Intelligence—both the capability and the services it provides — is a tool available to presidents for use in conducting foreign policy. Precedents for presidential use of intelligence were set early in the history of the United States, beginning with the Sons of Liberty organizations that were created in 1775 to bring patriots together in common cause and to gather information against the British foe. These organizations later were transformed into the Committees of Correspondence, which acted as the first American intelligence agencies. The Continental Congress incorporated the Committees of Correspondence into its legislative structure and then evolved them into the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, which until World War II was the principal congressional committee responsible for overseeing American foreign relations.
During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington ran his own spy group—the Culper Ring—and successfully laid down principles governing intelligence secrecy and the provision of secret funding of intelligence. By the time Washington became president, the young United States already had a hero in the person of Nathan Hale, whose statue, with the inscription “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,” now stands in front of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) headquarters in McLean, Virginia. Benjamin Franklin also ran his own spies in London, where he was an emissary, and made arms deals with the French. He also engaged in double-agent operations, which were common in the late 1700s, inaugurating the field of counterintelligence that would not be fully incorporated into U. S. intelligence until two hundred years later.
George Washington’s successors also undertook ad hoc intelligence operations, mostly to accommodate the young country’s expansionist aims, or what later became known as “manifest destiny.” For example, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803 to scout out the American Northwest and bring back detailed information and maps about the lay of the land and the people living on it. In 1811, President James Madison approved a covert operation to steal Florida from the Spanish and sent an agent to negotiate with the Spaniards to bring Florida into the United States peacefully. Instead, the agent, against orders, fomented rebellion by the English-speaking inhabitants, prompting President Madison to disavow the agent and his operation. The debacle caused a rift with Spain, but the United States acquired Florida in 1819.
This kind of ad hoc and unformulated intelligence effort remained the norm until after the Civil War. Taking advantage of discontent among Mexican citizens, for example, American military commanders during the Mexican-American War (1845-1848) were able to form temporary intelligence units to serve their military needs. The Mexican Spy Company was one of the more successful.
The Civil War accelerated intelligence activities on both sides to some degree, principally because of the impact of new technologies. The railroad made long-distance travel economical and easy. The observation balloon and the telegraph created opportunities for intelligence collection. That both sides had a common language and culture helped make espionage a prominent feature of the strategic landscape. Yet, most intelligence operations were the personal efforts of various military commanders, even though both sides tried to establish formal intelligence capabilities, with little success. The South’s Confederate Secret Service and Allan Pinkerton’s efforts on behalf of the Union are examples of this.
As the side rebelling against an established government, the Confederates undertook more intelligence operations than the Union, engaging in such covert actions as shipping arms and supplies to sympathizers, guerrilla warfare, and sabotage. For example, Confederate president Jefferson Davis created an intelligence operation that involved the opening of a land route between Maryland and Virginia for the covert movement of people and money to finance the South’s war effort. In addition, according to one account, the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln was a Confederate covert operation, intended to kidnap Lincoln and hold him hostage.
World History
