Covert No More?

The first civilian director of the peacetime Central Intelligence Agency, Allen Dulles, once observed, echoing Alexis de Tocqueville, that Americans make poor spies for the same reason that they make good republicans: their democratic cast of character. Now, for the second time in little more than a decade, the U.S. passion for open government has yielded harsh investigation into how the U.S. operates in the shadowy world of intelligence. Other democracies, notably those which better insulate their leaders from their elected representatives, would find this scrutiny intolerable.

“The Iran-Contra hearings tell our enemies on national television how covert operations work, how paper flows, how decisions are made and executed,” laments a former senior congressional intelligence aide. Israel and Portugal helped with the airlift of arms to Iran, and Saudi Arabia brokered the early contact between the U.S. and the Iranians. Non-government agents like Major General Secord were brought in to cover the Administration’s involvement in the deal. Such friendly countries and friendly middlemen will almost certainly cold-shoulder U.S. spymasters in the future, declining to reveal contacts, initiatives, data. Intelligence assets are like virginity: Once lost, they’re gone forever.

JM

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John McLaughlin

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The first civilian director of the peacetime Central Intelligence Agency, Allen Dulles, once observed, echoing Alexis de Tocqueville, that Americans make poor spies for the same reason that they make good republicans: their democratic cast of character. Now, for the second time in little more than a decade, the U.S. passion for open government has yielded harsh investigation into how the U.S. operates in the shadowy world of intelligence. Other democracies, notably those which better insulate their leaders from their elected representatives, would find this scrutiny intolerable.

“The Iran-Contra hearings tell our enemies on national television how covert operations work, how paper flows, how decisions are made and executed,” laments a former senior congressional intelligence aide. Israel and Portugal helped with the airlift of arms to Iran, and Saudi Arabia brokered the early contact between the U.S. and the Iranians. Non-government agents like Major General Secord were brought in to cover the Administration’s involvement in the deal. Such friendly countries and friendly middlemen will almost certainly cold-shoulder U.S. spymasters in the future, declining to reveal contacts, initiatives, data. Intelligence assets are like virginity: Once lost, they’re gone forever.