UNISCI Discussion Papers ISSN: 1696-2206
[email protected] Universidad Complutense de Madrid España Díaz, Gustavo; Morave, Karov Covert Action and its Necessity in 21st Century Counter-Terrorism UNISCI Discussion Papers, núm. 11, mayo, 2006, pp. 99-114 Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid, España Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=76701111 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative UNISCI DISCUSSION PAPERS Nº 11 (Mayo / May 2006) COVERT ACTION AND ITS NECESSITY IN 21 ST CENTURY COUNTER-TERRORISM AUTHOR:1 GUSTAVO DÍAZ UNISCI KAROV MORAVE 1. The Shortcomings of Passive Intelligence It can be said without doubt that today counter-terrorism has risen to become the greatest of priorities in terms of national security. Evidence of this is former Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) Porter J. Goss’s recent testimony to the US Senate Armed Services Committee that the global war on terrorism has become today’s dominant intelligence priority, with fundamental changes being made to the United States Intelligence Community to provide counter-terrorism and war-fighter support. These include the redirection of people and collection systems, as well as rapidly expanding programs, budgets, and capabilities. 2 An important element of this counter-terrorism war will inevitably be covert action (CA). Counter-terrorism though is neither a chess game against a single enemy, nor an attempt at completing a jigsaw puzzle, unless one accepts that the picture is fragmentary and dispersed, with many pieces that fit nowhere.