Intelligence & Espionage

If we cannot agree on what is true and where to find the truth—even on whether there’s such a thing as truth—how can we develop, build support for, and carry out policies that defend our nation and deter our enemies?

Two Christian schools of thought might support covert operations and espionage: the just war tradition and a kind of “dirty hands” moralism. The dirty hands view says all those in political power must unavoidably resort to evil for the common good. The just war tradition has a different approach.

When is lying permissible in war? Mark Coppenger indicates several instances in the Christian just war tradition but insists there is no room for perfidy or treachery.

There is no nation in which we can place total faith.

John Brennan, who could be credibly blamed as one of the waterboarding program’s chief supporters, seems to escape with little to no blame, while Gina Haspel, who was carrying out the orders of her higher-ups, gets accused of moral impropriety because she was tasked with implementing their plan.

Following the Christian just war tradition, could the assassination of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad be justified, despite its illegal nature?

Like it or not, the land of the free and the home of the brave has found itself smack dab in the middle of another Cold War with Russia. This time, the Russians have hit our shores with something we thought we had invented: social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Can a Christian support using sleep deprivation against known terrorists to gain valuable intelligence that could save lives?

If Russian agents in the UK tried to kill Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Russian agents should pay.