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A covert or clandestine operation that is considered highly illegal or unethical, often involving extreme measures (e.g., assassinations, staged terrorism) and is strictly deniable.
Case File: Operation Phoenix (Vietnam War): targeted assassinations of suspected Viet Cong members by the CIA.
A small, secret group or faction of individuals who unite to pursue a specific, often self-interested, political agenda.
Case File: The ‘Cabal’ within the Nixon administration involved in the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up.
An operation where the entire action is hidden and intended to remain secret. The public is not meant to know the operation ever occurred. (e.g., Project MKUltra).
Case File: CIA’s Project MKUltra (1953–1973): a secret program experimenting with mind control using LSD without public knowledge.
An operation where the action itself is observable, but the sponsor (the government) is hidden or denied. The goal is plausible deniability. (e.g., Arming a foreign militia, but making it look like an independent act).
Case File: Iran-Contra Affair (1980s): U.S. secretly sold weapons to Iran and funded Nicaraguan rebels, while denying involvement.
An academic term for a network of entrenched, non-elected officials and interests (e.g., in the intelligence, military, or financial sectors) who are hypothesized to operate with their own agenda, independent of the elected political leadership.
Case File: Turkey’s ‘Derin Devlet’—a real network of officials and military officers operating outside civilian control.
The intentional creation and dissemination of false information to deceive the public or a foreign government.
Case File: Soviet Operation INFEKTION: spread the false story that the U.S. created HIV/AIDS as a bioweapon.
An action taken by the state that operates outside the bounds of established law, such as an assassination (extra-judicial killing) or kidnapping (extraordinary rendition).
Case File: CIA drone strikes targeting individuals without trial in foreign nations post-9/11.
A specific type of black operation where an act is committed by one party (e.g., a state agency) but is intentionally disguised to make it appear as if it were committed by another party (a different nation, a domestic group).
Case File: Gleiwitz Incident (1939): Nazi Germany staged a fake Polish attack to justify invading Poland.
A term from political analysis (popularized by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky) describing how public opinion is managed and manipulated by state and corporate media to the point where the public accepts a political agenda without coercion.
Case File: Media framing during the 2003 Iraq War to justify invasion based on weapons of mass destruction.
The dissemination of false information, where the intent is not necessarily malicious (though it can be). Disinformation is always malicious.
Case File: Incorrect early reports during the 9/11 attacks claiming multiple planes or explosions beyond actual events.
The act of deliberately making information obscure, unclear, or unintelligible to conceal the truth.
Case File: The Pentagon Papers revealed decades of misleading reports about the Vietnam War’s progress.
A structure that co-exists with the official, legitimate government but holds the actual decision-making power.
Case File: During WWII, Vichy France acted as a puppet regime under Nazi control while claiming legitimacy.
The core principle. This is the intentional creation of a power structure or paper trail that allows senior officials to truthfully (or plausibly) deny any knowledge of or responsibility for a covert action.
Case File: Bay of Pigs invasion (1961): U.S. involvement was denied even as CIA-trained exiles led the assault on Cuba.
The use of propaganda, disinformation, and other informational tactics to influence the emotions, motives, and objective reasoning of a target population.
Case File: Operation Mockingbird: alleged CIA program to influence media and journalists during the Cold War.
The formal policy of withholding information from the public, typically through a classification system (e.g., Confidential, Secret, Top Secret). This is the bureaucratic mechanism of concealment.
Case File: NSA’s PRISM surveillance program remained classified until Edward Snowden’s leaks (2013).
© 2026 Awake Or Not. All rights reserved.