Blowback (intelligence)

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Blowback is the unintended consequences and unwanted side-effects of a covert operation. To the civilians suffering the blowback of covert operations, the effect typically manifests itself as "random" acts of political violence without a discernible, direct cause; because the public—in whose name the intelligence agency acted—are unaware of the effected secret attacks that provoked revenge (counter-attack) against them.[1]

Etymology

Originally, blowback was

reporters or nuns (e.g. Dorothy Kazel).[2]

In formal print usage, the term blowback first appeared in the Clandestine Service History—Overthrow of

War on Terror relation to US and UK intelligence and defense propaganda and became an important issue in a 21st Century media environment are discussed by Emma Briant in her book Propaganda and Counter-terrorism which presents first-hand accounts and discussions of deliberate and unintended consequences of blowback, oversight, and impacts for the public.[5][6]

Examples

Nicaragua and Iran-Contra

In the 1980s, the blowback was a central theme in the legal and political debates about the efficacy of the

Iran–Contra Affair, wherein the Reagan Administration sold American weapons to Iran (a state unfriendly to the US) to arm the Contras with Warsaw Pact weapons, and their consequent drug-dealing in American cities.[7] Moreover, in the case of Nicaragua v. United States, the International Court of Justice
ruled against the United States secret military attacks against Sandinista Nicaragua, because the countries were not formally at war.

Reagan Doctrine advocates, including The Heritage Foundation, argued that support for anti-Communists would topple Communist régimes without retaliatory consequences to the United States and help win the global Cold War.[citation needed]

Afghanistan and Al Qaeda

Examples of blowback include the CIA's

USSR in Afghanistan; some of the beneficiaries of this CIA support may have joined al-Qaeda's terrorist campaign against the United States.[8]

Syria and ISIS

During the

ISIS.[11]

Yevno Azef and Russian Imperial secret police

Russian socialist revolutionary Yevno Azef, as a paid police informant, provided the Russian secret-police Okhrana with information to allow them to arrest an influential member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. After the arrest, Azef assumed the vacant position and organized assassinations, including those of the director of Imperial Russia's police and later Minister of the Interior Vyacheslav Plehve (1904) and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the Tsar's uncle (1905). By 1908, Azef was playing the double role of a revolutionary assassin and police spy who received 1000 rubles a month from the authorities.

Soviet disinformation blowback

Soviet intelligence, as part of active measures, frequently spread disinformation to distort their adversaries' decision-making. However, sometimes this information filtered back through the KGB's own contacts, leading to distorted reports.[12] Lawrence Bittman also addressed Soviet intelligence blowback in The KGB and Soviet Disinformation, stating that "There are, of course, instances in which the operator is partially or completely exposed and subjected to countermeasures taken by the government of the target country."[13]

See also

Look up blowback in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

People

References

  • Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire, by
    ISBN 0-8050-6239-4
  1. ^ Blowback The Nation
  2. ^ Larry Rother (April 3, 1998). "4 Salvadorans Say They Killed U.S. Nuns on Orders of Military". New York Times. p. 2. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  3. ^ Risen, James (18 June 2000). "WORD FOR WORD/ABC'S OF COUPS; Oh, What a Fine Plot We Hatched. (And Here's What to Do the Next Time)". The New York Times.
  4. ^ IngentaConnect American Militarism and Blowback: The Costs of Letting the Pentagon Dominate Foreign Policy
  5. ISBN 978-0-7190-9105-6
    .
  6. S2CID 145697213
    .
  7. Contra arms deals," The Telegraph plc.
  8. ^ Context of '1986-1992: CIA and British Recruit and Train Militants Worldwide to Help Fight Afghan War' Archived 2008-09-12 at the Wayback Machine, History Commons.
  9. ^ Official says CIA-funded weapons have begun to reach Syrian rebels; rebels deny receipt, CNN.
  10. ^ Saudi edges Qatar to control Syrian rebel support Archived 2015-10-01 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters.
  11. ^ 'Thank God for the Saudis': ISIS, Iraq, and the Lessons of Blowback, The Atlantic.
  12. ISBN 978-1-62616-230-3
    .
  13. ISBN 978-0-08-031572-0
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