What is this?

There is a book titled 'Fair Play'...

And I want to have a discussion about some of the moral dilemmas that the book brings up...

Because 'in the high stakes of world spying, do the ends justify the means'?

Feel free to leave comments acknowledging who you are...or anonymously...

Either way...feel welcomed...

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Missionary Cover

The FBI has successfully recruited a Chinese diplomat serving in the Chinese Embassy in Washington. He has proved to be an extremely valuable and reliable source, providing intelligence on political developments in China, the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese positions at the United Nations, negotiations between the U.S. and China, and a variety of other subjects. The FBI assigns the codename High Sierra to this important agent. High Sierra reports to his FBI handlers that in six months he will be transferred back to China, where he will occupy a senior position in the Yunan provincial government in Kunming. He will also have a high-ranking position in the local Chinese Communist Party.

High Sierra wants to continue working for U.S. intelligence inside China. He says he will have excellent access to political and economic intelligence while he is there. More importantly, he believes that after two or three years in Kunming he will be transferred to Beijing, where his value to U.S. intelligence will be even greater. High Sierra insists on personal handling in Kunming.

The FBI briefs the CIA on the operation and asks if it is interested in handling High Sierra after his return to China. The CIA agrees. A CIA officer is introduced into the case during the final months in Washington to help prepare High Sierra for inside handling. High Sierra quickly learns the essentials of surveillance detection and 'denied area' tradecraft.

The U.S. government has no official presence in Kunming. The CIA's options for placing a case officer there under nonofficial cover are extremely limited. There is, however, one cover opportunity that presents itself. Theresa Emmit is a thirty-three-year-old Chinese speaking case officer with a strong Christian background. She can arrange to have herself hired as a missionary working for the U.S.-based Divine Word Outreach in Kunming.

................................................

Would it be morally acceptable for the CIA to place Theresa Emmit in Kunming under Christian missionary cover to handle High Sierra?

2 comments:

  1. Wow that is a difficult on Son. Would I die for my Lord? yes. Would I die for my country? yes. But would I lie about working for my Lord for the good of my country? I just can't say that I would do that. hmmmmm

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Would it be morally acceptable for the CIA to place Theresa Emmit in Kunming under Christian missionary cover to handle High Sierra?"

    Good question. I would say no. The Church should not be used as a means to advance the ends of the state (especially when it comes to tactics which are morally ambiguous at best, such as "keeping tabs" on every other country in the world). For an individual to pretend to be a missionary of Christ while acting as an agent of the state is to invite God's judgment. For a Christian it is even worse because it assumes the ethics and goals of the nation-state are more ultimate than those of the kingdom.

    ReplyDelete

Just click on 'comments', write message, and then choose anonymous if you want to leave and anonymous message...