The use of covert operations could very well reduce the risk of conflict and enhance international security. A covert operation is an operation that is planned in secrecy and usually denied by the sponsor of the operation. Countries, like the United States, should use covert operations more because it accomplishes national interests, while also reducing the risk of further conflicts, which then enhances the international security of the world. The first example that I will use is Operation Canadian Caper. This operation was during a time of high tension in Iran. A mob of Iranians had just stormed over the Embassy wall and taken countless hostages in Tehran. Six members of the U.S. embassy escaped and met up with Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor. …show more content…
The Munich Massacre happened during the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich. Eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and murdered by members of the armed militant groups the Black September, and the Palestine liberation Organization. Israel’s Prime Minister Golda Meir responded to the atrocious act by sending out the Mossad (institute for intelligence and special operations). The Mossad were assigned to carry out the covert operation called Operation Wrath of God. This operation called for the tactical take out of individuals who were allegedly involved with the Munich massacre. The Mossad were supposed to “put the fear of god into the Palestinians.” The Mossad tactically took out two of the remaining three hostage takers, along with other high level officials in the Black September organization. Prime Minister Golda Meir carried out Operation Wrath of God to deter any future terrorist action by the Black September. The result of Operation Wrath of God was that it dissolved the Black September. As we can see Prime Minister Golda Meir was able to pursue a national interest of Israel without sending out the military. Israel’s covert operation was able to reduce the risk of further conflict and carnage by the Black September. The operation enhanced the international security of the region. The Black September lost many key leaders and eventually dissolved because of the lack of leaders in the
Operation Jawbreaker, one of the first post-9/11 covert operations carried out by the United States in support of its national security interests, had proved successful. Word of the operation’s swift success astounded those back in Washington.
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
In the Supreme Court case of the New York Times Co. vs. United States there is a power struggle. This struggle includes the entities of the individual freedoms against the interests of federal government. It is well known that the first amendment protects the freedom of speech, but to what extent does this freedom exist. There have been instances in which speech has been limited; Schenck vs. United States(1919) was the landmark case which instituted such limitations due to circumstances of “clear and present danger”. Many have noted that the press serves as an overseer which both apprehends and guides national agenda. However, if the federal government possessed the ability to censor the press would the government restrain itself? In the case of the Pentagon Papers the necessities of individual freedoms supersedes the scope of the national government.
Jeffrey David Simon, The Terrorist Trap: America's Experience with Terrorism, 2nd ed. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001), 188-89.
On July 6, 2005, a federal judge ordered Judith Miller, journalist for the The New York Times, to jail. Miller was involved in the exposure of Valerie Plume as a CIA operative. In questioning, Miller invoked reporter’s privilege by refusing to disclose the identity of her sources, fueling fire to a heavily debated ethical issue in the field of journalism (Pinguelo, “A Reporter’s Confidential Source…Revealed?”). Successful journalism tells the truth to a public who has the right to know it. Journalists have the responsibility to tell us a story laden with facts and the more important responsibility of revealing the source of their information, right? Not necessarily. The right of journalists to keep their sources private has been a long-standing debate. The ethics in this debate are blurry. On one hand, it may be extremely important to the issue at hand that the source of information be known, as an argument could lose credibility otherwise. On the other hand, the source has the right as an American and an individual to remain anonymous. Isn’t it enough that he or she came forward with information at all? Judith Miller’s case garnered public attention and is just one example of many instances that raise the same, consistently debated question- how far can journalists go in protecting their sources and under what circumstances does withholding the identity of a source become unethical for either party involved? The answer to this question is obscure, but solvable. Journalists should have the right to protect to identity of a source unless the information they possess is for the greater good of the public or the situation at hand.
...f the covert operations at the time, created friction among policymakers and agency representatives that transpire into inefficient oversight mechanisms from the U.S. government specifically the Congress.
Prados, John. Safe for Democracy The Secret Wars of the CIA. Chicago, IL: Ivan R Dee, Publisher, 2006.
