Does Israel Conduct Covert Action in America? by Michael Scheuer

You bet it does. Michael Scheuer is a 22-year veteran of the CIA and the author of Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror.

Covert action is much talked about and little understood. At its most basic level, covert action is a set of intelligence operations undertaken by a specific state's intelligence agencies to advance its national interests. They are executed in a manner that limits the visibility of that state's hand in whatever is done. Ideally, covert actions cannot be traced back to their sponsor. Most people take the term covert action to mean violent actions of one kind or another: kidnapping, assassination, support for insurgents, etc. While violence can certainly be part of a covert-action campaign, the more insidious – and often more effective – arm of covert action is called "political action," whereby one state seeks to influence the public opinion of another by speaking through the mouths of that country's citizens. And let me stress, there is nothing wrong or immoral about covert political action. America used political action worldwide in the Cold War; Britain used it in the United States to accelerate neutral America's entry into both world wars; the Saudis pay untold amounts to retired senior U.S. officials to speak admiringly of the anti-American desert tyranny; and Israel uses it today against America to ensure unlimited and unquestioning U.S. support. It is a legitimate foreign affairs tool, and the leaders of any nation who choose not to engage in such activity are certifiably negligent fools. Read On. Other articles by Michael Scheuer: Doing bin Laden's Work for Him 7/21/2006 Does Israel Conduct Covert Action in America? 4/8/2006 Embracing a Lethal Tar Baby 2/27/2006 Throwing America a Life Preserver 6/10/2005 God, Drunks, and America 6/2/2005 A Fire Bell in the Night for the West? 5/19/2005 Put the Marx Brothers in Charge 4/29/2005 Deliberately Destroying America's Soul 4/22/2005 Sandy Berger's Scissors 4/11/2005 Toward a Sensible Israel Policy 3/22/2005 Accountability: Why Not Start at the Top? 3/17/2005