Overview

Partly Cloudy: Ethics in War, Espionage, Covert Action, and Interrogation explores a number of wrenching ethical issues and challenges faced by our military and intelligence personnel. David L. Perry provides a robust and practical approach to analyzing ethical issues in war and intelligence operations, and applies careful reasoning to issues of vital importance today, not only for soldiers, spies, and policymakers, but also for the citizens they serve and protect. The topics addressed in this book range widely between a just-war analysis of Shakespeare's Henry V to an exploration of the nature and scope of ethics to the CIA's original ""social contract."" Other topics examined include objective moral principles versus subjectivist and relativist challenges; absolute duties versus prima facie obligations; cultivating moral wisdom; comparative religious views on killing and war; anticipating and preventing atrocities in war; secrecy and democratic accountability; a short history of Russian intelligence; employing espionage to penetrate hostile regimes and terrorist cells; covert political influence, coups, and targeted killings; the question of torture in interrogating detainees; and practical peacemaking strategies.

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9780810867581

Table of Contents

Reviews

A useful contribution to military ethics writing and a good general introduction to the field. It is recommended. Parameters: Us Army and War College Quarterly Recommended. CHOICE, March 2010 With Partly Cloudy, David Perry has made a substantial and timely contribution to current thinking on ethical issues surrounding both intelligence work, and war in general. His book highly deserves the close attention and discussion it is likely to generate among military and other ethicists and professionals. -- Eric Jens International Journalof Intelligence Ethics David Perry! is eminently qualified to discuss the sort of ethical problems that can (and often do) arise in the conduct of war and intelligence operations. ! [His] background, combined with Perry's years of research in open-source material on the work of military and intelligence personnel, his conversations with members of those professions that has yielded both frightening and heart-rendering testimony from soldiers and intelligence operative, and his careful and always balanced ethical analyses, make for a uniquely rich and discerning narrative. He also writes in an accessible and engaging style, which makes his books a delight to read!. There is much to admire in Partly Cloudy !. I warmly recommend this book to military officers, intelligence personnel, and anyone who wants to understand better the often difficult moral issues that arise in connection with the activities Perry describes. Philosophy In Review When it comes to situations involving war, assassinations, bombing, torture, imprisonment of people without trial or conviction, or other similar acts, we may react without much thought regarding morality and ethics, when the harm is directed at our society. This book is an opportunity for the reader, whether a practitioner or not, to step back and ask why? International Association For Intelligence Education, September 2009 David L. Perry's 2009 book, Partly Cloudy: Ethics in War, Espionage, Covert Action, and Interrogation, makes significant contributions to the ongoing discourse on some of the thorniest issues in military ethics. Perry has a solid background in theology and philosophy and taught ethics for several years to senior military officers and policy-makers at the US Army War College. As a result, he is well-versed in the Just War tradition and the current range of international scholarship in the field. This allows him to provide the reader with rich background and context for modern debates on subjects such as torture. He offers incisive analyses of established perspectives alongside his own original insights. Partly Cloudy will have value both to those who desire to remain current in the literature and those seeking a quality text for a course on the ethics of war!. The outlook for ethics in war, espionage, covert action, and interrogation may indeed be Partly Cloudy, but Dave Perry's clear-eyed contemplation of these murky matters is enlightening. Journal Of Military Ethics

A useful contribution to military ethics writing and a good general introduction to the field. It is recommended. Parameters: Us Army and War College Quarterly Recommended. CHOICE, March 2010 With Partly Cloudy, David Perry has made a substantial and timely contribution to current thinking on ethical issues surrounding both intelligence work, and war in general. His book highly deserves the close attention and discussion it is likely to generate among military and other ethicists and professionals. -- Eric Jens, 2009 International Journalof Intelligence Ethics David Perry... is eminently qualified to discuss the sort of ethical problems that can (and often do) arise in the conduct of war and intelligence operations. ... [His] background, combined with Perry's years of research in open-source material on the work of military and intelligence personnel, his conversations with members of those professions that has yielded both frightening and heart-rendering testimony from soldiers and intelligence operative, and his careful and always balanced ethical analyses, make for a uniquely rich and discerning narrative. He also writes in an accessible and engaging style, which makes his books a delight to read... There is much to admire in Partly Cloudy ... I warmly recommend this book to military officers, intelligence personnel, and anyone who wants to understand better the often difficult moral issues that arise in connection with the activities Perry describes. Philosophy in Review When it comes to situations involving war, assassinations, bombing, torture, imprisonment of people without trial or conviction, or other similar acts, we may react without much thought regarding morality and ethics, when the harm is directed at our society. This book is an opportunity for the reader, whether a practitioner or not, to step back and ask why? International Association for Intelligence Education, September 2009 David L. Perry's 2009 book, Partly Cloudy: Ethics in War, Espionage, Covert Action, and Interrogation, makes significant contributions to the ongoing discourse on some of the thorniest issues in military ethics. Perry has a solid background in theology and philosophy and taught ethics for several years to senior military officers and policy-makers at the US Army War College. As a result, he is well-versed in the Just War tradition and the current range of international scholarship in the field. This allows him to provide the reader with rich background and context for modern debates on subjects such as torture. He offers incisive analyses of established perspectives alongside his own original insights. Partly Cloudy will have value both to those who desire to remain current in the literature and those seeking a quality text for a course on the ethics of war... The outlook for ethics in war, espionage, covert action, and interrogation may indeed be Partly Cloudy, but Dave Perry's clear-eyed contemplation of these murky matters is enlightening. Journal of Military Ethics

With Partly Cloudy, David Perry has made a substantial and timely contribution to current thinking on ethical issues surrounding both intelligence work, and war in general. His book highly deserves the close attention and discussion it is likely to generate among military and other ethicists and professionals.--Eric Jens International Journalof Intelligence Ethics

Author Information

David L. Perry is director of the Vann Center for Ethics at Davidson College in North Carolina. From 2003 to 2009 he was professor of ethics at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

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