Learn more about But fight for what and with whom? A good example is Jonathan Randal of the Cases like this that highlight why journalists and news media need to establish guidelines and internal rules that help protect their But written assurances in a contract will not resolve ethical dilemmas that crop up in the course of a journalist’s work. Clearly, the war against terrorism has raised fundamental moral and ethical issues regarding states, their authorities, and limits on those authorities.Among the recent books addressing these and related issues are Jean Bethke Elshtain’s Elshtain, professor of ethics at the University of Chicago, argues for a set of positions that may startle some intellectuals: Good and evil exist; they can be defined within reasonably stable standards and norms; and individuals or states acting in pursuit of the good have, again under defined conditions, not just the right to struggle against evil, but the responsibility to do so. When the UK government banned radio and television journalists from broadcasting the voices of Sinn Féin leaders and certain other political activists between 1988 and 1994, there were repeated protest by the union. Albert Weinberg and others decades ago developed this line of argument: One may apply in a public setting the same moral and ethical premises applied in personal life and yet obtain a public outcome at odds with that achieved in a personal setting.Beyond the difference between self-sacrifice and indifference to the sacrifice of others, Ignatieff endorses Elshtain’s dismissal of those who appear more eager to explain terrorism than to combat it. First, because the liberal, industrial societies, while vulnerable in any number of ways, are also extraordinarily resilient. At the same time, voices will be heard from within the society under attack to beware of the tendency, in defense of democratic and civilized values, to abandon those very values.While acknowledging the tendency of democratic governments to deal with issues of this sort in ways reminiscent of the often-noted two speeds of Congressional action—If one assumes that one of the purposes of terrorists (and anarchists and other nihilistic movements) is to force their enemies into overreaction, Ignatieff’s cautionary notes are worth heeding. For the case officer suborning a foreign national to commit espionage, ethical issues have always been of central concern. Does the nature of terrorism itself expand the set of options morally and ethically available to real or potential targets? Today, we are a swelling disaster of disorder, mismanagement and corruption, impunity and hopelessness, greed and poverty, selfishness and dysfunction.… At or near the center of Augustine’s view of just war, for example, is the idea that one may sacrifice one’s own life for a cause, but that a public official who chooses to sacrifice not his or her own life but those of others—especially innocent others—enters a very different moral and ethical universe. daily. Counterintelligence techniques, especially, but not exclusively, those involving the treatment and interrogation of prisoners, have a similarly obvious ethical profile. Therefor, in some things there is no justice nor peace. Bernstein, Nina (2002) ‘Should War Reporters Testify, Too? Fox News Channel’s Geraldo Rivera controversially carried a gun along with his camera while reporting from Journalists should also know that although they always run the risk of being captured and shot as spies, international If captured by opposing forces they must be treated as prisoners of war. It also seemed to reduce the viability of the “just war” theory that had been at the center of the intermittent Western discussion on war dating to Augustine. Even if we are not dealing with the application of lethal force, the issues of providing public service in ways that put the public’s needs ahead of our own, and that put the national need ahead of our agencies’ interests, is enough of an ethical burden. The And members of that profession need, for their own sakes and for that of the democratic, lawful society they serve, to spend time thinking about the ethical considerations involving their profession.
In addition to the options below, individuals contact CIA in a variety of creative ways. collection mission, there are many ways to reach us. Depending on what you provide, we may offer you compensation.If you feel it is safe, consider providing these details with your submission:We cannot guarantee a response to every message. provide, including your identity, and our interactions with you will be respectful and But, one could ask, do we not have an obligation to look past bin Laden to the “root causes” of terrorism? However, with limited staff and resources, we simply cannot respond to all who write to us.People from nearly every country share information with CIA, and new individuals contact us