Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence

After a stroke in 1869, Pinkerton left the management of his detec-

tive agency to his sons and focused on writing several books, which

extolled his achievements as an intelligence master sleuth.

PINOCHET, AUGUSTO (1915– ). General Augusto Jose Ramon

Pinochet Ugarte was the head of the military government that ruled

Chile from 1973 until 1990. Pinochet came to power with the ouster

of President Salvador Allendeon 11 September 1973 and quickly

consolidated power by organizing a military junta, which proclaimed

Pinochet president on 27 June 1974. Pinochet’s government insti-

tuted market-oriented economic policies and set out systematically to

repress its political opponents though mass arrests and murders. No

one really knows how many people “disappeared” for opposing the

Pinochet government, but estimates run into several thousand. De-

spite repression, opposition to the Pinochet government during the

1980s grew to such an extent that Pinochet was compelled to sched-

ule a plebiscite on 5 October 1988, which went against his govern-

ment. The general left the presidency on 11 March 1990 but contin-

ued as the commander in chief of the army. In 1998, while traveling

abroad, Pinochet was arrested on a Spanish warrant of torturing

Spanish citizens, but the British court refused to extradite him on hu-

manitarian grounds. Pinochet returned to Chile, and on 20 July 2004,

a Chilean court began an investigation into the origins of Pinochet’s

funds for fraud, misappropriation of official money, and bribery.

PLAUSIBLE DENIAL. Plausible denial refers to a coverstory em-

ployed to deflect attribution from the United States government, es-

pecially the president, for covert intelligence activities. Prior to the

imposition of the findingrequirement, most covert actionscon-

tained elements of plausible deniability. However, the finding

process, which requires the president to certify over his signature that

the covert action is in the national interest of the United States, has

made plausible denial redundant. Covert action programs must still

maintain secrecy, but findings now attribute covert operations di-

rectly to the president.

PLOUGHSHARES (PROGRAM).The Ploughshares program was in-

tended to explore the nonmilitary uses of explosive nuclear devices.

PLOUGHSHARES (PROGRAM)• 155

05-398 (2) Dictionary.qxd 10/20/05 6:27 AM Page 155