Dinner Table Discussion

Intelligence Ethics in Counterinsurgency/Counternarcotics Context

William C. Spracher

I will talk about the ethical dilemmas faced by U.S. intelligence personnel in dealing with allies that are confronting insurgency, narcotrafficking, and other transnational threats in a complex environment where the different parties to the conflict are often playing by different sets of rules. I will cover such concepts as counterdrug decertification, official corruption, the rise of narcoterrorism, Article 98 restrictions (related to the International Criminal Court), dealing with paramilitary elements, and respect for human rights in countries where the value placed on human life may be different than our own.

Bill Spracher works as contracted Editor at the Center for Strategic Intelligence Research, Joint Military Intelligence College. A retired Army colonel, he served 30 years in Armor, MI, and the Latin America Foreign Area Officer program. His final active duty tours prior to retirement in 2000 included Army AttachÈ to Peru, Defense AttachÈ to Colombia, and Military Professor/XO at the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, National Defense University. He holds a BS from USMA, an MA in international relations from Yale University, an MMAS in political-military studies from the Army Command and General Staff College, and is a doctoral candidate in George Washington University's Higher Education Administration program, writing his dissertation on intelligence studies in U.S. civilian colleges and universities.