Covert operation

Covert operation
Interest of	• CIA/Directorate of Operations • Frank Kitson • Military Reconnaissance Force • Victor Ostrovsky • U.S. Special Operations Command

Not to be confused with CovertAction Quarterly, a magazine which focused on such operations by the CIA.

Covert Action / Covert Operation is a term used by the American intelligence community to describe "the attempt by a government or group to influence events in another state or territory without revealing its own involvement."

External Resources

• David Isenberg, The Pitfalls of U.S. Covert Operations, The Cato Institute, 7 April 1989. Archive.org Archive.is
• Thomas H. Henrikson, Covert Operations, Now More Than Ever, Hoover Digest, 2000, No.2, Hoover Institution. Archive.is
• Ramsey Clark, The Corruption of Covert Actions, Fall 1998 Archive.orgArchive.is - excerpted from CovertAction Quarterly Nr. 65

 

Examples

Page name	Description
Document:Bloody US-Directed Raid Destabilizes Philippine Politics	American fingerprints are all over a botched commando raid in the southern Philippines that left dozens dead and shocked the country.
Nation-building	State constructing.
Nord Stream/Sabotage	Destruction of Europe's energy supply, under different circumstances it would be considered a declaration of war.
The Sinking of the Atlas	German cargo ship sunk by French agents in 1958. Blamed on fictional Red Hand terrorist organization.
The Sinking of the SS San Flaviano	British oil tanker sunk in 1958 by the CIA bombing under false flag. The purpose was make foreign companies like Shell suspend operations and in Indonesia, to weaken the Indonesian economy and destabilize the government.

 

Related Quotations

Page	Quote	Author	Date
Institute for Statecraft/Secrecy	“Code of Conduct (Greg to commence with internet etiquette) Anonymity of the team remains paramount. As our activity increases we will, no doubt, attract unwanted attention.”		30 May 2018
Institute for Statecraft/Secrecy	“Be absolutely sure you have good references for people so we know we can trust them before we talk to them about our programme”		30 May 2018
Institute for Statecraft/Secrecy	“Beware the friendly host who wants to book travel or accommodation on your behalf. Absolutely get their tips on where to stay but avoid getting into tricky scenarios and ensure you follow company guidelines and book everything yourself. If in doubt, ask advice from another team member.”		30 May 2018
Institute for Statecraft/Secrecy	“* Chris Donnelly makes initial country introduction with nominated trusted 'cordinator' & relevant II team member/s (normally 2 members minimum per country) II team member/s coordinate foundation workshop to connect members, formally introduce them to II aims, establish target programme for research, issemmination and events. Members to sign code of conduct & non-disclosure Greg Rowett to start code of conduct doc to include basic info on passwords and etiquette with social media etc - final ok should be sought from James Wilson. Debate and decide preferred methods of communication. Activity: £3k budget (based on 20 clusters)”		30 May 2018
Institute for Statecraft/Secrecy	“Beware the friendly host who wants to book travel or accommodation on your behalf. Absolutely get their tips on where to stay but avoid getting into tricky scenarios and ensure you follow company guidelines and book everything yourself. If in doubt, ask advice from another team member.”		30 May 2018
Integrity Initiative/Cluster	“An effective network is best achieved by forming in each European country a cluster of well-informed people from the political, military, academic, journalistic and think-tank spheres, who will track and analyse examples of disinformation in their country and inform decision-makers and other interested parties about what is happening.”		30 May 2018
Integrity Initiative/Cluster	“Be absolutely sure you have good references for people so we know we can trust them before we talk to them about our programme ... Chris Donnelly makes initial country introduction with nominated trusted 'coordinator' & relevant II team member/s (normally 2 members minimum per country) II team member/s coordinate foundation workshop to connect members, formally introduce them to II aims, establish target programme for research, dissemination and events. Members to sign code of conduct & non-disclosure Greg Rowett to start code of conduct doc to include basic info on passwords and etiquette with social media etc - final ok should be sought from James Wilson. Debate and decide preferred methods of communication. Activity: £3k budget (based on 20 clusters)”		30 May 2018
Nord Stream/Sabotage	“There is a party or a party that, in the absence of the functioning of these gas pipelines, is able to sell more LNG at a higher price. This side is well known, it is the United States, [...] there are also countries that have the military-technological capabilities to carry out such sabotage”	Dmitry Peskov	3 October 2022

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