Conflicted Loyalty in Espionage

by | Quotes

“Every man feels a natural distaste for exposing others whose crimes, however great, seem after all no greater to him than the crimes of the one doing the exposing—and were done, moreover, in complicity with him, and in the bond of mutual trust and secrecy. The short answer is that, in this highly unsatisfactory world, we are not granted the luxury of placing our obligations to our friends on a level equal to, let alone higher than, our obligation to the society that shelters both them and us; and when we join with them in a conspiracy to destroy that society, and then break with them, our obligations to them and to it are fundamentally inconsistent—and the obligation to the society … is paramount.”

Source: Special Counsel (1968)

Keywords: law,governance,foreign-affairs

Author

  • William A. Rusher (1923–2011), publisher of National Review (1957–1988), was a leading conservative spokesman, columnist, and author. He helped draft Barry Goldwater for the 1964 GOP nomination, shaping the party’s future. A Princeton and Harvard Law graduate, he served in WWII, worked in law, and advised the U.S. Senate. In 1989, he became a Distinguished Fellow at the Claremont Institute and remained active in conservative circles until his passing in 2011.

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