.
“There is one evil I dread, and that is, their spies. I could wish therefore the most attentive watch be kept… I wish a dozen or more honest sensible and diligent men, were employed… in order to question, cross-question, etc., all such persons as are unknown, and cannot give an account of themselves in a straight and satisfactory manner… I think it a matter of importance to prevent these [Tory spies] from obtaining intelligence of our situation. ” – George Washington
Discussions of the causes of the Cold War are often divisive, creating disparate ideological camps that focus the blame in different directions depending on the academic’s political disposition. One popular argument places the blame largely on the American people, whose emphasis on “strength over compromise” and their deployment of the atomic bomb in the Second World War’s Pacific theatre apparently functioned as two key catalysts to the conflict between US and Soviet powers. This revisionist approach minimizes Stalin’s forceful approach and history of violent leadership throughout World War 2, and focuses instead on President Harry Truman’s apparent insensitivity to “reasonable Soviet security anxieties” in his quest to impose “American interests on the world.” Revisionist historians depict President Truman as a “Cold War monger,” whose unjustified political use of the atomic bomb and ornery diplomatic style forced Russia into the Cold War to oppose the spread of a looming capitalist democratic monopoly. In reality, Truman’s responsibility for the Cold War and the atomic bomb drop should be minimized.
The Soviet Union began to view the United States as a threat to communism, and the United States began to view the Soviet Union as a threat to democracy. On March 12, 1947, Truman gave a speech in which he argued that the United States should support nations trying to resist Soviet imperialism. Truman and his advisors created a foreign policy that consisted of giving reconstruction aid to Europe, and preventing Russian expansionism. These foreign policy decisions, as well as his involvement in the usage of the atomic bomb, raise the question of whether or not the Cold War can be blamed on Truman. Supporting the view that Truman was responsible for the Cold War, Arnold Offner argues that Truman’s parochialism and nationalism caused him to make contrary foreign policy decisions without regard to other nations, which caused the intense standoff between the Soviet Union and America that became the Cold War (Offner 291)....
Weiner, Tim. Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. New York: Doubleday, 2007. Print.
Everyday citizens often live unaware of their government’s inner workings. The knowing of political espionage is often too heavy of a subject to be inducted in conversation. True, prima facie, modest twists and turns of information may not be considered substantial, but this inconsideration leaves much to be uncontrolled. It is easy for political leaders to become power crazed, to not realize the massive implications that come of their actions. Only after all is said and done do the people actually realize their government is an opaque mask of deception. The Watergate Scandal substantially impacted Americans’ trust in their government.
Nedzi (D-Mich.), Luclen N. “Oversight or Overlook: Congress and the US Intelligence Agency.” A Congressman talk to the CIA senior seminar, November 14, 1979, https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol18no2/pdf/v18i2a02p.pdf (accessed January 7, 2014).
?Espionage.? 2000-2004. The War to End All Wars. Michael Duffy. Original Material. Primary Documents Online.
Walker, Jesse. Rebels on the air: an alternative history of radio in America. New York: New York University Press, 2001. Print.
Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty. Then and Now: Free Media in Unfree Societies. 14 December 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2013
Taubman, William. Stalin's American Policy: From Entente to Detente to Cold War. New York: Norton, 1982. Print.