title: Ethics and covert action
abstract: The United States has turned periodically to a Third Option in the pursuit of foreign policy objectives, a pathway between diplomacy and war-fighting. This option is known more widely as covert action (CA) or “special activities”, meaning hidden interventions into the affairs of other nations. Within this rubric are a range of aggressive initiatives, from secret propaganda operations to political and economic activities, as well as (at the extreme) paramilitary attacks and assassinations. This c