A covert operation is a military operation intended to conceal the identity of (or allow plausible deniability by) the party that instigated the operation. Covert operations should not be confused with clandestine operations, which are performed in secret and meant to stay secret. Covert operations aim to secretly fulfill their mission objectives without anyone knowing who sponsored or carried out the operation, or in some cases, without anyone knowing that the operation has even occurred.

Impact

According to a 2018 study by University of Chicago political scientist Austin Carson, covert operations may have the beneficial effect of preventing escalation of disputes into full-blown wars. He argues that keeping military operations secret can limit escalation dynamics, as well as insulate leaders from domestic pressures while simultaneously allowing them communicating their interest to the adversary in keeping a war contained. He finds that covert operations are frequently detected by other major powers.

Laws

Under U.S. law, the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA) must lead covert operations unless the president finds that another agency should do so and properly informs Congress. Normally, the CIA is the U.S. government agency legally allowed to carry out covert action.''Executive Secrets: Covert Action and the Presidency'', William J. Daugherty, University of Kentucky Press, 2004, page 25. The CIA's authority to conduct covert action comes from the National Security Act of 1947.William J. Daugherty, ''Executive Secrets: Covert Action and the Presidency'', University of Kentucky Press, 2004. President Ronald Reagan issued

Executive Order 12333 Executive Order 12333, signed on December 4, 1981 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was an Executive Order intended to extend powers and responsibilities of U.S. intelligence agencies and direct the leaders of U.S. federal agencies to co-opera ...

titled ''United States Intelligence Activities'' in 1984. This order defined covert action as "special activities", both political and military, that the US Government could legally deny. The CIA was also designated as the sole authority under the 1991

Intelligence Authorization Act The Intelligence Authorization Act was implemented in order to codify covert, clandestine operations and defines requirements for reporting such operations to the Congress. The American Constitution states, in Article 1, Section 9, that "a regu ...

and in Title 50 of the United States Code Section 413(e). The CIA must have a "Presidential Finding" issued by the President of the United States in order to conduct these activities under the Hughes-Ryan amendment to the 1991 Intelligence Authorization Act. These findings are then monitored by the oversight committees in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. As a result of this framework, William J. Daugherty writes that the CIA "receives more oversight from the Congress than any other agency in the federal government". The Special Activities Division (SAD) is a division of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, responsible for Covert Action and "Special Activities". These special activities include covert political influence and paramilitary operations.

Military intelligence and foreign policy

Covert operations and clandestine operations are distinct. The '' Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms'' (Joint Publication JP1-02), defines "covert operation" as "an

operation Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

that is so planned and executed as to conceal the identity of or permit

plausible denial ''Plausible Denial: Was the CIA Involved in the Assassination of JFK?'' is a 1991 book by American attorney, Mark Lane that outlines his theory that former Watergate figure E. Howard Hunt was involved with the Central Intelligence Agency in the ...

by the sponsor. A covert operation differs from a clandestine operation in that emphasis is placed on concealment of a sponsor rather than on concealment of the operation". The

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...

definition has been used by the United States and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In a covert operation, the identity of the sponsor is concealed, while in a clandestine operation the operation itself is concealed. Put differently, ''clandestine'' means "hidden", while ''covert'' means " deniable". The term ''

stealth Stealth may refer to: Military * Stealth technology, technology used to conceal ships, aircraft, and missiles ** Stealth aircraft, aircraft which use stealth technology **Stealth ground vehicle, ground vehicles which use stealth technology ** St ...

'' refers both to a broad set of tactics aimed at providing and preserving the element of surprise and reducing enemy resistance and to a set of technologies (

stealth technology Stealth technology, also termed low observable technology (LO technology), is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive and active electronic countermeasures, which covers a range of methods used to make personnel, aircraft, ships, su ...

) to aid in those tactics. While secrecy and stealthiness are often desired in clandestine and covert operations, the terms ''secret'' and ''stealthy'' are not used to formally describe types of missions. Covert operations are employed in situations where openly operating against a target would be disadvantageous. Operations may be directed at or conducted with allies and friends to secure their support for controversial components of foreign policy throughout the world. Covert operations may include

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

, assassinations, support for coups d'état, or support for

subversion Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms ...

