Looking at the Law Michelle Parrini and Charles F. Williams The recent London subway “There is always a possibility that at preventing the exercise of bombings drew renewed attention a secret police may become a First Amendment rights of to the difficulties facing government menace to free government and speech and association, on attempts to uncover and intercept ter- free institutions because it carries the theory that preventing the ror plots; though there may now be with it the possibility of abuses of growth of dangerous groups more awareness of the issue, nations power which are not always quick- and the propagation of dan- have been trying to learn their enemy’s ly apprehended or understood.” gerous ideas would protect the secrets since the beginning of recorded national security and deter vio- history. Spies appear in Homer’s Greek — The Church Committee lence…Many of the techniques epic, the Iliad. Ancient Roman writ- Report, 1976.1 used would be intolerable ings are filled with accounts of intrigue in a democratic society even and assassination plots. Caesar’s secret gence on other countries increased 39 if all of the targets had been agents looked out for his interests in percent between 1998-2002.2 Public involved in violent activity, Rome. Sun Tzu’s The Art of War (500 and congressional opinion about the but COINTELPRO went far BC) describes espionage and the use appropriate scope of covert govern- beyond that. The unexpressed of human intelligence as key to suc- ment activities, and perceptions that major premise of the programs cessful warfare. An extensive political intelligence practices have at times was that a law enforcement intelligence system served Elizabeth I. been excessive, have also influenced agency has the duty to do what- And both British and American forces voters’ support for intelligence meth- ever is necessary to combat per- employed secret agents, ciphers, and ods. For instance, in the mid-seventies, ceived threats to the existing codes, during the Revolutionary War. congressional inquiries uncovered the social and political order.3 George Washington’s coordination of FBI’s COINTELPRO (an acronym for spies and evaluation of their intelli- “COunter INTELligence PROgram”) Congressional investigations also gence information is credited with giv- and the CIA’s “Operation CHAOS” revealed CIA covert operations to help ing the Americans the strategic advan- domestic intelligence practices, mar- overthrow elected left-wing governments tage to overcome the superior military ring the reputation of both agencies. in Guatemala (1954) and Chile (1973). power of the British. According to the congressional report U.S. intelligence agencies were allegedly However, it wasn’t until the twen- known as the Church Report: involved in attempts to assassinate for- tieth century that the United States eign leaders, including Patrice Lumumba established a single independent gov- COINTELPRO began in 1956, (Congo), Fidel Castro (Cuba), Rafael ernment agency devoted to gathering in part because of frustration Trujillo (Dominican Republic), and Ngo human intelligence. American support with Supreme Court rulings Dinh Diem (Vietnam). According to the for both intelligence and counterintel- limiting the Government’s Church Report: ligence efforts has waxed and waned, power to proceed overtly depending on the perceived national- against dissident groups; it • The CIA illegally opened and security threats. A poll by the Chicago ended in 1971 with the threat photographed mail to or from Council on Foreign Relations and the of public exposure. In the inter- American citizens for 20 years German Marshall Fund of the United vening 15 years, the Bureau (1953–1973), generating a com- States found that public support for conducted a sophisticated vigi- puter database of 1.5 million increased spending to gather intelli- lante operation aimed squarely names. S OCIAL E DUCATION 250 • The National Security Agency (NSA) received copies of all pri- This is a rare photograph of Allen W. (AP Photo) vate cables sent or received from Dulles, then-director of the U.S. Central abroad by Americans between IntelligenceIntelligence Agency,Agency, inin hishis Washington,Washington, 1947 and 1975. D.C., office on July 28, 1954. Here in this office, a setting where few photogra-- • For more than 30 years, U.S. phers had access, Dulles directed the intelligence agencies wiretapped super-secret CIA organization whose and bugged U.S. citizens without lineslines ofof espionageespionage andand informationinformation warrants. spread around the world and pen-- etrated behind the Iron Curtain. Behind • Army intelligence investigated him is a map which he often consulted, 100,000 U.S. citizens during the showing North America and the Soviet Vietnam War.4 Union at top. Some commentators maintain that public support for intelligence in gen- eral and human intelligence in particular diminished after these revelations, and that this public distrust of covert govern- ment activities grew stronger still after Watergate and the Iran-Contra affair of the 