International
Security and Peace
Covert Wars
Prof. Jaechun Kim
COVERT WAR

Definition of Covert Action and Covert War
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What is “covert”?
An attempt by a government to influence events in
another state or territory without revealing its own
involvement.
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Maintenance of “plausible deniability” is very
important!
Covert War  Covert Action at the highest level
Covert Wars aim at certain political objectives…
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Political objective of CW  change the regime by
secretly promoting military coup, economic
destabilization program (sabotage), or by sending secret
paramilitary force (or special forces and human spies)…

Americans have the most effective CA capacity (after
WWII)
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Less expensive than open military action, but..
Brits… Soviets…
Studying CA (and any other intelligence
activities) is not easy…
cf. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the US
cf. Compartmentalization

US intelligence community
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The US Intelligence Community is a group of 16 (or more)
government agencies and organizations
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INDEPENDENT AGENCY
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Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) headed by DCI
Office of DNI (Director of National Intelligence)
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ELEMENTS
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Defense Intelligence Agency
National Security Agency (NSA)
National Imagery & Mapping Agency  National Geospatial
Intelligence Agency
National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
Air Force Intelligence
Army Intelligence
Marine Corps Intelligence
Navy Intelligence
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DEPARTMENTAL INTELLIGENCE ELEMENTS (non-DoD)
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Department of State
Department of Energy
Department of the Treasury
Department of Justice
Department of Homeland Security
http://www.intelligence.gov/index.shtml←Find more about
US intelligence community!

Head of American IC – used to be the Director of Central
Intelligence (DCI)  now Director of National Intelligence (DNI),
first DNI being John Negroponte  Mike McConnell  …
James Clapper

US spend about (allegedly) 40 billion dollars a year for
intelligence activities

History of the US Intelligence System
Shock of Pearl Harbor – Creation of OSS (Office of
Strategic Services) in 1942  CIA in 1947 (National
Security Act 1947)  National Intelligence Reform Act of
2004  creation of Office of DNI

Types of US intelligence activities

Techint (Sigint, Photint, Imint, etc.)

Humint – human spy (CIA, in charge)

Covert Action – a type of humint…
 Types
of Covert Action
1. Political Action
 Influence foreign events using political means

creation and manipulation of political parties
and organizations; disruption of democratic
electoral processes.
2. Propaganda
 Use words or symbols to influence the minds of
foreign people; media operation
3. Paramilitary activity
 Use of force; Help to create opposition military forces
by financial aid, military equipments, military specialists
e.g.) Contra War in Nicaragua…
 The importance of Intelligence to US Foreign Policy
• US intelligence had been a major arm of the US
foreign policy during the Cold War

Cold War was fought in three areas:
1. Strategic Nuclear Arms Race - the most
stable area of Cold War competition…
2. Competition in Europe and other developed
nations - stable ; too high a stake…
3. Competition in the 3rd world – the most
unstable ; where the major battles of the Cold
War were fought.
 Covert wars in the peripheral areas…
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Developing countries during the Cold War and American
foreign policy to these countries -The dominant theme in
the developing countries - national self-determination
and decolonization movements
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Appeal of Leninism and Marxism. Why? Because
decolonization movements come with land reforms,
redistribution of wealth, nationalization of foreign owned
industry, and regulate business to protect have-nots..

US security interest in the peripheral areas…

Successful cases of US covert war in the
developing countries during the Cold War
1953 – Iran (Mossadeq  Shah)
1954 – Guatemala (Arbenz)
1954 1948 - North Vietnam
1957 1973 - Laos
1961 - Congo (Lumumba  Mobutu)
1963 - Dominican Republic (Bosch)
1964 – Brazil (Goulart)
1965 – Indonesia (Sukarno  Suharto)
1970 - Cambodia
1973 – Chile (Allende  Pinochet)
1975 - Australia
1979 – Nicaragua (Sandinistas)
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Reasons for Secrecy: Why did the US
engage in covert action as opposed to
openly aggressive military intervention?
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Was American covert intervention in the
developing countries successful in C’s
sense?

Simmons (former CIA officer)
 “ Defenders of covert action would say we are fighting
to preserve liberty and democracy and the American
way . . . But when you get into the details, you wonder if
they are talking about the same thing . . .
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
He may be an SOB and a dictator, but he is our SOB
whereas Arbenz, who was democratically elected, was
not an SOB, but he wasn’t ours.”
Problem of Covert Action in Liberal Democracy. Do you
think Covert Action can be legitimate FP tool of democratic
countries? When?

General Jimmy Doolittle in 1954:
“ It is now clear that we are facing an implacable
enemy whose avowed objective is world
domination by whatever means and at whatever
cost. There are no rules in such a game. Hitherto
acceptable norms of human conduct do not apply.
If the United State is to survive, long standing
American concepts of “fair play” must be
reconsidered. We must develop effective
espionage and counterespionage services and
must learn to subvert, sabotage and destroy
enemies by more clever, more sophisticated means
than those used against us. It may become
necessary that the American people be made
acquainted with, understand and support this
fundamentally repugnant philosophy.”