Partly Cloudy

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.

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.