final nat

Question 1

CIA Five directorates

Answer 1

Directorate of Operations (DO)
Intelligence Collection
Covert operations
Directorate of Analysis (DA)
Science and technology
Support
Digital innovation

Question 2

The main tasks of an Operations Officer (from the DO)

Answer 2

Identify potential assets to be recruited
Recruit, train and run intelligence assets (agents)
The operations officer also collects her own intelligence
Support counterintelligence activities (expose moles, prevent penetration of her country’s sensitive institutions by foreign agents, assist FBI investigations, etc.)
Carry out covert operations or support other US personnel involved in covert activities

Question 3

Intelligence’s contribution to policy

Answer 3

IC educates PMs and helps shape their worldview
Assists in defining key national interests
Identifies threats and opportunities
Explains policy options (and implications and repercussions of each options)
Monitors and reports back on the policy’s effect and advises the PM on the need to change, maintain or terminate the policy

Question 4

Types of Covert Action on a continuum

Answer 4

Going from least intrusive, risky or expensive, to most intrusive, risky or expensive, we can rank different types of covert action as follows:
Propaganda
Political covert action
Economic covert action
Paramilitary covert action
Lethal military covert action (most intrusive, risky and expensive)

Question 5

1953 Iran (Operation Ajax): Prime Minister Mosaddegh is replaced by the Shah, Reza Pahlavi

Answer 5

Threats: PM Mosaddegh adopted anti-West policies that threatened US interests, including the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company;

The PM adopted socialist-leaning policies (land reform, higher taxes, expropriation of private companies, etc.) which some feared would bring Iran closer to the USSR;

The PM’s regime showed signs of increasing authoritarianism (emergency powers were granted to the PM).

Opportunities:
The political support for the PM was mostly urban. His anti-monarchy attitude and his authoritarian ways evoked the opposition of pro-monarchy groups and alienated part of the rural population. Large scale protests were frequent as were casualties during the street clashes

The Iranian economy depended on oil. Iran needed the US and the UK technology and financial networks to sell it.

A US-friendly alternative leader, the Shah, who had temporarily fled to Rome during the unrest, was available to lead the country following the coup.

Question 6

Outcome of Operation Ajax:

Answer 6

The British saw part of their Iranian oil business restored, joined by US oil companies.

The Shah chose more pliant Prime Ministers who adopted a pro-Western stance on most issues.

Iran became a solid strategic ally and partner of the US in the Middle East (including its acceptance of the state of Israel).

The Shah restored order and preserved stability until the unrest in the late 1970s that eventually brought about the Revolution and his ouster.

Question 7

Among the longer-term consequences of Operation Ajax, one may mention the following:

Answer 7

The Shah, Reza Pahlavi, was viewed as a puppet of the US and this helped mobilize Iranians against him during the 1978 Revolution

the Iranians viewed the US as hostile and imperialistic. The 1978 revolutionaries labeled the US the Great Satan and, still today, Iranian demonstrators chant “death to America”.

The Iranian hostage crisis: for 444 days, 50+ US citizens were held hostage in Iran and most of the population was supportive of this situation, seeing it as retribution for the US role in keeping the Shah in power.

The current Middle Eastern policies of the Iranian government are hostile to the US and US regional allies such as Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Any Iranian nuclear weapon plans are probably also inspired by its hostility towards the US and suspicion of US intentions.

Question 8

1954 Guatemala (Operation PBSuccess)

Answer 8

President Jacobo Arbenz is ousted

Question 9

1961 Cuba

Answer 9

Bay of Pigs Fiasco, during the first few weeks of the John Kennedy Presidency. 1500 Cuban expatriates trained and equipped by the CIA land on Cuba to start an insurrection against the Communist leader, Fidel Castro. They are crushed by the Cuban forces, and there is no insurrection

Question 10

1960s and 1970s (Cuba)

Answer 10

: Operation Mongoose aimed at Fidel Castro

Question 11

Chile 1973:

Answer 11

the overthrow of Pres. Allende and the rise of General Pinochet as dictator of Chile. Pinochet inaugurated almost two decades of military dictatorship and brutal repression.

