Unit 3- Power: Intelligence Agencies Flashcards
Primary function of intelligence agencies:
Collection and analysis of information for national security,
But -> their role extends far beyond passive observation.
These agencies have proven to be active players in the design and execution of covert operations, the control of public narratives, and political manipulation. This makes them a powerful tool for exerting pressure, both on foreign governments and on their own governments.
How intelligence has become a key source of power in international politics?
In many cases, intelligence agencies act as covert pressure groups pursuing strategic objectives aligned with state interests, but also, at times, with their own agendas, which can influence and shape political decisions.
In this sense, they depart from the classic image of a neutral institution serving the government, becoming actors that exert direct or indirect pressure on power structures.
The traditional roles:
1) Intelligence gathering- information gathering
2) Covert operations- the active role of IA as pressure actors
Intelligence gathering:
When it comes to intelligence gathering, agencies have the ability to shape both public and governmental perceptions of events by selecting and presenting data.
This ability to control the flow of information, hiding certain facts or highlighting others, turns intelligence agencies into powerful actors within the political decision-making process.
Often, intelligence reports are used to justify aggressive foreign policies or military interventions, influencing executive decisions and pressuring the legislature to support certain actions.
Covert operations:
On the other hand, covert operations are a clear example of how intelligence agencies directly pressure foreign governments.
These operations, ranging from the destabilization of governments to supporting insurgencies, are a key tool in the political pressure arsenal of states.
In these cases, intelligence agencies do not merely observe and report; they actively intervene to alter the course of politics in other countries, influencing the internal dynamics of foreign governments.
Examples such as CIA-backed coups in Iran (1953) and Chile (1973) testify to how these operations can have a significant impact on a country’s political structure.
The Power of Intelligence Agencies Over Their Own Governments
They also exert considerable influence over their own governments, especially in the formulation of security and defense policies. In many cases, these agencies act as internal pressure groups, seeking to increase their budget, expand their legal powers, or justify their existence during times of peace.
Example NSA after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Through pressure on Congress and the executive, the NSA was able to gain significantly expanded powers to conduct mass surveillance both domestically and abroad.
The primary goals of project Ajax:
Depose Mossadegh: Mossadegh had become a symbol of anti-Western nationalism, and his removal was seen as essential to securing Western interests in Iran.
Restore the Shah’s authority: The Shah would be reinstated as the absolute ruler of Iran, ensuring a pro-Western government that would protect U.S. and British interests.
Protect Western oil interests: The nationalization of oil would be reversed, or at least modified, to allow Western oil companies to regain control over Iranian resources.
Abstract expressionism
- Jackson Pollock
- American, not a European copy
- no political message, just art
The Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF)
The Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) was an anti Communist pressure group founded in 1950. At its prime, it had offices in more than 35 countries.
It was created to counteract a series of Soviet movements in the form of congresses and conferences that ended up in the Stockholm’s Appeal for the nuclear disarmament.
Its stated purpose was to find ways to counter the view that liberal democracy was less compatible with culture than communism.
Cultural propaganda campaign
During the height of the Cold War, the US government committed vast resources to a secret programme of cultural propaganda in western Europe.
As Tom Braden, chief of the CIA division in charge of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, said: In order to encourage openness we had to be secret. (Saunders, F. pp 257).
That means that the operation had to be cover. A key point of this programme was to state that it did not exist.
Congress for Cultural Freedom
- The centerpiece of this covert campaign was the Congress for Cultural Freedom, a group of pressure run by the CIA agent Michael Josselson from 1950 until 1967.
- “It’s mission was to nudge the intelligentsia of western Europe away from its lingering fascination with Marxism and Communism towards a view more accommodating of the American way.” (Saunders, F. 1999. pp 1)
- They created a remarkably solid network of agents and people who worked for the CIA to promote the idea that the world needed a pax Americana, that the world should embrace the American way of life.
- It was created to counteract a series of Soviet movements in the form of congresses and conferences that ended up in the Stockholm’s Appeal for the nuclear disarmament.
- It was covert during almost twenty years, since 1950 up late sixties when the New York Times released a series of declassified documentation on the issue.
- a cultural war of the west in the name of freedom of expression
- The CCF sponsored with thousands of dollars all those works in which they were interested, creating cultural trends that inevitably marginalized other alternatives.
