The Ethics of Spying, Part I

I haven't had much to say about the whole Pentagon spy broohaha.

The same cannot be said of the late Robert A. Heinlein. On May Day 1960, a U2 spy plane went down in Soviet territory. Heinlein comments on the event in the essay, " 'PRAVDA' Means 'TRUTH' ."

He notes that the U.S. had been successfully conducting reconnaissance with U2s for four years, but that it was an unreported act of intelligence gathering, and was either unknown by the Soviets or wasn't provable in any useful way. Needless to say, the Russian government used the incident to its advantage as a moral indictment of the American government, to which Heinlein responds.

But the nervous nellies among us should stop beating their breasts over the shame of it all. Photo reconnaissance is not the same thing as a bombing run. An overflight by an unarmed plane is not in the same league with what Khrushchev did to Budapest. What we are dealing with here is the security of the United States and - very possibly - the survival, and certainly the freedom, of the entire human race.

Espionage is not illegal under International Law. Neither is it immoral. The penalty for getting caught at it is very high. It usually means the spy's neck. It is not illegal under U.S. laws for us to attempt to spy on the USSR, nor is it illegal under Soviet law for them to attempt to spy on us. Nor, in either case, is it an act of war. Throughout history every country has striven to learn the military secrets of any potential enemy, and to protect its own. Spying is wise and necessary insurance against utter military disaster.

To be continued in "The Ethics of Spying, Part II."

CP @ GMC.