CIA and Its Methods in the XXI Century

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Table of Contents

Introduction: CIA and Its Methods in the XXI Century
Extraordinary Rendition and Detention Program: Worldwide Data
Outcomes and Their Interpretation: Discrimination at Its Worst
Discussion: CIA’s Legitimacy from an Ethical Standpoint
Conclusion: Where Intelligence and Violence Cross
Reference List

Introduction: CIA and Its Methods in the XXI Century

The methods used by the CIA have never been supposed to give quarter to the people who break the state law. However, over the past few years, the concern about the inhumane methods used by the CIA members has been raised. As a number of case studies conducted on the issue of the behavior of the CIA members towards political prisoners have shown, the CIA agents have been using tortures in order to attain information from the captives. Because of the unacceptability of the given methods, they must be eliminated from the list of the CIA strategies.

Extraordinary Rendition and Detention Program: Worldwide Data

Despite the aforementioned humanist principles having been introduced into the economy, politics, jurisdiction and culture of most states all over the world, over the past few years, information regarding the inhumane methods used by the American CIA towards its prisoners has leaked. According to the existing data, the Extraordinary Rendition and Detention Programme (ERDP) has given vent to a number of instances of excessive violence towards the CIA prisoners.

ERDP is supposedly aimed at preventing the instances similar to the notorious 9/11, yet has been under thorough scrutiny since then “not only for its questionable morality, but also for its questionable legality” (Johnson, 2009, p. 10). Indeed, as the recently published data regarding the number of the so-called “Black sites” shows, the amount of locations where people are tortured by the CIA agents has been growing exponentially since the introduction of the ERDP:

Mapping the Black Sites, 2011.

It would be wrong to claim that the CIA uses solely inhumane methods in order to extract information from the captives. However, in cases when the latter refuse to talk, most drastic measures are put to use. Among the illegal methods that the CIA agents use in order to obtain the required information from prisoners, waterboarding, hypothernmia, forced nudity, stress positions, and many other methods are traditionally utilized.

As the historical records say, CIA members were prohibited from using enhanced interrogation techniques since the end of the era of George W. Bush administration, with a number of prisons including the Guantanamo prison having been shut down under the pretext of being excessively cruel towards the prisoners. The given measures, however, did not contribute to major improvements, seeing how rather graphic evidence of people being treated violently by the CIA members still emerges on a regular basis.

The current state of affairs gives reasons for a number of concerns and is, in fact, very controversial. On the one hand, it is obvious that the U.S. citizens have the right to be protected well, with the possibility of political acts of terror being driven to zero. Consequently, the idea of using tortures towards political prisoners and possible terrorists as the means to extract the necessary data and prevent the death of several hundreds or even thousands of people is very legitimate. Adopting a humanist approach, however, one will most likely argue that saving the life of one person does not justify the murder or torture of another one. Hence the dilemma regarding the methods used by the American CIA appears; while being rather efficient, the given method is shockingly and inappropriately cruel for a state that considers humanist principles as the key to its residents’ well-being.

Outcomes and Their Interpretation: Discrimination at Its Worst

Negative Outcomes: Racial Profiling Brought Back

Though the negative outcomes of the current CIA policies in general and the ERDP in particular are rather obvious, listing the key effects that the ERDP program has had on the USA reputation and the lives of numerous CIA prisoners is still a necessary step in the recognition of the necessity to obliterate these policies once and for all. To start with, the issue of racial profiling is brought back with the tortures that the representatives of the nationalities other than the American one undergo after being captured by the CIA. While the prisoners that are held captives by the CIA admittedly have a criminal record, and a very impressive one at that, by treating them in the least humane way possible, the CIA members display racist behavioral patterns. Another tangible flaw of the given set of principles applied by the present-day CIA is that it does not guarantee the actual correctness in detecting criminals. As the Khalid El-Masri case shows, CIA agents are prone to making mistakes and apprehending innocent people (Pantesco, 2006).

Positive Outcomes: Staying Admittedly Safe

Despite their despicability, the current CIA methods do have a tangible effect on the U.S. citizens’ security. As the recent reports data show, the number of terrorist attacks has dropped twice since 2010 (Johnson, 2013).

Discussion: CIA’s Legitimacy from an Ethical Standpoint

Seeing how the number of terrorist acts that have been prevented, as well as the ratio of the prevented terrorist acts to the ones that were committed, has declined over the course of the ERDP usage among the members of the CIA, the choice between making the state more secure and living in accordance with the principles of democracy becomes increasingly complicated.

Intent As The Key Justification: Kantian Ethics

As it has been stressed above, the justification used by most of the CIA members, i.e., the fact that the ends justify the means, is rather legitimate. More to the point, it can be defined as one of the principles of the Kantian ethics (Hudson, 2010).

Deontological Point Of View: It Is The Letter Of Law That Counts

The opponents of the current approach, however, also have a number of admittedly good reasons to back their argument up with. The key one concerns the Deontological approach, according to which, the ethical principles that make the basis of the present-day U.S. society must be used when defining the approach towards political prisoners.

Defining The Acceptable Ethical Principles For The Cia

Judging by the fact that for the present-day United States, it is important to choose the attitude towards its opponents that characterizes the state policies as humanist and, therefore, guarantees the support of other countries all over the world, the prohibition of using extreme methods of information acquisition by the CIA members should be defined as the first step in the reconsideration of the CIA department.

Conclusion: Where Intelligence and Violence Cross

Although the ERDP concept allows for a faster and more efficient detection of terrorists a, as well as the prevention of acts of terrorism, it must not be used in order to obtain information from prisoners. There is no denial that the very concept of the ERDP principles used by the CIA members in the XXI century breaks every possible ethical law. However, it must be admitted that, as far as the acts of terrorism prevention goes, the principles that work for the provision of the U.S. citizens’ security erase the line between the U.S. forces and the terrorists that they fight. In other words, the adoption of the ERDP applauds the same idea of terrorism that it is supposed to criticize.

Reference List

Hudson, W. (2010). The ethical spy: Towards intelligence community rules of professional conduct. The Georgetown Law Journal, 98(10), 1415–1439. Web.

Johnson, R. (2009). Extraordinary rendition: A wrong without a right. University of Richmond Law Review, 43(3), pp. 1135–1174. Web.

Johnson, R. (2013). Terrorist attacks and related incidents in the United States. Web.

Mapping the Black Sites (2011). Web.

Pantesco, J. (2006). Federal judge urged to dismiss el-Masri CIA rendition lawsuit. Web.

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