40 years in Defining Covert Action and U.S. accountability: 1947 – 1990’s

Covert action, as defined by U.S. law:

“an activity or activities of the United States Government to influence political, economic, or

military conditions abroad, where it is intended that the role of the United States Government

will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly.” 

Covert action is not undertaken by the U.S. military, diplomatic corp, law enforcement or intelligence gathering operations, while actions undertaken by the U.S. military are “clandestine.” Many intelligence services do not operate within these guidelines, the UK Intelligence agencies for example make no distinction between the two, and covert or clandestine operations are undertaken by the UK special forces in most cases. The U.S. intelligence services have not always operated within these guidelines, between 1947 and the 1990’s the Central Intelligence Agency would change a great deal.

Granted its powers in 1947 by the National Security Council, in an effort to combat Communism, CIA activity quickly expanded. Between 1947 and 1974 the CIA would operate with very little oversight, of the four types of covert action: propaganda, political, economic, and paramilitary, the NSC had prompted all four by 1948.

CIA activities are comprised of roughly 40 percent propaganda, 30 percent political, 10percent economic, and 20 percent paramilitary. Propaganda action is majorly comprised of “media assets,” who spread sometimes false rumors in order to provoke a certain reaction. Political action can be monetary donations, bribes, or the subtle suggestions of a foreign officials secretary. Economic action can be used to destabilize an unsavory regime. Paramilitary action is made of the sale of munitions and arms to insurgents, training in counter-terrorism, and on occasion providing military advisors.

In 1974 when congress passed the Hughes- Ryan Act. Attempts at constraining the system had been made before, after the bay of pigs incident under Kennedy, but generally failed to do so. The constraints on the CIA failed in large part because the system operated to allow for plausible deniability. Following major scandals, such as the release of assassination plots, the CIA saw a drastic decline in activity under Nixon, Ford, and the beginning of Carter’s Presidency. Carter began to show support for the CIA near the end of his term, and Reagan would increase the support exponentially. Over the next two decades congress would work to codify the oversight of the intelligence agencies creating: the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1976, the House Intelligence Committee in 1977, the 1980 Intelligence Accountabilities Act, and in 1991 the Intelligence Authorization Act codified the distinction between covert and clandestine creating a jurisdiction for enforcing oversight.

Johnson, L. K. (1989). Covert Action and Accountability: Decision-Making for America's Secret Foreign Policy. International Studies Quarterly, 33(1), 81-109.

Bobich, J. A. (2006). Who Authorized This: An Assessment of the Process for Approving US Covert Action. Wm. Mitchell L. Rev., 33, 1111.

Regan, M., & Poole, M. (2021). Accountability for covert action in the United States and the United Kingdom. In National Security Intelligence and Ethics (pp. 232-248). Routledge.