Covert actions: 'Alternative approaches' of intelligence services' activity

Abstract

Countries have always used secret means to influence situations and events in the world, and eventually these have become one of characteristic features of the government system. Covert actions, i.e. covert operations, resulted from the Cold War, where those under the auspices of the CIA, the chief US secret service, were prevailing. These activities, as a secret aspect of affairs manipulation abroad, became a typical model of post-war international communication in some countries and the practice that contributed a lot to the definition of this secret service's image. Various covert activities have become a way of communication in international politics through military, economic, diplomatic and propaganda means. Even when some important phases in the processes of any of these instruments are clearly transparent, they are often preceded by covert phases. The paper also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of covert actions as one of the foreign policy instruments. Despite the widespread perception of the public that covert conduct certainly violates international law, countries act covertly for a number of legitimate political, diplomatic and strategic reasons. The paper examines legal and doctrinal definitions of covert actions, some of juristic and ethical bases for covert operation, as defined by law, as well as matters of the politics, which inevitably encompass their use.

Keywords

• secrecy
• covert actions
• covert operation
• cia
• diplomacy
• propaganda