Arizona State University Covert Operations & US Code Title 50 Discussion

In this discussion, address the following:

1. What are covert actions? What is significant about covert operations with respect to policy? What determines the need for covert action? To answer these questions, first look at how Lowenthal explains covert action. Note the parts with which you agree, disagree, or about which you have questions.
2. Then do a web search of “covert action.” This will lead you to multiple websites that provide a variety of information. Or, if you have experience in the intelligence community, consider any covert actions you may have been involved with.
   • From your web search or experience, explain what covert action means and how to distinguish covert action from direct action. For instance, would satellite spying be considered covert action? Post this explanation.
   • Other points for discussion:
     • What are some of the issues in covert operations?
     • What should the decision to carry out covert operations take into account?
     • What are the advantages of covert operations?
3. What were the issues in Iran-Contra?
   • To answer this question, first, look at the Lowenthal reading and the presentation. Keep in mind the parts you noted with which you agree, disagree, or about which you have questions.
   • Next, do a web search for “Iran-Contra.” You should find multiple sites with different kinds of information about this incident.
   • Considering what you read from Lowenthal about the development of the intelligence community, and what you found in the web search, post what you think about the results of Iran-Contra.
   • Consider the effects of Iran-Contra. Do you think intelligence policy should have changed in response?
4. After posting your original, primary response to the topic(s) above, reply to at least two of your peers’ posts. What did your classmates find that was informative, insightful, or incorrect?
   • Review the comments posted by your classmates, thinking of any insights you find or that you might share; also, make note of any errors of information or thinking, especially if you have deep experience in the intelligence community.
   • Post any insights, comments about new information or insights, clarifications or corrections, or questions that you have about any of the messages posted. FIRST PEER POST
   • Hello class
   • ,a. What are covert actions? What is significant about covert operations with respect to policy? What determines the need for covert action?Covert actions are operations or activities taken in foreign countries where the U.S. government will influence political, economic, or military conditions without taking responsibility for that influence. The significance that covert operations have in respect to policies is that covert operations help achieve the goals of policy makers. They can influence politics in another country, such as helping in the elections, economically by disrupting another country’s economy or influence foreign military such as sending weapons to another army. Covert actions are determined by policy makers if they decide that the best way to achieve their goals is by covert operations. b. Do a web search of “covert action”. After looking at a myriad of websites, I found that most of them used the definition that is in the National Security Act or a similar one. The thing that all of them had in common is that they are actions that help a policy maker. I was not able to find what direct action was on any of my websites because they never mentioned that, so I needed to do another web search for its definition. According to the Green Beret Foundation, “direct action missions are short-duration strikes used to seize, capture, recover or destroy enemy material, or recover personnel” (Green Beret Foundation, 2021). From this, the way that one is able to distinguish between covert action and direct action is that direct actions are attacks that are made or offensive strikes, while covert actions have a limit. The limit is seen in paramilitary operations where “Intelligence agencies covertly train and equip personnel to attack an adversary or to conduct intelligence operations. These operations normally do not involve the use of uniformed military personnel as combatants” (Rosenbach & Peritz, 2009). Also, satellite spying can be considered covert action but not entirely. We need to remember that the point of covert actions is that they are kept secret and no one knows who did it, but when we are talking about satellite spying, there are few countries that do this which makes it relatively easy to know who did those actions.
     • What are some of the issues in covert action?

     Issues that arise in covert action are idealists, pragmatists, plausible deniability, blowbacks, blurring the line between policy and intelligence, the intelligence community assumes greater responsibility for failure, and if the CIA or DOD should run paramilitary operations. There are more issues but these are the ones that stand out the most. Idealists think that covert actions are illegitimate while pragmatists believe that sometimes covert actions are required. Also, sometimes it is really hard to keep an operation secret, and more when it is a big covert action. Blowback is another issue and this can happen even more likely in today’s era because of how fast information can travel and be published publically. Another issue is the risk of failure but this is something that needs to always be taken into consideration.

     • What should the decision to carry out covert operations take into account?

     The decision to carry out covert operations should take into account “policy makers justifying the policy, defining clearly the national security interests and goals that are at stake, and believing that covert action is a viable means as well as the best means for achieving specified ends” (Lowenthal, 2019). Policy makers need to take a lot of things and conditions into consideration before carrying out a covert operation.

     • What are the advantages of covert operations?

