Framing the Oxymoron: A New Paradigm for Intelligence Ethics

Intelligence and National Security

Volumn 26, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 23-45

  Shelton, Allison M ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 79953652548     PISSN: 02684527     EISSN: 17439019     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02684527.2011.556358     Document Type: Article

References (99)

1. George Washington, 'Farewell Address', Avalon Project (1796), http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp.
2. A famous example: prior to his 1776 attack across the East River into Manhattan, Washington asked for a volunteer from his troops to carry out the 'disreputable and ungentlemanly' mission of spying on the British troops across the river.
3. The task was ultimately carried out by Captain Nathan Hale, whose statue today stands outside the Central Intelligence Agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia. In James M. Olson, 'Intelligence and the War on Terror: How Dirty Are We Willing to Get Our Hands?' SAIS Review 28/1 (2008) pp.38-39.
4. Special Study Group, 'The Report on the Covert Activities of the Central Intelligence Agency', Central Intelligence Agency (1954), http://www.foia.cia.gov.
5. Duane R. Clarridge, International Intelligence Ethics Association Conference, 2006;
6. Peter Gill, 'Security Intelligence and Human Rights: Illuminating the "Heart of Darkness?"' Intelligence and National Security 24/1 (2009) p.89.
7. It is worth noting that Clarridge was convicted on perjury charges in 1991 regarding the Iran-Contra Affair.
8. Special Study Group, 'The Report on the Covert Activities of the Central Intelligence Agency'.
9. Jan Goldman, 'Ethics Phobia and the US Intelligence Community: Just Say No', from 'A Symposium on Intelligence Ethics', compiled by Michael Andregg in Intelligence and National Security 24/3 (2009) p.374.
10. Thomas W. Braden, 'I'm Glad the CIA is "Immoral"', The Saturday Evening Post (20 May 1967) pp.10-14, accessed online from www.cambridgeclarion.org.
11. Olson, 'Intelligence and the War on Terror', p.39.
12. Michael Herman, 'Ethics and Intelligence after September 11', Intelligence and National Security 19/2 (2004) p.352.
13. Michael Quinlan, 'Just Intelligence: Prolegomena to an Ethical Theory', Intelligence and National Security 22/1 (2007) p.2.
14. Peter Gill notes reform efforts in North America, Australia, Latin America, and East and Southern Europe.
15. Gill, 'Security Intelligence and Human Rights', p.85.
16. Shlomo Shpiro, 'Intelligence Ethics in Israel: Why Do We Need Intelligence Ethics?' quoted in Andregg, 'A Symposium on Intelligence Ethics', p.369.
17. Regarding why even legal activities are not always legitimate due to a lack of morality, Gendron says: 'But not every lawful action is morally defensible. Legitimacy depends upon morality, as well as legality or strict compliance with the law.'
18. Angela Gendron, 'Just War, Just Intelligence: An Ethical Framework for Espionage', International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 18/3 (2005) p.413.
19. Herman, 'Ethics and Intelligence After September 11', p.344.
20. E. Drexel Godfrey, Jr., "Ethics and Intelligence', Foreign Affairs 56/3 (1978) p.628.
21. James M. Olson, Fair Play: The Moral Dilemmas of Spying (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, Inc. 2008) p.35.
22. Quinlan, 'Just Intelligence', p.2.
23. Toni Erksine, 'Assigning Responsibilities to Institutional Moral Agents: The Case of States and Quasi-States', Ethics and International Affairs 15/2 (2001) p.68.
24. Ibid., pp.68-70.
25. Ibid., p.363.
26. Toni Erksine, "As Rays of Light to the Human Soul"? Moral Agents and Intelligence Gathering', Intelligence and National Security 19/2 (2004), pp.362-63.
27. Ibid., p.363.
28. John P. Langan, "Moral Damage and the Justification of Intelligence Collection from Human Sources' in J. Goldman (ed.) Ethics of Spying: A Reader for the Intelligence Professional (Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 2006) pp.104-13.
29. Olson, "Intelligence and the War on Terror', p.40.
30. Ibid., p.41.
31. Gendron, "Just War, Just Intelligence', p.402.
32. Loch K. Johnson, "Ethical Intelligence: A Contradiction in Terms?
33. Andregg, "A Symposium on Intelligence Ethics', p.367.
34. Godfrey notes the benefits of ethical codes in the fields of law and medicine, and transposes those benefits to the professional intelligence community
35. Godfrey, "Ethics and Intelligence', p.629.
36. Paul G. Ericson, "The Need for Ethical Norms', Studies in Intelligence 36/5 (1992) p.15
37. Gendron, "Just War, Just Intelligence', pp.407-8
38. Goldman Andregg, "A Symposium on Intelligence Ethics', p.374.
39. Gendron, "Just War, Just Intelligence', p. 402
40. Loch K. Johnson, "Secret Agencies: U.S. Intelligence in a Hostile World', p.88
41. Olson, "Intelligence and the War on Terror,' p.40.
42. One should consider the entomology of these philosophical branches. Teleology is drawn from the Greek word 'telos' or 'purpose', while deontology is draw from the Greek word 'deon' or 'duty'.
43. James A. Barry, The Word of Justice: Ethics and Coercion in International Politics (London: Praeger 1998) pp.3-7.
44. Erksine, "'As Rays of Light"', p.364.
45. Gendron, "Just War, Just Intelligence', p.400.
46. Barry, The Word of Justice, pp.9-13.
47. Barry, The Word of Justice, p.9
48. Erksine, "As Rays of Light", p.366
49. Gendron, "Just War, Just Intelligence', p.405.
50. Erksine, "As Rays of Light", pp.368-69.
51. Barry, The Word of Justice, pp. 13-16.
52. Erksine, "As Rays of Light", p. 7
53. Gendron, "Just War, Just Intelligence', pp.417-19
54. Herman, "Ethics and Intelligence After September 11', p.346
55. Quinlan, "Just Intelligence', p.6.
56. Gendron, "Just War, Just Intelligence', p.417.
