Fair Play

by Olson, James M.

• ISBN13: 9781574889499
• ISBN10: 1574889494
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-15
• 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.

Author Biography

James M. Olson is on the faculty of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction: A Career Under Cover	1	(14)
Philosophical and Historical Arguments
Bible	15	(2)
Aristotle	17	(1)
Cicero	18	(2)
St. Thomas Aquinas	20	(2)
Machiavelli	22	(2)
Kant	24	(1)
Realpolitik	25	(2)
Utilitarianism	27	(2)
Veritatis Splendor	29	(4)
U.S. Attitudes Toward Spying	33	(13)
Scenarios
1. Homosexual Blackmail	46	(3)
2. Trojan Horse	49	(3)
3. False Flag	52	(5)
4. Hit Team	57	(4)
5. Torture	61	(6)
6. Kidnapping and Torture by Surrogates	67	(3)
7. Truth Serum	70	(2)
8. Journalism Cover	72	(5)
9. Operational Use of Journalists	77	(4)
10. Human Rights Violators	81	(4)
11. Torture Training	85	(2)
12. Humanitarian Aid Worker Cover	87	(3)
13. Missionary Cover	90	(3)
14. Operational Use of Academics	93	(4)
15. P-Sources	97	(4)
16. Prostitute for Terrorist	101	(2)
17. Child Prostitute	103	(2)
18. Terrorist Act for Bona Fides	105	(4)
19. Election Tampering	109	(3)
20. Seduction and Compromise	112	(4)
21. Romeo Operations	116	(4)
22. Coercive Pitch	120	(3)
23. Feeding a Drug Habit	123	(3)
24. Kidnapping or Killing a Defector	126	(5)
25. Fabricating Evidence	131	(4)
26. L-Devices	135	(3)
27. Insertion Operations	138	(4)
28. Fake Diagnosis	142	(3)
29. Drugging a Foreign Diplomat	145	(4)
30. Press Placements	149	(5)
31. Fabricating Academic Credentials	154	(3)
32. Plagiarizing a Ph.D. Dissertation	157	(3)
33. Exposing Unwitting Person to Risk	160	(3)
34. Kamikaze Dolphins	163	(3)
35. Spying on Americans Overseas	166	(2)
36. Spying on Friends	168	(3)
37. Spying on the United Nations	171	(4)
38. Industrial Espionage	175	(4)
39. Bribing a Foreign Government	179	(3)
40. Tampering with U.S. Mail	182	(3)
41. Protection of Code Breaking	185	(5)
42. Breaking a Promise to an Agent	190	(4)
43. Unauthorized Cover	194	(3)
44. Bogus Websites and Chatrooms	197	(2)
45. Back Doors	199	(4)
46. Biological Attack	203	(4)
47. Forging Documents from Friendly Countries	207	(3)
48. Collateral Damage	210	(5)
49. Foreign Officer Visitors	215	(3)
50. Interrogation	218	(7)
Afterword	225	(4)
Notes: Spying 101	229	(34)
The Essential Intelligence Library	263	(6)
Commentators	269	(18)
Index	287	(4)
About the Author	291