An Old New Kind of Warrior

April 7, 2002

by Brian W. Peterson

According to President George Walker Bush, spies will be just as important as soldiers in this “new kind of war.” He and the Pentagon have maintained that some of our victories will never be known to the American public.

So for just how long have spies carried out important wartime missions in this country? Since the days of the Cold War, perhaps?

The Cold War was famous for spies, from the Rosenbergs, who were executed for giving nuclear secrets to the Soviets, to the infamous poison pellet umbrella that a KGB agent used to murder a Bulgarian dissident.

In the 1970’s, in the days following Watergate and a few famous cases of CIA abuses, a group of US Senators tried to prohibit all clandestine activities. They ignorantly claimed that spying was un-American.

Despite claims to the contrary, the history of American spying goes back before the Cold War. It is as old as General George Washington himself. Washington’s spies infiltrated British Army headquarters and used invisible ink and secret codes to transmit messages. Over 10% of Washington’s military budget was spent on keeping his spy network funded.

Gen. Washington’s aide-de-camp, Alexander Hamilton, played a vital role as Washington’s confidant regarding matters of espionage. With Washington in control and Hamilton assisting, the colonial effort into counter-espionage also produced results, from the Brits receiving inflated figures of the size of the Continental Army to allowing the Brits to see false plans of attacks in order to manipulate the movements of the Redcoats.

Washington also authorized numerous executions of British spies, including that of a British officer for his role in assisting Benedict Arnold to become America’s most famous traitor.

During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln limited most of his use of intelligence operatives for buttressing public opinion in favor of the North. Operations were conducted in Europe, Canada, and in the South to persuade the public and manipulate the media.

In World War I, as late entrants into the war, most of our activities were designed to foil the Germans in our own hemisphere. It would be thirty more years until our espionage activities flourished into a worldwide apparatus.

During World War II, the British were the leaders in espionage. With a few notable exceptions, they racked up an astounding string of successes discovering Nazi plans.

Perhaps the most celebrated US intelligence victories were the “code breakers” who deciphered Japanese communications and the use of the Navajo language by which we transmitted our own messages. Our efforts saw many successes, but possibly just as important, the war laid the groundwork for the coming Cold War.

During World War II, we fought to save Europe and Asia. During the Cold War, we fought to save the whole world.

The most stunning success in American spy history- known as Operation Solo- came about during the Cold War. Soviet Premiers Nikita Krushchev and Leonid Brezhnev went to their graves considering our man in the Kremlin, Morris Childs, a good friend. Childs, a leader in the American Communist Party, fooled Soviet leadership and American communists for 27 years.

Childs’ efforts produced a large amount of valuable information about Soviet intentions and actions. At his funeral, family members were stunned when the well known communist was eulogized by the assistant director of the FBI.

From George Washington through Operation Solo and on to today, we have a rich yet often misunderstood history of accomplishing ends covertly. Despite the misconception that spying was a product of the Cold War, and despite the crippling attacks from the likes of Sen. Frank Church and his ilk during the 1970’s, the spying game continues.

Church did not understand the history and importance of spying. He saw the abuses of the CIA, but he had no historical knowledge on which to draw to properly reform the agency. Instead, he and others sought to completely destroy our covert and intelligence-gathering capabilities.

Indeed, our knowledge of some victories in the war against terrorism may not be known for generations, just as we did not know until the 1980’s that the US Army tried to assassinate Pancho Villa in 1916. But as we rebuild our military capabilities from the neglect of the 1990’s, we need to also focus rebuilding efforts on our intelligence agencies after the destruction of the 1970’s- a time from which our espionage capabilities have never fully recovered.

If we are to accept the president’s premise- that spies are as important as soldiers- then we must understand our own history of covert action. A little knowledge will put the president’s words into proper perspective. To gain such a perspective, Operation Solo by John Barron (Regnery Publishing) and Secret and Sanctioned by Stephen F. Knott (Oxford University Press) are two good places to start.

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Brian W. Peterson writes a political column for the Antelope Valley Press (circulation approximately 60,000) in Palmdale, California. He is a graduate of Oral Roberts University, where he majored in TV/Film. Brian’s weekly commentary and newspaper columns can be found at www.LifeAndLiberty.com.

Send the author an E mail at Peterson@ConservativeTruth.org.

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