. Tactics include the use of a false flag or front group. The activity of organizations engaged in covert operations is in some instances similar to or overlaps with, the activity of front organizations. While covert organizations are generally of a more official military or paramilitary nature, like the DVS German Air Transport School in the

Nazi era Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, the line between both becomes muddled in the case of front organizations engaged in terrorist activities and organized crime.

Law enforcement

Undercover operations (such as

sting operation In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a role ...

s or infiltration of

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

groups) are conducted by law enforcement agencies to deter and detect

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

and to gather information for future arrest and prosecution. The FBI's domestic operations were defined on September 29, 2008, by the "Attorney General's Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations".(31 January 2017). "The FBI's Secret Rules series:Domestic Investigations and Operations Guid
The Intercept
Retrieved 27 July 2021.

Examples

* Black operations *

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

Project Cherry *

Creation of Bangladesh The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali n ...

* False flag * Huston Plan * Iran-Contra affair * Lavon Affair *

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) was a highly classified, multi-service United States special operations unit which conducted covert unconventional warfare operations prior to and during the Viet ...

* Operation Anthropoid *

Operation CHAOS Operation CHAOS or Operation MHCHAOS was a Central Intelligence Agency domestic espionage project targeting the American people from 1967 to 1974, established by President Lyndon B. Johnson and expanded under President Richard Nixon, whose mission ...

* Operation Gladio *

Operation Storm-333 Operation Storm-333 (russian: Шторм-333, ), also known as the Tajbeg Palace Assault, was executed by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan on 27 December 1979. It saw Spetsnaz storm the heavily fortified Tajbeg Palace in Kabul and subsequently as ...

Operation Wrath of God Operation "Wrath of God" ( he, מבצע זעם האל ''Mivtza Za'am Ha'el''), also known as Operation "Bayonet", was a covert operation directed by Mossad to assassinate individuals involved in the 1972 Munich massacre in which 11 members of ...

* Palace Dog *

Project MKULTRA Project MKUltra (or MK-Ultra) was an illegal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), intended to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used in interrogations to weak ...

* Raven Forward Air Controllers * Vang Pao's clandestine army

In popular culture

Covert operations have often been the subject of popular films (''

Zero Dark Thirty ''Zero Dark Thirty'' is a 2012 American thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. The film dramatizes the nearly decade-long international manhunt for Osama bin Laden, leader of terrorist network Al-Qaeda, after ...

'', '' Argo'', '' The Falcon and The Snowman'', '' The Kremlin Letter''), novels, TV series, and comics.

The Company ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

is a fictional covert organization featured in the American TV series '' Prison Break''. Also other series that deal with covert operations are '' Mission: Impossible'', ''

Alias Alias may refer to: * Pseudonym * Pen name * Nickname Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Alias'' (2013 film), a 2013 Canadian documentary film * ''Alias'' (TV series), an American action thriller series 2001–2006 * ''Alias the J ...

'', '' Burn Notice'', '' The Unit'', '' The State Within'', '' Covert Affairs'', ''

Air Wolf ''Airwolf'' is an American action military drama television series that centers on a high-technology military helicopter, code-named ''Airwolf'', and its crew. The show follows them as they undertake various exotic missions, many involving e ...

'', '' 24'', '' The West Wing'', '' The Blacklist'', '' Scandal, Strike Back series, and Vagabond.''

References

External links

20 January 2006 (HTML) via thewall.civiblog.org

20 January 2006 (HTML) via thewall.civiblog.org * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070707201837/http://thewall.civiblog.org/rsf/big_brother_talons_on_you.html "Big Brother is Watching You Part 1 - 902 MI Group TALON Project Summary, Spreadsheet, Rep. Wexler response, and News Coverage collection] (includes Shane Harris's "TIA Lives On") via thewall.civiblog.org
Steath Network Operations Centre
– Covert Communication Support System
Covert Warfare
{{DEFAULTSORT:Covert Operation Military intelligence collection Intelligence operations by type Covert organizations Secrecy