COVER. Cover refers to the guise employed by intelligence officers
and installations to disassociate themselves from intelligence activi-
ties. The U.S. government uses three types of cover. Official cover
associates the intelligence officer with a government entity other than
an intelligence agency. Nonofficial cover refers to an association with
a commercial entity. Diversified cover is a combination of official
and nonofficial cover that gives the intelligence officer flexibility to
undertake intelligence operations. See alsoCASE OFFICER.COVERT ACTION. Acovert action is a secret government program
in pursuit of foreign policy objectives by influencing events abroad
in ways unattributable to the U.S. government. Covert action has
long been a foreign policy tool in the repertoire of options available
to U.S. presidents, even before the passage of the National Security
Act of 1947, which set up the outlines of present-day U.S. intelli-
gence. In the early days of the Republic, covert operations played
significant roles in the country’s territorial expansion in North Amer-
ica and in overcoming adversaries in the wars of the 19th century.
The 1947 act made covert action an essential part of the American in-
telligence repertoire by granting the National Security Council
(NSC) the authority to direct “special activities” from time to time.
Various successes in the 1950s thrust covert action into the forefront
of American intelligence methods, but the spectacular failures of the
1960s soured the public’s support of such actions. In the 1970s, the
White House and Congress imposed restrictions and procedural
mechanisms on the conduct of covert operations, most of which re-
main in effect to this day. See alsoAJAX (OPERATION); ASSAS-
SINATIONS; BAY OF PIGS INVASION; COVERT ACTION
PLANNING GROUP; EXECUTIVE ORDER 12333; FINDING;
5412 SPECIAL GROUP; 40 COMMITTEE; HUGHES-RYAN
AMENDMENT; MONGOOSE (OPERATION); OVERSIGHT;
SUCCESS (OPERATION); 303 COMMITTEE.COVERT ACTION PLANNING GROUP (CAPG).The CAPG is an
entity within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that prepares
and reviews covert action findings. Composed of the CIA’s associate
deputy director of operations (DDO), senior CIA staff chiefs, and
those individuals within the CIAwith substantive responsibility for44 • COVER05-398 (2) Dictionary.qxd 10/20/05 6:27 AM Page 44