LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Covert Action
built 641 days ago
Covert Action is a stunning melange of rapid-fire retro imagery accomplishing Child's proclaimed goal to "disarm my movies." "I wanted to examine the erotic behind the social and remake those gestures into a dance that would confront their conditioning and, as well, relay the multiple fictions the footage suggests (the Ôfacts' forever obscured in the fragments left us). The result is a narrative developed by its periphery, a story like rumor: impossible to trace, disturbing, explosive."
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The Amiga version of Covert Action had a much higher resolution picture of the CIA Director (see screenshots for the PC version). In addition to more facial detail, the Amiga Director had a large "jelly stain" birthmark on his bald head which made him look exactly like former General Secretary of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev.
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Access to the particular copy of the "Program for Covert Action" held at the Eisenhower Library could not be obtained through the FOIA review process. Researchers filed mandatory review requests for the "Program for Covert Action" in 1977 and again in 1979. The CIA denied both requests in full in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Another researcher submitted another request for the document in 1984. Responding in 1986, the CIA permitted the release of portions of the document that had already been declassified under E.O. 12965.
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Covert Action, which handles 4-18 players, is aimed squarely at the Werewolf crowd. Players are part of a covert team (red, blue, green) that must eliminate one member of an opposing team, but your target is a mystery. At the start of the round, players are randomly dealt a card that depicts one of four characters: sniper, agent, cleaner, mole. The sniper of one team must shoot the sniper of another team to win that round. Problem is, you have to figure out who to shoot without being shot yourself.
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Covert Action is best described as a secret agent simulator, with a heavy dose of puzzle and some top-down shooter action. You'll follow the hints all over the world, surveil suspect safehouses, apply wiretaps (which is a puzzle sequence), even go inside and check each and every drawer without arousing suspicion (by keeping VERY quiet). If you're discovered, you'll need to AVOID car chases or you'll end up shooting it out with the bad guys. You can ... "tail" a suspect (with multiple cars) and see if you can find another safehouse or more headquarters to search for clues. You have silenced pistol (or Uzi) and three different types of grenades, plus other high-tech toys.
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The current organization of covert action within the CIA has developed through years of intentional development, but ... through channels such as bureaucratic rivalries and administrative expediency. Examining the possibilities for organizational reform requires evaluating the bureaucracy born out of the Cold War years while constantly keeping in mind the morale and administrative costs to organizational change. For example, if one is considering removing a function of the CIA and turning it over to another bureaucracy, one must take into account the effects such a move will have on people who have been serving the CIA throughout their lifetime and take pride in it as an organization. One of the most pivotal organizational questions was addressed by the Intelligence Community in the 21st Century (IC21) report done by the House of Representatives. This question addresses the propriety of having clandestine activities housed within the same organization as analysis. IC21 suggests that the only reason that clandestine operations and all source analysis are contained within the same agency is that it was believed that for the Director of Central Intelligence to have real control over anything, it would have to be placed in the CIA.
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Covert Action