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Daniel Saarinen

3/16/10

[email protected]

Covert Action, Clandestine Operations and Analysis in

Intelligence

Covert action, clandestine operations and analysis play critical roles in the

intelligence community. Analysis is clearly different when compared to the other two

items, so some explanation of the other two is in order. Covert actions are taken outside

the normal chain of command, and legal responsibility is denied by the authorities. They

may be legal or illegal, but the goal is compartmentalization and deniability. Clandestine

operations are secret, but are ordered from within the normal chain of command, and the

authorities ordering the operation take legal responsibility for it. Analysis units simply

processes data gathered by any method, and presents conclusions to the chain of

command. Covert action and clandestine operations are two broad categories of activity

that sometimes produce information for the analysts to work with.

Covert action and clandestine operations are not formally part of the simple

intelligence cycle that is promoted to the public. Within the phase of collection though,

there is plenty of room to fit both categories of activities in with room to spare. Only

covert and clandestine operations designed to procure information can be included, as

other operations that have other goals are not part of the intelligence cycle. The question

of whether covert and clandestine operations are part of the intelligence cycle cannot be

answered to the satisfaction of all, though. Almost any operation that is conducted will

produce some intelligence, so it is possible to claim that almost any operation is part of

the intelligence cycle. The idea that everything is potentially included assaults reason, so

we must question the motivation of those who would include everything under the sun in

the intelligence cycle.

The goal of adding in everything to the intelligence cycle would be to maintain

the appearance that lawful authorities are in control of the activities taking place. If any

given action can worm its way into the cycle, it means it is being directed by “tasking”

from a legal authority. This illusion is useful for duping the public into believing that

everything is under the control of the people they elect, and not private forces with

private agendas.

Of course, not all covert actions are directed by secretive private forces. A

Presidential Finding is needed in order to carry out covert actions. This tool of the

executive is very important and will be discussed here. Another powerful tool of

deniability is Executive Order 12333. We will examine the privatization of intelligence

operations done by EO 12333 after the Presidential Finding. A Presidential Finding is a

type of executive order that is classified, and is not usually published in the Federal

Register. These findings may become public for political purposes, or through leaks as

well. A Presidential Finding is a matter of policy, and is under the singular control of the

Executive. Covert action is supposed to be authorized by a Presidential Finding, and in

fact it usually is. The problem of control is that a Presidential Finding can be very broad,
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and can subsequently be used to justify a broad range of operations besides what was

intended. The question of intention is very important here as well.

The President and his controllers may not want to directly order something

because of the potential consequences, so they may intentionally make a Finding broad.

Then the operators and technicians are expected to go and accomplish what the Executive

“really intended”, and if the operation is discovered they are denied and considered to be

operating unlawfully. Their national security letters, and the verbal orders they received

to carry out certain actions, no longer protect them when the Executive decides in an ex-

post facto manner that it really didn’t mean what they thought it meant when it issued the

orders. Typically the operation will be portrayed as the rogue action of some band of

misfits, and the accountability will be cut off with their prosecution and conviction. The

fate of the Army privates and sergeants involved in the Abu Ghraib prisoner scandal

comes to mind here.

More important than the problems with Presidential Findings is the privatization

of intelligence activities that has gone on since EO 12333. By 2007, 70% of all

intelligence activity had already been privatized1. From paper clips to spy satellites and

assassinations, the intelligence functions of the state have been transferred to private

corporations. This provides an entire new matrix of covert operations that operate

simultaneously with the 17 agencies that officially make up the intelligence community.

Private contractors now represent not only a parallel intelligence structure, but the

primary intelligence structure of the nation. The agencies serve as simple recruiting

pools for the real operations that are carried out by privatized entities. The agencies

1
Shorrock, Tim. “The Corporate Takeover of U.S. Intelligence”. Accessed at
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/06/01/intel_contractors/ on 3/9/10
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continue operating to provide cover and deniability for the corporate take-over that has

occurred.

This private network operates without any meaningful oversight, and has a budget

in the tens of billions per year not counting black funding from narcotics trafficking and

such. The Executive can pass orders to the private network without any government

paper trail, and the private network can access state power directly and without any paper

trail either. The flag ship contractors create special purpose entities that are

compartmentalized so that if they are caught and embarrassed by something, the blame

usually stops with the small Potemkin corporations and does not spread up the chain of

command.

A prime example of the privatized network in action is Vice President Cheney’s

assassination program, which involved not only Joint Special Operations Command but

contractors as well2. Only a verbal authorization would be required to dispatch

mercenary assassins to any place in the world to kill whoever was selected at the

moment. The operations were carried out without the knowledge of the CIA station

chiefs or ambassadors of the country in question. In this specific example, it is someone

in the National Command Authority giving the orders. At other times it will be other

lower ranking people.

The corporate pay scale is always much better than the government pay scale.

There is a strong pull from the government sector to the private sector. Government

operatives are recruited while still employed by the various agencies. The private

network has already reached the point of no return, and it will not go away easily. As

2
Black, Erik. “Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes executive assassination ring”. Accessed at
http://www.minnpost.com/ericblackblog/2009/03/11/7310/investigative_reporter_seymour_hersh_describe
s_executive_assassination_ring on 3/9/10.
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time goes on, more and more control will be lost by the lawful authorities and gained by

private interests.

We are familiar with concepts like equal and opposite reactions. We understand

that on a balance sheet every asset has a liability that goes with it. The intelligence

community has access to the private network, and this allows it to accomplish tasks

efficiently and effectively. This access is mostly outside of any meaningful oversight,

and this is why the agencies are going along with the privatization. The other side of this

coin is that the private network has access to the United States government.

An invisible covert army has been built that cuts across the agencies. The private

corporations sometimes work for the government, and we must fear that sometimes the

government works for the private corporations. On January 4th 2010 Richard Wolffe, a

White House insider, conducted a limited hang-out on Countdown on MSNBC indicating

that some faction inside the U.S. government intentionally allowed the underwear

bomber to board the flight to Detroit on Christmas Day 20093. He was saying that this

was essentially a false flag operation being conducted by a rogue element within the

government. This was subsequently confirmed in hearings on January 27th by the House

Committee on Homeland Security by Patrick Kennedy of the State Department. The

bomber was under the control of intelligence assets of an unnamed agency, which

ordered the State Department not to revoke his visa. Some operative escorted the mental

basket case patsy onto the plane without even a passport, and the rest is history.

Sometimes it is the government and the intelligence process that will order covert

action. It appears that covert action is being used to stampede the government and

3
Wolffe, Richard. Jan 4th 2010 episode of Countdown on MSNBC. Accessed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRhQkS7Myqs on 3/9/10.
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intelligence community to action as well. No one can tell who someone really works for

just by looking at where their pay cheque comes from at the moment. The possibility of

people with different loyalties being in the same planning meetings is now real.