57. Erksine, "As Rays of Light", pp.370-71.
58. Ibid., pp.371-72
59. Barry, The Word of Justice, pp.7-9
60. Gendron, "Just War, Just Intelligence', p.404.
61. Loch K. Johnson, "Ethics of Covert Operations' in J. Goldman (ed.) Ethics of Spying: A Reader for the Intelligence Professional (Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 2006) pp.276-77.
62. Johnson explicitly describes Realist and Kantian philosophies as being two 'poles' with consequentialism in between.
63. Lawrence Kohlberg, "Moral Stages and Moralization: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach' in T. Lickona (ed.) Moral Development and Behavior: Theory, Research, and Social Issues (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston 1976)
64. Lawrence Kohlberg, "Revisions in the Theory and Practice of Moral Development' in W. Damon (ed.) New Directions for Child Development: Vol. 2 (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass 1978)
65. Lawrence Kohlberg, Charles Levine, and Alexandra Hewer, Moral Stages: A Current Formulation and a Response to Critics (New York: Karger 1983)
66. Anne Colby and Lawrence Kohlberg, The Measurement of Moral Judgment, Vol. 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1987).
67. Colby and Kohlberg, The Measurement of Moral Judgment, p.16.
68. Kohlberg's nine assumptions: 1) moral concepts are normative, not value-neutral, 2) moral decisions are a conscious cognitive process, 3) some features of moral development will be found in any culture, 4) prescriptivism focuses on what one should do, not what one would do, 5) moral judgments are the product of rational reasoning, 6) there are formal qualities of moral judgments that may be defined without requiring agreement on substantive matters, 7) moral judgments rest on general rules and principles and not just singular actions, 8) moral judgments are human constructions generated in social interaction, and 9) moral claims ultimately involve some reference to justice. See Kohlberg, Levine, and Hewer, Moral Stages, pp.8-9.
69. Almarinda Forte, "Business Ethics: A Study of the Moral Reasoning of Selected Business Managers and the Influence of Organizational Ethical Climate', Journal of Business Ethics 52/2 (2004) pp.167-73
70. Christie P. Karpiak and Galen L. Baril, "Moral Reasoning and Concern for the Environment', Journal of Environmental Psychology 28/3 (2008) pp. 203-8
71. Laura Lee Swisher, Ann-Marie Rizzo, and Marsha A. Marley, "Update on Moral Reasoning Research and Theory in Public Administration: A Neo-Kohlbergian Perspective' in H. George Frederickson and Richard K. Ghere (eds.) Ethics in Public Management (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe 2005) pp.70-94.
72. Eric Patterson and Teresa Casale, 'Targeting Terror: The Ethical and Practical Implications of Targeted Killing', International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 18/4 (2005) pp.638-52.
73. Specifically, there are three Executive Orders (EOs) prohibiting the covert assassination of foreign heads of state. The first came from President Gerald Ford in 1976 (E.O. 11905) and included an assassination ban in response to allegations from Senator Frank Church and the Church Committee. This was superseded by President Jimmy Carter's E.O. 12036 which included bans on both outright and indirect participation in assassination. But perhaps the most recognized of the EOs regarding assassination is President Ronald Reagan's E.O. 12333, which remains in force today.
74. Elizabeth A. Bazan, "Assassination Ban and E.O. 12333: A Brief Summary', CRS Report for Congress (2002), http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RS21037.pdf.
75. "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders', An Interim Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities for the United States Senate (Washington, DC 1975) p.256.
76. David L. Perry, Partly Cloudy: Ethics in War, Espionage, Covert Action, and Interrogation (Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2009) p.183.
77. Ibid., pp.13-23.
78. Some critics of US policy on this issue quite fairly make the point that just because the United States is never recorded to have officially assassinated a foreign head of state does not preclude the many attempts. Further, some have argued that the United States is culpable of encouraging assassinations by other states, as well as engaging in hostilities against lowerlevel officials, military, and civilians with the goal of removing a head of state. It is worthwhile to acknowledge these charges, but they are not the primary focus of my analysis. For the purposes of analytical clarity in my 'test case' analysis of Kohlberg's hierarchy I purposefully limit the scope of my inquiry to US-sanctioned assassination of foreign heads of state. For further discussion of this issue
79. Michael L. Gross, Moral Dilemmas of Modern War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2010) pp.100-21
80. Perry, Partly Cloudy, pp.183-89.
81. Johnson, Secret Agencies, p.62.
82. Richard M. Bissell, who was DDP from 1958 to 1962 provide but one example of what is perceived as intransigence or prevarication regarding highly controversial issues, and illustrates concerns about truthfulness pervasive in the intelligence community to this day. Ralph E. Weber (ed.) Spymasters: Ten CIA Officers in Their Own Words (Wilmington, DE: SR Books 1999) pp.43-113.
83. "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders', pp.19-20.
84. Ibid., pp.24-25.
85. Ibid., pp.51-52.
86. Ibid., p.20.
87. Ibid., p.38.
88. Ibid., p.46.
89. Ibid., p.38.
90. Ibid., p.40.
91. Ibid., p.42.
92. Ibid., p.71.
93. Ibid., pp.71-72.
94. Ibid., p.277.
95. Ibid., p.120.
96. Ibid., p.124.
97. Ibid., p.138.
98. Ibid., p.139.
99. Ibid., pp.257-58.