CLANDESTINE POLITICAL ACTION

Probably the oldest technique of interference in other countries' internal affairs is the offering of bribes. In the eighteenth century, granting monetary rewards to foreign diplomats and government officials was a typical means of achieving diplomatic objectives. It was the accepted custom (although not publicized) to pay another dynast's foreign minister or diplomats a "pension"—that is, a bribe—

⁹ Manfred Halpern, The Morality and Politics of Intervention (New York: Council on Religion and International Affairs, 1962), p. 8.

¹⁰James N. Rosenau, "The Concept of Intervention," Journal of International Affairs, 22 (1968), 165-76.

249 Clandestine Actions and Military Intervention

for performance of certain services or maintenance of certain attitudes on key issues of the day. Documents from the French court of Louis XV reveal that between 1757 and 1769, France subsidized Austrian statesmen by over 82 million livres.¹¹ American covert political action abroad has included bribery, or at least the subsidy of subversive agents; British and French agents in the nineteenth century frequently gained control of future colonies by bribing native political leaders; and, of course, Nazi and Communist financing of clandestine political action in foreign countries is well documented.

Dissemination of covert propaganda—through unidentified radio trans­mitters, underground newspapers, or leaflets of unclear origin—can also be classified as clandestine political action that attempts to influence internal politi­cal processes in the interests of a foreign government. American propaganda in the crucial Italian provincial elections of 1975, for example, was not always clearly identified, and various other American actions on behalf of the Christian Democratic Party were of a clandestine nature.

Alexandr Kaznacheev, a Soviet diplomat who defected in Rangoon, re­vealed some of the methods his government used to influence domestic political affairs in Burma. In addition to giving directions and helping finance the under­ground Burmese Communist Party, the Soviet embassy in Rangoon would "plant" stories in the Burmese press and sometimes blackmail politicians. One of Kaznacheev's jobs in the Soviet embassy was to translate into English copies of articles he received from Soviet intelligence agencies in Moscow. Some of these articles would describe supposed American complicity in various campaigns of subversion in Asian countries (some were reasonably accurate, others pure fabrication); others contained generally anti-American materials. Soviet intelli­gence officials in Burma would then arrange through local agents to have the articles published in Burmese newspapers, especially pro-Communist publica­tions. The newspaper would translate the article into the native language and sign it as coming from one of its "special correspondents" abroad. Thus a story conceived in Moscow became publicly identified as the testimony of on-the-spot reporters.¹²

Clandestine political action may also include assassination of government officials, diplomats, party leaders, or economic elites. Even though assassination is not a prevalent form of interfering in a country's affairs, foreign governments occasionally finance or encourage local dissident elements who are willing to do the job.¹³

¹¹ Hans Morgenthau, "A Political Theory of Foreign Aid," The American Political Science Review, 56 (1962), 302.

¹² Alexandr Kaznacheev, Inside a Soviet Embassy (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1962), p. 172.

¹³ It seems to be an unwritten rule of modern international politics—particularly in coun­tries with a Western tradition—that assassination of leaders of hostile states is not an acceptable manner of settling conflicts or achieving objectives. Even Hitler attempted only one assassination (the Austrian chancellor, Dollfuss, in 1934) of a government leader; it is surprising, moreover, that during World War II, Allied leaders never became enthusiastic supporters of the German underground's plots on Hitler's life. Apparently American officials did seriously consider assassinat­ing Fidel Castro, however.

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