Reagan Cold War Case Study

Words: 1075
Pages: 5

Among the case studies we reviewed this week , the issued policy was the common denominator and , also , the cause of success or failure . Policy did not only drive the action , impacted each covert operation and determined the outcome . Ideally speaking , policy should define the objective(s) of the mission & spells clearly what needs to be done . Such a succinct directive becomes the driving engine for any foreign policy conduct , overt or covert , and provides a bench mark to ascertain measurable results .
From our readings this week , realities are different .
It is no secret that the U.S. national security during the cold was focused on the Soviet Union actions & Intentions. As such, all covert activities ( Propaganda , Political / economic actions/ Paramilitary & the lethal use of covert actions) were deployed to produce the most tangible successes . To many scholars, war is thought of as the last resort of diplomacy and , consequently , covert operations should be considered when diplomatic efforts have begun to fail, but an overt military strike is not yet politically or operationally feasible.” (Henry, 2005). 1
In December 1979 , the
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With that in mind , it is easy to play the role of Monday quarterback and question if supplying the Mujahideen with stingers was a “prudent “policy ? By the same token , was it possible to predict the schism amongst the Mujahideen ? Marred with speculation & lack of a crystal ball , trying to read the future with questions questions would only produce more of them , “An investigation of the Stinger case, however, reveals that covert-action decision making is not very different from more mundane political matters— replete with rival constituencies, fluid coalitions, legislative lobbying, and as-sorted backbiting”. (Kuperman,