The rise and retreat of covert action: institutional design, political control, and the limits of secrecy, 1947–1962
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Covert action emerged as a controversial instrument of U.S. foreign policy between 1947 and 1962 as the Central Intelligence Agency expanded under Cold War pressures. Early operations were widely perceived in Washington as low-cost successes, encouraging the institutionalization of covert political warfare. Yet these outcomes rested on contingent political and bureaucratic conditions rather than a stable model of secret statecraft. As covert action expanded, it strained oversight mechanisms, blurring boundaries between intelligence and policy execution, producing institutional drift in U.S. intelligence governance. The Bay of Pigs exposed these tensions, revealing the limits of embedding secret power within a democratic system.
Source: Intelligence & National Security
Author: Bradley A. Mortin
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7144323201