Here's a game. I'm curious if anyone here answers "yes" to any of the following set of 10 hypothetical dilemmas supposedly typical of those facing the CIA in the "post-9/11" world, as currently being presented by a former CIA covert operations official to his ethics class at Texas A&M. (I mean, after suspending disbelief; pretend the terms are valid and the facts given are true.)
More importantly, I'd appreciate good ideas for a response I'd like to draw up to the cases and the world-view presented by author James Olson. This should also be in the form of short hypothetical scenarios. (Olson's bio: served in the CIA directorate of operations and teaches at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University.)
The excerpt, which ran in this month's Harper's, is taken from the following article: Olson, James M. (1941-), "Intelligence and the War on Terror: How Dirty Are We Willing to Get Our Hands?" SAIS Review, 28:1, Winter-Spring 2008, 37-45.
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James Olson wrote:
The following scenarios are shortened versions of fictionalized case studies I developed for classroom use and then adapted for inclusion in my book on intelligence ethics. Read the following case studies and decide whether the given course of action in each of the ten case studies below is morally acceptable or not. Exclude practical, legal, or operational considerations from your decision, and focus on whether you are comfortable with U.S. intelligence agencies engaging in the indicated activities.
Case Study #1
A senior al-Qaida operative, known to have masterminded a major terrorist attack in the United States (killing 700 U.S. citizens), is in hiding in Sudan. The CIA learns from intelligence sources exactly where he is, and has the capability of inserting an assassination team into Sudan. Other options, such as kidnapping or extraditing him, are excluded for operational and political reasons. Would it be morally acceptable for the CIA to assassinate this terrorist inside Sudan?
Case Study #2
U.S. forces capture a high-level terrorist leader in the Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan. There is no doubt that he has extensive information on the identities and locations of other terrorists, their communications, finances, and future attacks. He is not talking. Would it be morally acceptable for the CIA to use full-fledged torture, including beatings and electric shock, to extract his information?
Case Study #3
An Albanian member of the terrorist group Egyptian Jihad is running a large cell of this organization in Sofia, Bulgaria. Would it be morally acceptable for the CIA, in collaboration with its official liaison within Bulgarian security, to kidnap this terrorist on the streets of Sofia, send him secretly to Cairo, and turn him over to Egyptian authorities for interrogation that will likely include beatings and torture?
Case Study #4
A CIA officer under business cover in Tehran becomes friends with a young Iranian official working for the Iranian Ministry of Defense. The young Iranian reveals that he is secretly opposed to the Iranian regime. The CIA's assessment is that he would never knowingly work for the CIA, but he might be enticed to cooperate with a reputable international organization. Would it be morally acceptable for the CIA officer to tell the Iranian (falsely) that he works for Amnesty International in order to recruit him as a reporting source from inside Iran?
Case Study #5
A Cuban intelligence officer is working undercover as a second secretary at the Cuban mission to the United Nations in New York. FBI surveillance of him in New York indicates that he frequents gay bars and engages in promiscuous homosexual sex. Homosexuality is grounds for dismissal from the Cuban intelligence service, and the Cuban has concealed his sexual orientation from his family, friends, and colleagues. Would it be morally acceptable for the FBI to attempt to recruit this Cuban as a source on Cuban intelligence operations by blackmailing him on the basis of his homosexuality?
Case Study #6
The CIA has an extremely productive clandestine relationship with a Chinese official who announces that he will soon be reassigned to a high-ranking position with the Chinese Communist Party in the city of Kunming. The CIA wishes to continue its secret meetings with him in Kunming but has very limited cover options for inserting an officer there. Only one option presents itself: Christian missionary cover. Would it be morally acceptable for the CIA to place an officer undercover with the U.S.-based Divine Word Outreach (which has a presence in Kunming) to maintain clandestine contact with the Chinese source?
Case Study #7
A female CIA officer is operating undercover in Rome. To expand her spotting opportunities for potential recruits, she joins a local tennis club. She strikes up a friendship with the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Iranian Embassy, who is an avid tennis player. Over time, it is clear to the CIA officer that the Iranian is infatuated with her and can be easily manipulated. Would it be morally acceptable for the CIA officer to seduce the Iranian (she is willing to do so) as a means of drawing him into espionage on behalf of the United States?
Case Study #8
The FBI is interested in recruiting Chinese graduate students at U.S. universities who will return to China in sensitive defense jobs. If these students are recruited in the U.S., they will be turned over to the CIA for clandestine handling inside China. Would it be morally acceptable for the FBI to recruit a Chinese-American professor at a major university (who agrees to assist without payment) and to task him/her to befriend Chinese students and to report to the FBI on their personalities, potential vulnerabilities, and activities?
Case Study #9
A Middle Eastern graduate student at a U.S. university walks into the local FBI office, and volunteers his services as a penetration of an Islamic terrorist cell of which he is a secret member. In exchange, he wants the FBI to assist him in completing his Ph.D. dissertation, with which he says he is hopelessly bogged down. Would it be morally acceptable for the FBI to assist the student in plagiarizing his dissertation in return for his cooperation against the terrorist cell?
Case Study #10
The CIA has recruited a penetration of an important al-Qaida cell in Hamburg, Germany. He is providing valuable intelligence on terrorist activities and personnel, not only in Germany but throughout Europe. At a secret meeting at a safehouse in Hamburg, the terrorist asks his CIA handler to provide him with a prostitute. He says it would be dangerous for him to frequent red-light districts in Hamburg because he knows the German police patrol there heavily, and he fears disease. He adds that if the CIA does not comply with his request, he will break off contact and the CIA will lose him as a source. Would it be morally acceptable for the CIA to procure a medically-cleared prostitute for this terrorist?
If you found nine or ten of these case studies morally acceptable, you probably subscribe to the Doolittle principle that "long-standing American concepts of fair play must be reconsidered" in the face of today's terrorism threat. If you were comfortable with seven or eight of them, you are aggressive and forward-leaning, but draw the line at certain activities. You want to play hardball, mostly by the rules, but are willing to cut a few corners if necessary. If you found three to six of the case studies acceptable, you are not willing to abandon the moral high ground, but understand that the moral terrain has shifted since September 11, 2001. This is likely the mainstream opinion in the U.S. If you found two or fewer of the case studies acceptable, you probably do not fully understand the magnitude of the threat the U.S. faces and the means that must be employed to defeat it. An important lesson from this exercise is recognizing that good, thoughtful, decent, and patriotic Americans can and do disagree on these difficult moral issues. But there is no excuse for inaction.