Blowback is a term now broadly used in espionage to describe the unintended consequences of covert operations. Blowback typically appears random and without cause, because the public is unaware of the secret operations that provoked it. Spy and Secret agent redirect here. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A covert operation is a military or political activity performed in secrecy that would break specific laws or compromise policy in another country. ...

In its strictest terms, blowback was originally informative only and referred to consequences that resulted when an intelligence agency participated in foreign media manipulation, which was then reported by domestic news sources in other countries as accepted facts. In looser terms, it can encompass all operational aspects. In this context, it can thus mean retaliation as the result of actions undertaken by nations. The phrase is believed to have been coined by the CIA, in reference to the shrapnel that often flies back when shooting an automatic firearm. Media manipulation is an aspect of public relations in which partisans create an image or argument that favours their particular interests. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... It has been suggested that Fragmentation (weaponry) be merged into this article or section. ... M2 machine gun An automatic firearm is a firearm that will continue to load and fire ammunition as long as the trigger (or other activating device) is pressed or until it runs out of ammunition. ...

In the 1980s, blowback became a central focus of the debate over the Reagan Doctrine, which advocated militarily supporting resistance movements opposing Soviet-supported, communist governments. In one case, covert funding of the Contras in Nicaragua would lead to the Iran-Contra Affair, while overt support led to a World Court ruling against the United States in Nicaragua v. United States. This article cites very few or no references or sources. ... The Reagan Doctrine was an important Cold War strategy by the United States to oppose the influence of the Soviet Union by backing anti-communist guerrillas against the communist governments of Soviet-backed client states. ... The Iran-Contra Affair was a political scandal in the United States during the 1980s. ... The World Court refers collectively to the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) and its successor the International Court of Justice (ICJ). ... The Republic of Nicaragua v. ...

Critics of the Reagan Doctrine argued that blowback was unavoidable, and that, through the doctrine, the United States was inflaming wars in the Third World. Doctrine advocates, principally at the conservative Heritage Foundation, responded that support for anti-communist resistance movements would lead to a "correlation of forces," which would topple communist regimes without significant retaliatory consequence to the United States, while simultaneously altering the global balance of power in the Cold War. For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... The Heritage Foundation is a public policy research institute based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ...

See also

• Deniability
• Reagan Doctrine
• Office of Public Diplomacy
• Chalmers Johnson
• João Goulart
• Mohammed Mossadegh
• French Connection
• Guatemala

In politics and espionage, deniability is the ability of a powerful player or actor to avoid blowback by secretly arranging for an action to be taken on their behalf by a third party. ... The Reagan Doctrine was an important Cold War strategy by the United States to oppose the influence of the Soviet Union by backing anti-communist guerrillas against the communist governments of Soviet-backed client states. ... Ad placed by the Young Republicans, one of the groups under the cognizance of the Office of Public Diplomacy and discussed by Oliver North in a March 20, 1985 memorandum. ... Chalmers Ashby Johnson is a professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. ... João Belchior Marques Goulart (March 1, 1918—December 6, 1976) was the last left-wing president of Brazil (1961–March 31, 1964) The surname Goulart is of Azorean-Flemish origin. ... Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh Mohammed Mossadegh ( )(Persian: ‎ ​, also Mosaddegh or Mosaddeq) (19 May 1882 - 5 March 1967) was the democratically elected[1] prime minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953. ... The French Connection was an infamous scheme through which the drug heroin was smuggled from Turkey to France and then to the United States, culminating in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when it provided the vast majority of the heroin consumed in the United States. ...

References

• Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire, by Chalmers Johnson, ISBN 0-8050-6239-4