     Some advantages of covert operations are that they represent another option for policy makers to achieve their goals, no one will know the involvement of the U.S. government in them, and the U.S. can gain allies because of this. c. What were the issues in Iran-Contra?The issues in Iran-Contra, as mentioned by Lowenthal, were “questionable delegations of authority ordered and managed covert actions, presidential findings were postdated and signed ex post facto, disparate operations were merged, and the executive branch failed to keep Congress properly informed” (Lowenthal, 2019). After reading the reasons and the Iran-Contra events I think that they were mainly miscommunications and bad decision-making by certain individuals. I think that the results from Iran-Contra were not the desired ones but it was not completely Reagan’s fault. In the end, Reagan stood with a really good popularity as a president, and some of the people that were convicted in later years were pardoned by George H. W. Bush. McFarlane, North, Poindexter, and four CIA officers were prosecuted and charged with either money or a short sentence in prison. I think that intelligence policy should have changed in response to these events and I think that a focus on communication should have been more strict after this.References:
     Green Beret Foundation. (2021, February 3). The most complex missions. The best trained soldiers. Green Beret Foundation. https://greenberetfoundation.org/who-we-serve/ (Links to an external site.).History. (2017, August 10). Iran-Contra Affair. History.com. https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/iran-contra-affair (Links to an external site.).Lawfare. (2021). Covert Action. Lawfare. com/topic/covert-action” target=”_blank” class=”external” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>https://www.lawfareblog.com/topic/covert-action (Links to an external site.).Lowenthal, M. M. (2019). Intelligence: from secrets to policy. SAGE/CQ Press.National Security Archive. (2021, April 16). Covert Action. National Security Archive. edu/subjects/covert-action” target=”_blank” class=”external” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/subjects/covert-action (Links to an external site.).Poznansky, M. (2021, March 23). Covert action, espionage, and the Intelligence contest in Cyberspace. War on the Rocks. https://warontherocks.com/2021/03/covert-action-espionage-and-the-intelligence-contest-in-cyberspace/ (Links to an external site.).Rosenbach, E., & Peritz, A. J. (2009, July). Covert Action. Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/covert-action (Links to an external site. SECOND PEER POST

   • Class
   • ,What are covert actions? What is significant about covert operations with respect to policy? What determines the need for covert action?Covert action is an activity of the U.S. government with the aims of influencing, economic, political, or military conditions abroad. It is intended to conceal from the public the role of The United States. It is generally used to influence alternate conditions the opposite of escalation. The purpose of this sometimes is to avoid long drawn-out military conflict that involves the country. A covert operation or action does not just get set in motion by one person, it requires written notification to Congress that the activity supports identifiable policy objectives. Examples of this would be the CIA involvement of the coup in Iran in 1953 and the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. The authorizations for covert actions or basically any intelligence operation is outlined the Intelligence Authorization Act which gets published for every fiscal.From your web search or experience, explain what covert action means and how to distinguish covert action from direct action. For instance, would satellite spying be considered covert action? Post this explanation.Direct action is a term used in military operations for small-scale raids, sabotages, and similar actions in that nature. These are used in small, hostile, polically sensitive and, denied environments. They specialized military capabilities in a small scale. Covert Actions as mentioned previously, aims to conceal involvement of the U.S. government. Some issues with covert action arise from the action and or methods. In 2013 there was much talk of the CIA employing drone strikes in their covert actions. To do this there would have to be an enormous amount of coordination between foreign assets and the CIA in order to secure launch locations, maintenance facilities, etc. This would provide a large footprint that would diminish the covert element of the operation. Covert actions are meant to be done quietly and with minimal footprint so if an agency like the CIA continues to use military capabilities it would identify the U.S. government as the one behind the action.What were the issues in Iran-Contra?The Iran-Contra affair or scandal as some call it was the incident where the Regan Administration secretly sold to Iran in order to affect the release of Americans being held in Lebanon. The money from the sale was used to support Contras, the anticommunist guerrillas fighting in Nicaragua against the Marxist government. Around 10 to 30 million dollars were diverted to fund the operations in Nicaragua for which at the time Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North admitted diverting the finds to Nicaragua under the assumption that since the National Security Advisor John Poindexter knew, President Regan must have known as well. The fallout of this brough forth 14 indictments from which 6 ended up receiving pardons. An issue I noticed while looking at this was firs, Oliver North saying that he though the President knew of the dealings. In intelligence you cannot assume anything, and you must be clear with all the information relating any operation. The second issue is basically the funding. Why is a clandestine operation being used to fund a different clandestine operation? As it requires written notice to Congress in order to carry out covert operations, why would they not attempt to do that and therefore appropriate the finding. By doing the arms sales you are selling arms to a country that can turn around and use them against us or end up having the weapons fall into terrorist hands. The Iran-Contra situation became what it became because it tried to be overly covert, something that can be seen by the number of Presidential pardons given to many of those involved in it.Regards,JoseReference:Britannica (n.d). Iran-Contra Affair. Iran-Contra Affair | Definition, History, Oliver North, Importance, & Facts | Britannica (Links to an external site.)History (January 17, 2020) . The Iran-Contra Affair. Iran-Contra Affair – HISTORY (Links to an external site.)Potter, Z. (December 13, 1996). Covert Action: The Delicate Balance. Covert Action: the Delicate Balance (fas.org) (Links to an external site.)