Ethical Scenarios In The World of Intelligence

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Right or wrong, this question can be applied to almost every decision made throughout your day. For most decisions made in a day the answer to this question is usually simple, but from time to time we run into crossroads were which path to take is not clear. This may be a little decision like choosing to give money back when you have been overpaid all the way to large decisions such as whether abortion, when the mother is not at risk, is right or wrong. In the profession of intelligence these ethical decision may present themselves in a number of ways. In the paper we are going to discuss two fictional case studies that were presented in the book Fair Play by James Olson, the former director of Counter Intelligence for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Both scenarios will present plausible ethical dilemmas that may be encountered in modern day espionage.

Scenario1, Trojan Horse: The Chinese foreign intelligence service, the Ministry for State Security (MSS), has as one of its primary operational objectives to steal defense- related technology from the United States. The Cox Report, released in 1999, documented for the first time the extent of such technology theft by MSS and analyzed the implications for U.S. national security. The MSS uses variety of illegal mechanisms and cutouts (clandestine intermediaries) to acquire embargoed U.S. technology. The CIA learns from a sensitive intelligence source that the MSS is using a French aerospace company as a front for illegal acquisitions. The French company purchases the items from a trading company in Long Beach, California, and then secretly transfers them to the Chinese. The same CIA source indicates that the MSS has just tasked its French...

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... have been taken to prevent him from becoming a “lose cannon”.

As we see, the answers to questions are not always black and white. Sometimes they are shades of grey. In the world if intelligence and national security in general the answer may not be easy at all. The lives of several hundred or thousands of people could be at stake. This may lead to several different solutions being posed, where none are an ideal answer to the problem. This is often the case for many hard decisions, and ultimately the answer to the question is going to rely on your belief system.

Works Cited

Gert, B. (2005). Morality Its Nature and Justification. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Olson, J. M. (2006). Fair Play: The Moral Dilemmas of Spying. Dulles: Potomac Books.

Velaquez, M. G. (2006). Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases. New Jersey: Pearson/ Prentice Hall.

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