US Training of Death Squads in Iraq? - War Is A Crime .org

What is Covert Action?J.V. Grady, ICHSeptember 21, 2005 "ICH" -- -- Intelligence services generally are organized into the followingmajor functional areas:· Intelligence Collection· Analysis· Counterintelligence· Covert ActionIntelligence Collection is the collection of Intelligence information, secret or otherwise, throughspying, interrogation, satellites, etc. If the information is collected through spying orinterrogation, it is known as HUMINT (human intelligence). If it is collected through technicalmeans such as electronic eavesdropping or satellites, it is known as TECHINT (technicalintelligence). Open-source Intelligence (OSINT) is information gathered from non-secret, publicsources.Intelligence Analysis is the assessment of collected raw intelligence and the processing of it intousable intelligence product that can be used to guide policy and operations.Counterintelligence has as its mission the prevention of a foreign intelligence service fromobtaining intelligence information from one’s own country. In a preventative role, it ensures theemployment of security practices to safeguard information. In a more active role, it conductsoperations against enemy intelligence services; in other words, it spies on the spies. Such actionis often referred to as spycatching.Perhaps the most interesting and sinister field in Intelligence is Covert Action (also referred to asClandestine Operations, Black Ops, and Black Operations). Some do not consider Covert Actionas being part of the traditional Intelligence mission, and they therefore believe that it should betreated independently and even organized within a separate organization. Others feel that,because it often interrelates with Intelligence Operations and Counterintelligence Operations, itshould continue to remain within the same ruling organization or apparatus.There are many types of Covert Action operations, not all of them violent. For example, if agovernment wishes to influence the politics of another country’s government, the governmentmay secretly fund an opposition party in that country in order to influence that country’selections. Another method is to employ foreign newspaper reporters to write articles that give theversion of events, the propaganda, that you want people to believe, even if it is the furthest thingfrom the truth. Or perhaps the owners or editors of a newspaper or media service can be boughtor won over to allow articles or news stories created by the Intelligence organization forpropaganda purposes to be planted in the newspaper or media service. A slant can then be givento influence public perceptions. For example, mercenaries can be referred to as “contractors”,224