Secret Wars: Covert Conflict in International Politics

359 Pages·2018·4.83 MB·English

by  Austin Carson

SECRET WARS
Princeton Studies in International History and Politics
G. John Ikenberry, Marc Trachtenberg, and William C. Wohlforth,
Series Editors
For a full list of books in this series see
https://press.princeton.edu/catalogs/series/title/princeton-studies-in-international-history-and-
politics.html
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Secret Wars
Covert Conflict in International
Politics
Austin Carson
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD
Copyright © 2018 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press
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All Rights Reserved
ISBN 978-0-691-18176-9
Library of Congress Control Number 2018948536
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
Editorial: Fred Appel and Thalia Leaf
Production Editorial: Brigitte Pelner
Jacket/Cover Design: Amanda Weiss
Jacket/Cover Credit: Men of the 3rd Ranger Company, 3rd Infantry Division, adjust their gear
before undertaking a dawn patrol across the Imjin River, Korea. 17 April 1951. Korea / US Army
Center of Military History
Production: Erin Suydam
Publicity: Tayler Lord
Copyeditor: Karen Verde
This book has been composed in Adobe Text Pro and Gotham
Printed on acid-free paper ∞
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Sarah, Kai, and Zoe. You are my world.
CONTENTS
1 Introduction 1
2 A Limited-War Theory of Secrecy 26
3 The Emergence of Covert Warfare 75
4 The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) 99
5 The Korean War (1950–1953) 142
6 The Vietnam War (1964–1968) 187
7 The War in Afghanistan (1979–1986) 238
8 Conclusion 283
Index 317
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The idea for the book came when I was a graduate student in a superb
creative environment in Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio State graduate
program produced excellent International Relations (IR) scholars during
the time I was there. Several of my fellow Ph.D. students were especially
helpful as I shaped the idea into a dissertation, including Eric
Grynaviski, Jason Keiber, Josh Kertzer, and Eleonora Mattiacci. The IR
faculty at Ohio State created the perfect environment for me to flourish.
Bear Braumoeller, Rick Herrmann, Ted Hopf, Jennifer Mitzen, Randy
Schweller, Alex Thompson, Alex Wendt, and others encouraged us to
creatively analyze the diverse theoretical and empirical world of IR.
Rick, Jennifer, and Randy were critical in helping me mold the idea into
a dissertation as committee members.
Developments in my wife’s career brought me to Washington, D.C.,
and George Washington University, where I wrote every word of the
dissertation that would become this book. Charlie Glaser generously
provided visiting fellowships for two years at his Institute for Security
and Conflict Studies, where I was integrated into a new and vibrant
intellectual community. Several people were especially important to my
development as a scholar and the substance of my project, including
Alex Downes, Elizabeth Saunders, and Caitlin Talmdage. Graduate
students there formed a new peer support group. Particularly important
for comments and friendships were Julia MacDonald, Tristan Volpe,
Lindsey O’Rourke, and Josh Shifrinson.
Princeton’s Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance under
Helen Milner provided much-needed time for converting a messy
dissertation into more polished work. As a postdoctoral fellow, the seeds
of two articles that would later appear in International Organization
(“Facing Off and Saving Face” and “The Spotlight’s Harsh Glare”) were
planted. You could do a lot worse in ten months in central New Jersey.
My friendship and collaboration with Keren Yarhi-Milo also started at
Princeton, for which I remain extremely grateful. Most memorable,
however, was the colorful cohort of postdocs. I spent many hours
laughing with, and learning from, Allison Carnegie, Julia Gray, Jeff
Kucik, Don Leonard, Nimah Mazaheri, Thomas Zeitzoff, and Bo Zhu.
My time at Georgia State was brief but significant. Carrie Manning
and John Duffield were model senior colleagues, both welcoming and
wise in their advice. Shawn Powers and Amelia Arsenault were
colleagues but, more importantly, dear friends who made my time in
Reynoldstown incredibly enjoyable. Their only mistake was selfishly
keeping Fidel the cat. Being a colleague of the incomparable Jelena
Subotic was a highlight. Her advice, solicited and unsolicited, was equal
parts useful and hilarious.
Two experiences before the academy also shaped the book I would go
on to write. One was the decade I spent in competitive policy debate.
While hundreds of coaches, teammates, friends, and rival debaters
contributed along the way, especially important were my head coaches.
Ellen Zwarensteyn watched my first practice debate as a high school
sophomore and coached me to a win in my last debate at the Michigan
state championship. I can never repay her for what she invested in me.
Later, the only thing I cared about while at Michigan State was success
at debate. Will Repko saw talent in me that I couldn’t see myself. His
tactical and strategic acumen, his passion, and his humor were essential
to my achieving success and deeply influenced my intellectual
development.
My time at the Center for Strategic and International Studies was
another formative experience that influenced the ideas in this book.
Immersion in the Washington, D.C., policy environment shaped how I
think about IR and gave me my first taste of archival research. Watching
the run-up to the Iraq War inspired my enduring interest in how
governments use secrecy and intelligence to manage optics. The
opportunity all started with Alex Lennon opening the door to CSIS with
an internship in 2002, for which I remain eternally grateful. My writing
and thinking were vastly improved by the mentorship of Bob Einhorn.
More significantly, he gave me my first salaried job and, later, helped
me get into a great Ph.D. program. I can only hope to emulate his
generosity with the students I now mentor.
Turning to the present, the University of Chicago has been an ideal
environment to complete the book. My colleagues have played an
essential role. I owe a particularly large debt of gratitude to John