Word: covertly
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Kelly's secret contacts with the National Security Council about covert American arms shipments to Iran and American hostages in Lebanon infuriated Shultz, who has testified before Congress that he had limited knowledge about the purchases...
...arms sale had been sent to rebels in Nicaragua. We were assured that the President knew nothing of the extra-legal deal. I don't know whether the White House is telling the truth about that; even if they are, it's no great comfort to learn that covert multi-million dollar arms deals are approved routinely, without the knowledge or consent of the Commander-in-Chief...
This Administration felt itself above the law. It felt justified illegally selling arms to Iran while prosecuting private citizens for doing the same. It aided the Contras in violation of acts of Congress and ignored laws requiring that Congress be notified of covert intelligence operations. This single-minded pursuit of private ends without regard for legitimate means is worse than arrogant; it is a violation of trust. No one is above the law; least of all the chief executive charged with defending...
...American political debate, the words covert and secret have lost all meaning. It is not just that, as the European traveler invariably notes, Americans are more open and informal in their social relations. It is that the very idea of secrecy carries a moral taint. Americans are passionately democratic, and thus acutely sensitive to the contradiction between democracy, with its promise and premise of openness, and the secret world of diplomatic and paramilitary intrigue...
There will be future covert actions, and some are sure to go wrong. No amount of structural tinkering will prevent that. A world of Ayatullahs and Sandinistas is a world that will often demand clandestine deals. The particular deal now unraveling was cockeyed to begin with and probably illegal. Nevertheless, we may have to deal secretly again. If we are going to play the great power game, and ask others to risk their lives to help us win it, we had best accept the need for sordid secrecy. Or give up the game altogether...