Covert Action: Valuable Tool or Dangerous Game? January 8, 2007

“At its best, covert action should be used like a well-honed scalpel, infrequently, and with discretion lest the blade lose its edge.”—Former DCI Richard Helms in A Look over My Shoulder

Propaganda, Assassination, Coup d’état. These are the tools of covert action, a controversial foreign policy option with a reckless appeal. Its very nature is to obscure its origins, but stalwart investigators, scholars, and insiders have sought to lift the veil of secrecy on operations ranging from the Bay of Pigs to U.S. support of anti-Soviet mujahideen in Afghanistan. With CIA veteran and International Spy Museum Executive Director Peter Earnest as moderator, explore the hidden world of covert action with a distinguished panel: William Daugherty, former CIA senior officer and covert action policy director and author of Executive Secrets, Covert Action & the Presidency; Derek Leebaert, a director of the U.S. Army Historical Foundation and author of To Dare and to Conquer: Special Operations and the Destiny of Nations, from Achilles to Al Qaeda; and John Prados, senior fellow of the National Security Archive and author of Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA.

Tickets: $20
Members of The Spy Ring: $16

Official Website: http://www.spymuseum.org/calendar/2007_01_08_prog.asp