1980s.5 Critics also say the govern- ment sought to avoid controversy by neglecting the recruitment of covert agents and increasingly relying on spy satellites and electronic intercepts—valuable tools for spying on governments and traditional militaries, but less useful in divining the plans of small terrorist cells. The Age of Terror On February 26, 1993, a huge truck bomb was detonated in the garage directly beneath the World Trade Navy destroyer while it was refueling United States Regarding Weapons of Center in New York City. The explo- in Yemen. Then came the coordinated Mass Destruction. Acting on the recom- sion failed to topple the twin towers but attacks of September 11, 2001, that mendations contained in the latter com- succeeded in injuring more than 1,000 killed nearly 3,000 Americans. That mission’s March 2005 report, President people and killing six. Three years later, atrocity—like each of the attacks that Bush established an office to manage all on June 25, 1996, another truck bomb preceded it over an eight-year span— “human intelligence collection overseas” killed 19 Americans and wounded hun- achieved complete tactical surprise. for all government agencies, including dreds more near a U.S. military base in As in the wake of Pearl Harbor a gen- the CIA, the Army and the FBI. The new Saudi Arabia; in August of that year, eration ago, the government launched a office was established partly because the Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden slew of investigations and commissions to new National Counterterrorism Center issued the first in a series of public find out why we were caught unawares. The (established by Executive Order on fatwas—religious rulings—against the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks August 27, 2004) had already been found United States. Other attacks followed: upon the United States was formed in late lacking in its coordination of CIA, FBI, simultaneous explosions killed 264 2002 to investigate the circumstances Pentagon, Homeland Security, and other people at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, surrounding the attacks and to provide agency efforts. Under the plan, the CIA Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in recommendations for guarding against will coordinate all spying overseas for all 1998; seventeen American sailors were future surprise attacks. Another probe was agencies.6 Spurred by these new anti-ter- killed aboard the USS Cole in 2000 launched by the president’s Commission rorism efforts, intelligence gathering and when a bomb detonated next to the on the Intelligence Capabilities of the spying in other countries has increased. S E PT E MB E R 2 0 0 5 251 Keeping Secrets transport these suspects to other coun- Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as The new spy era has brought fresh tries.8 Subsequently, a series of Op Eds Abu Omar, from Italy. Omar, who is pur- challenges as well. Recent news sto- appeared in the Times denouncing the ported to have been a former CIA infor- ries have recounted a practice known paper for deliberately “blowing the mant, was supposedly taken to Egypt. as “extraordinary renditions.” These cover” of the CIA’s covert air opera- Italian prosecutors issued 13 warrants renditions are part of a CIA program tion and contending that publishing for 13 of the 19 CIA officials involved in that involves capturing suspected the information will hamper the war the rendition, marking the first known terrorists and transporting them for on terror. One writer countered with, instance of one government charging a interrogation to other countries, often “I remember when we were proud of foreign government with committing a countries that have been known to Seymour M. Hersh’s stories disclosing crime as a part of its covert intelligence use torture as an interrogation tool.7 CIA plots to assassinate people.”9 operation. One of the 19 individuals is One New York Times account revealed In addition, in recent weeks, news- reportedly a CIA operative and report- the CIA’s use of certain shell com- papers have extensively covered the ing indicates that other CIA officials panies (companies that exist in name story of an alleged February 2003 CIA were allegedly involved.10 only) and private charter companies to rendition of an Egyptian cleric, Hassan Early U.S. Intelligence Activities Selective Service, and Sabotage acts, and for seeking out enemy aliens. Aided by double agent William Sebold, the For much of the nineteenth century, the U.S. did not allocate FBI prosecuted the German spy ring headed by Frederick many resources to intelligence gathering. Many Americans Duquesne (1942). And from 1940 to 1946, it headed up were wary of espionage, partly because of the disrepu- the Special Intelligence Service, a special division of covert table association of espionage with the Pinkerton National agents stationed in Central and South America. Similarly, Detective Agency, the nation’s first private detective and the Military Department’s G-2, or Intelligence Division, and police agency.