As always, I’m your host Damien Carrick and welcome to yet another instalment of ABC’s The War on Terror: Behind the Battlelines. Tonight the ABC welcomes 2 very distinguished guests to explore this looming issue. We will be discussing the truth behind the lines: the grey-areas surrounding American foreign policy, the scepticism over extraordinary renditions and covert operations, and the role of hidden agencies such as the CIA. Has the United States government been fighting terrorism effectively and justifiably? To discuss all this I welcome Mr Jeremy Scahill, accredited author and journalist made famous for the Oscar nominated documentary Dirty Wars, based off the novel, and Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Powerful Mercenary Army. Joining Mr Scahill, I am pleased to welcome Mrs Lisa Monaco from Harvard University, former assistant Attorney General for National Security and current Homeland Security Advisor to President Obama
...that had helped the United States to be one of the greatest counties that it is today. Within the agency, there was no communications where they kept information from each other. The CIA agency had no idea what they were doing in regards to central intelligence and they were compromised where the enemies knew about the attack before the attack was fully implemented. These examples prove that some leaders had some positive outcomes for the United States, but the agency from within could not stay united as well as keeping communications about what was going on in the world. I agree with Tim Weiner’s thesis that the United States is one of the greatest countries in the world, but we cannot seem to create a great and efficient spy service to benefit the United States.
knowledge of the CIA and who would later would be involved in the clash between the
The CIA is pretty important to this country, yet some people don’t know what it does. The CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) is a government agency that as Wikipedia says, “tasked with gathering, processing and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT).” They don’t work much with domestic like the FBI; they do most of their work overseas. It has different divisions such as Analysis, Operations, Support, and Science and Technology (Wikipedia."Central Intelligence Agency"). They have had successful operations for instance locating Osama Bin Laden and arrest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (Monroe et al.). There also some secret operations that have occurred, such as Operation CHAOS, Phoenix Program, and Muammar al-Qaddafi to name a few (Jason). When people find out about these operations it causes them to question events in history that
The terrorist attacks of September 11 led to a lot of pressure from the public to find those responsible and bring them to “justice”. In order to do so, President Bush declared a war on terrorism just a few days after the attacks, but little did he know that this very decision would also bring devastating consequences to many countries. Over time, people have been losing faith in the war and in its purpose. Consequently, countries whose economies have fallen under the Military Industrial Complex have manufactured a societal fear against Muslims and jihadists. As a result, they are now being stigmatized and portrayed as the enemies of democracy, and of the United States in particular. To make matter worse, it has driven western countries to implement many extreme security measures that undermine the democratic principles they are attempting to spread over the world. The war on terrorism has had many negative consequences on modern society, which include a legitimization crisis of democracy, mainly in the U.S, and the manufacturing of moral panics over security risks that have led to the criminalization and stigmatization of the Arab world.
The Central Intelligence Agency The CIA is one of the U.S. foreign intelligence agencies, responsible for getting and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. government. The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the Defense Department's Defense Intelligence Agency comprise the other two. Its headquarters is in Langley, Virginia, across the Potomac River from D.C. The Agency, created in 1947 by President Harry S. Trueman, is a descendant of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) of World War 2. The OSS was dissolved in October 1945 but William J. Jonavan, the creator of the OSS, had submitted a proposal to President Roosevelt in 1944.
The final type of surveillance, Undercover Operations, has a slightly different job when observing an area. In Undercover Operations, an officer typically tries to gain acceptance among suspects of a criminal act. Whereas other surveillance types use various ways to find evidence surrounding an investigation, these Undercover Operations have the ultimate goal of revealing a crime in progress. For example, a police officer may try to earn his way into a gang only to later bust them for any type of offense they can find. All in all, each of these types of surveillance are used throughout the country, serving in their own way
Have you ever thought about how does the NSA spies on us? The answer is very basic, when you use your device for internet connection, your data in sent through the internet to the sever of the website and travels back to your device with the data you requested from that server (website). But NSA is copying the data on its way. The don't even have to do anything, the computer with the program does that for them. When you talk to your friend, parents, or someone else, you probably never thought that whatever you said is not private. Your secrets that you share with your friend over the social media, or your device overall is not a secret anymore. Even if you don't use your device for a private conversation, but you have your device near you, they could easily listen to you through a microphone in your device. They can turn on the camera, and/or microphone without you even