Thomas H. Henriksen

About the author: Thomas H. Henriksen is associate director and senior fellow at the Hoover Institute on War, Revolution and Peace.

Covert action, such as espionage and assassination, is justified when diplomatic means fail and military intervention exacts too high a price. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of CIA intelligence failures during the Cold War, the United States has come to disapprove of covert action and now relies on air strikes to achieve policy goals. Air strikes seem to avoid the costs associated with allout war, but they have largely failed to oust dictators and end atrocities, and have made America look immoral in the eyes of other nations. In contrast, covert action invisibly accomplishes America's policy goals without provoking foreign disapproval. Indeed, the United States has a long history of success using covert action, especially...