Question 12

1980 “Desert One”

Answer 12

Operation Eagle Claw, the goal of the operation was to rescue the American hostages who had been taken captive at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, following the Iranian Revolution. The operation was a failure, and resulted in the deaths of eight American servicemen and several Iranian civilians. The failure of the operation led to significant criticism of the Carter administration

Question 13

1980s Nicaragua:

Answer 13

the “Iran Contra” scandal involved selling weapons to the Iranian government and using the money to support the Contras

Question 14

1980s Afghanistan:

Answer 14

the CIA helps the Mujahedeen fight the Soviet armed forces who invaded Afghanistan in 1979

Question 15

2011: Neptune Spear

Answer 15

The goal of the operation was to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, the leader of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, who was believed to be hiding in Pakistan. The operation was successful, and bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs during a raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan

Question 16

Starting in the late 1970s, significant oversight and restrictions were imposed on CA, largely in response to the following three developments:

Answer 16

Controversies about covert action in the Vietnam War: war was extended secretly to Laos and Cambodia;

Nixon’s Watergate scandal: it was alleged that the CIA, NSA etc. had been used against anti-war activists. Congress’ Church Committee carried out long investigations

The Iran Contra covert action became the scandal that threatened to bring down Ronald Reagan’s Presidency

Question 17

Federal statutes now require:

Answer 17

A Presidential Finding: Presidents can no longer claim they did not know about or did not authorize a Covert Operation;

Congressional notification in a timely manner is required of all covert actions (and continuous reporting as to its progress or lack thereof)

Question 18

What is a Presidential FINDING?

Answer 18

[Covert actions require] Findings by the President that such “action is necessary to support identifiable foreign policy objectives of the United States and is important to the national security of the United States” … No covert action may be conducted except under the authority of, and subsequently to, such Finding by the President.

Question 19

Three major controversies about covert actions carried out in the context of the so-called “war on terror:”

Answer 19

Extraordinary Renditions
Interrogation methods: enhanced interrogation techniques
Targeted killings with DRONES

Question 20

The CIA and the DOD:

Answer 20

They are both involved in forms of covert action but their actions are defined differently and have different restrictions/oversight:
CIA: oversight under Title 50 of the US Code
DOD operations: less oversight under Title 10 of the US Code
Currently, the degree of cooperation between the two is such that the line is blurred

Question 21

Current vs strategic intelligence

Answer 21

Current Intelligence: is intelligence about current and recent developments, i.e., the here and the now. An example of current intelligence is the President’s Daily Brief (PDB)
Strategic Intelligence: is longer-term, more detailed and in-depth intelligence about:
A country (e.g., Iran, the DPRK, China’s economic troubles, Ukraine, etc.), or
a region (the Middle east, the Arctic and the growing competition for its exploitation, Central America) or
a topic (nuclear proliferation, climate change, immigration flows).

An example of strategic intelligence are the National Intelligence Estimates (NIE) periodically produced by some of the best analysts of the Intelligence Community.

Question 22

Iran Contra

Answer 22

NSC and CIA operatives secretly sold weapons to the Iranian government and used the money to support the Contra insurgents fighting against the Communist regime in Nicaragua. The operation was deemed illegal and it triggered a Congressional investigation

Question 23

1980 Afghanistan

Answer 23

the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979. The CIA supplied weapons, intelligence and training support to the Mujahedeen fighting the Soviet armed forces.

Question 24

The Persian Gulf War (1990-1991, “Operation Desert Storm”)

Answer 24

In 1990, while dealing with the upheaval in Europe and the dissolution of the USSR, US
President George HW Bush (Sr.) was faced with an unexpected military crisis. Iraq, ruled by
Saddam Hussein, invaded and occupied its neighbor, the small, relatively unprotected, oil-rich
Kuwait. With United Nations authorization, the US led a large multinational force to liberate
Kuwait. The conflict, known as Operation Desert Storm or the First Persian Gulf War, lasted only
a few weeks. The US-led coalition destroyed a large part of the Iraqi forces and liberated Kuwait
in the spring of 1991. Iraqi casualty estimates were very high (more than 30,000) while the US
led coalition suffered around 300 dead. Desert Storm was generally viewed as a significant
foreign policy success for the George HW Bush Administration.

Question 25

The key phases of the intelligence cycle are:

Answer 25

• Planning and direction (aka “requirements”)
• Collection
• Processing
• Analysis and production
• Dissemination