The position of Admiral Cutter in being left holding the bag of responsibility for the covert operations is likened to being caught out in a game of musical chairs. His responsibility is to insulate the President from any blame, especially, as does happen, there are unintended consequences. But what of the position of the CIA and FBI directors? True, FBI Director Jacobs advises the president to drop the covert operations, but he then "washes his hands" of the affair, and Ritter, who basically designed the operations, outmaneuvers the Admiral into writing a personal note, which gives Ritter a legal alibi from responsibility. Compare the ethical behavior of the CIA and FBI directors with those of Jack Ryan and Dan Murray.

As Felix Cortez recalls with the fiasco of the covert Iran operations in the Carter presidency, reliance on single pieces of equipment, especially helicopters...