Fair Play : The Moral Dilemmas of Spying

by Olson, James M.

• ISBN13: 9781597971539
• ISBN10: 1597971537
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-31
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc

Summary

Revolutionary War officer Nathan Hale, one of America's first spies, said, 'œAny kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary.' A statue of Hale stands outside CIA headquarters, and the agency often cites his statement as one of its guiding principles. But who decides what is necessary for the public good, and is it really true that any kind of service is permissible for the public good? These questions are at the heart of James M. Olson's book, Fair Play: The Moral Dilemmas of Spying. Olson, a veteran of the CIA's clandestine service, takes readers inside the real world of intelligence to describe the difficult dilemmas that field officers face on an almost daily basis. Far from being a dry theoretical treatise, this fascinating book uses actual intelligence operations to illustrate how murky their moral choices can be. Readers will be surprised to learn that the CIA provides very little guidance on what is, or is not, permissible. Rather than empowering field officers, the author has found that this lack of guidelines actually hampers operations. Olson believes that U.S. intelligence officers need clearer moral guidelines to make correct, quick decisions. Significantly, he believes these guidelines should come from the American public, not from closed-door meetings inside the intelligence community. Fair Playwill encourage a broad public debate about the proper moral limits on U.S. intelligence activities.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction: A Career Under Cover	p. 1
Philosophical and Historical Arguments
Bible	p. 15
Aristotle	p. 17
Cicero	p. 18
St. Thomas Aquinas	p. 20
Machiavelli	p. 22
Kant	p. 24
Realpolitik	p. 25
Utilitarianism	p. 27
Veritatis Splendor	p. 29
U.S. Attitudes Toward Spying	p. 33
Scenarios
Homosexual Blackmail	p. 46
Trojan Horse	p. 49
False Flag	p. 52
Hit Team	p. 57
Torture	p. 61
Kidnapping and Torture by Surrogates	p. 67
Truth Serum	p. 70
Journalism Cover	p. 72
Operational Use of Journalists	p. 77
Human Rights Violators	p. 81
Torture Training	p. 85
Humanitarian Aid Worker Cover	p. 87
Missionary Cover	p. 90
Operational Use of Academics	p. 93
P-Sources	p. 97
Prostitute for Terrorist	p. 101
Child Prostitute	p. 103
Terrorist Act for Bona Fides	p. 105
Election Tampering	p. 109
Seduction and Compromise	p. 112
Romeo Operations	p. 116
Coercive Pitch	p. 120
Feeding a Drug Habit	p. 123
Kidnapping or Killing a Defector	p. 126
Fabricating Evidence	p. 131
L-Devices	p. 135
Insertion Operations	p. 138
Fake Diagnosis	p. 142
Drugging a Foreign Diplomat	p. 145
Press Placements	p. 149
Fabricating Academic Credentials	p. 154
Plagiarizing a Ph.D. Dissertation	p. 157
Exposing Unwitting Person to Risk	p. 160
Kamikaze Dolphins	p. 163
Spying on Americans Overseas	p. 166
Spying on Friends	p. 168
Spying on the United Nations	p. 171
Industrial Espionage	p. 175
Bribing a Foreign Government	p. 179
Tampering with U.S. Mail	p. 182
Protection of Code Breaking	p. 185
Breaking a Promise to an Agent	p. 190
Unauthorized Cover	p. 194
Bogus Websites and Chatrooms	p. 197
Back Doors	p. 199
Biological Attack	p. 203
Forging Documents from Friendly Countries	p. 207
Collateral Damage	p. 210
Foreign Officer Visitors	p. 215
Interrogation	p. 218
Afterword	p. 225
Notes: Spying 101	p. 229
The Essential Intelligence Library	p. 263
Commentators	p. 269
Index	p. 287
About the Author	p. 291
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