Speaking Truth to Power: Intelligence Oversight in an Imperfect World

Abstract

t B.A. 1984, University of Pennsylvania; M.A. 1988, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; J.D. Candidate 1989, University of Pennsylvania. 1 See R. OSGOOD, IDEALS AND SELF-INTEREST IN AMERICA'S FOREIGN RELATIONS: THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 437, 439 (1953) (noting that the wise conduct of foreign relations must involve a continual series of compromises with perfection, but America's problem of reconciling its ideals with its self-interest comes close to being a life-or-death matter); see also INTELLIGENCE: POLICY AND PROCESS 6 (A. Maurer, M. Tunstall & J. Keagle eds. 1985) [hereinafter POLICY AND PROCESS] (Do Americans, like Hegel, believe that reason of state is reason enough or, like Machiavelli, that the state should at least appear to act in accord with high moral standards?). This intellectual confusion has a direct impact on perceptions about the role and utility of intelligence capabilities in American foreign policy. As an example of one naive but not uncommon view, a Senate Committee investigating the CIA in the mid-1970s suggested that traditional notions of fair play should guide American international behavior. See SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE, INTERIM REPORT, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 258-59 (1976). 2 For a distinctly idiosyncratic interpretation of the American experience, see S. TURNER, SECRECY AND DEMOCRACY: THE CIA IN TRANSITION 278-85 (1985) (arguing that the tensions that arise when a democracy engages in secret intelligence operations require more openness and the application of just war theory to intelligence). But see Lockhart, Intelligence: A British View, in BRITISH AND AMERICAN APPROACHES TO INTELLIGENCE 37, 46 (K. Robertson ed. 1987) [hereinafter APPROACHES TO INTELLIGENCE] (The essential skill of a secret intelligence service is to get things done secretly and deniably.). For a comparative discussion of secret activities and Western democratic systems, see Godson, Intelligence: An American View: The Uses and Limits of Intelligence, in APPROACHES TO INTELLIGENCE, supra, at 5-11. See also W. LAQUEUR, A WORLD OF SECRETS 201-32 (1985) (describing the establishments in various Western states). 3 See HOUSE SELECT COMM. TO INVESTIGATE COVERT ARMS TRANSACTIONS