Jeff Rogg
The world just witnessed one of the most remarkable intelligence operations in history. A flood of reports have claimed that Israel sabotaged pagers used by the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and detonated them simultaneously, killing several and wounding hundreds or even thousands of its operatives. Hezbollah has vowed retaliation, but the sophisticated nature of the attack and its effects on Hezbollah’s communications, command and control, and morale have severely shaken the organization. Quickly lost in the accusations, threats, and uncertainty following the operation is the fact that Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for it. That is because it falls under a special, secret category of statecraft known as covert action.
Covert action is an operation in which the role of the sponsor is supposed to remain hidden or unacknowledged. Put another way, it creates “plausible deniability,” which allows governments to deny their knowledge of—or participation in—covert operations. States typically employ covert action in situations where they cannot accomplish their goals through overt measures or where the risk of taking credit for an operation is too great. Covert action is especially valuable when states conduct operations that could otherwise be seen as acts of war, such as deadly attacks within the sovereign borders of another state.
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