This brief essay examines ethical considerations surrounding two military and politically-charged events, one in 1960 and the other in 1968. Ethical guidelines help military personnel find practical and professional ways to face moral challenges and dilemmas “to enable and motivate them to act professionally in the discharge of their professional obligations” (Cook & Syse, 2010, p. 119).
The U-2 incident occurred as the U.S. was gathering data on Soviet missile sites. President Eisenhower affirmed the value and continued use of U-2 flights for important reconnaissance data needed to negotiate with the Russians who were withholding vital weapons information. With the threat of nuclear war, the responsibility to protect freedom everywhere and the need to track nuclear arms in the Soviet Union, this reconnaissance initiative was ethically justified on the grounds it was done with an unarmed aircraft piloted by a CIA civilian contractor (not U.S. military personnel), helped prepare effective defenses and protect against surprise Russian attacks. The U.S. Congress found the pilot “acted in the best traditions of the U.S. Military” (Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Boyhood Home, n.d.; Office of the Historian, n.d.; Daily Mail Reporter, 2012).
The U.S. Department of State (1968, as cited in USS PUEBLO Veteran’s Association) claimed the USS Pueblo (like vessels of other nations) had every right to be in international waters under “sovereign immunity on the high seas” and that its mission “was important to the security of the United States.” This 1968 incident occurred as the Vietnam War escalated and only a few days after North Korea attempted to assassinate South Korea’s President Park Chung-hee (Talmadge, 2013; Hickman, 2015). The Navy and NSA requested the Pueblo mission to gather data on Korean coastal defenses and vessels (Prados & Cheevers, 2014). A large amount of classified data was seized. This was not a planned intrusion into North Korea. It was one of several efforts to document threats to U.S. security. In light of urgent national security needs, it was an ethical mission.
Alternatives were considered in each situation. President Johnson rejected military force and prepared contingency plans while using diplomatic initiatives to retrieve the USS Pueblo vessel and its crew (Lerner, 2002). The Pueblo incident placed the U.S. in a precarious position that only diplomatic efforts could defuse (Talmadge, 2013). Use of military force would have inflamed each situation and could have provoked escalated military action. Both incidents were ethically justified based on the urgent and continuous need for data to protect U.S. security and freedom.
References
Cook, M.L. & Syse, H. (2010). Editorial: What Should We Mean by ‘Military Ethics’? Journal
of Military Ethics, 9(2), 119-122. Retrieved from DOI:10.1080/15027570.2010.491320
Daily Mail Reporter. (2012, June 9). Justice at last for hero pilot who spent two years in
Soviet prison as he is awarded posthumous medal five decades after being shot down in Cold War spy plane. Daily Mail.com. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2156991/Pilot-infamous-U-2-spy-plane-flight-shot-1960-U-S-S-R-receive-posthumous-medal.html
Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Boyhood Home. (n.d.). The U-2 Spy Plane
Incident. Retrieved from http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/u2_incident.html
Hickman, K. (12 Aug 2015). Cold War: USS Pueblo Incident. Retrieved
Lerner, M. (13 Nov 2002). The USS Pueblo Incident. Retrieved
Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State. (n.d.).
Milestones: 1953-1960/U-2 Overflights and the Capture of Francis Gary Powers, 1960. Retrieved from https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/u2-incident
Prados, J., & Cheevers, J. (Eds.). 2014). USS Pueblo: LBJ Considered Nuclear Weapons, Naval
Blockade, Ground Attacks in Response to 1968 North Korean Seizure of Navy Vessel, Documents Show. Retrieved from http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB453/
Talmadge, E. (2013). North Korea Displays USS Pueblo, Captured U.S. Ship. Retrieved
USS PUEBLO Veteran’s Association. (2010). The PUEBLO Incident. Retrieved
