Summary

The term ‘covert action’ is often misunderstood. A covert action might well be defined as an operation carried out in such a way that the parties responsible for the action are able to distance themselves from it. The action, and especially its results, might be plain for all to see, however the perpetrators must be able to maintain plausible deniability. The emphasis is placed on concealment of identity of the sponsor, rather than on concealment of the operation itself. Covert actions might be political, psychological, economic or para-military in nature but the factor they have in common is the intention to intervene and actively change something. This is contrast to intelligence gathering, which is often rather passive. By contrast, because intelligence gathering tends to be more passive, its operations might reasonably hope to remain hidden, or ‘clandestine’, for a long period of time, perhaps even forever. Although the terms ‘covert’ and ‘clandestine’ are sometimes used interchangeably this is erroneous, since their meanings are quite different. The terminology for covert actions varies from country to country. In the UK, covert action is often termed ‘special operations’ or in France an ‘action operation’.