62:, black reconnaissance took on a slightly different meaning, where it indicated a form of recon for a surprise attack that if discovered, meant the attack would have to be redesigned or even abandoned. Many elements incorporated into modern black reconnaissance efforts were pioneered by World War II fighters and ground recon crews.
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ramifications, and the lives of those conducting the reconnaissance are secondary. In the case that a black recon effort is discovered, the government denies any involvement. For air-related black recon the usual explanation given is equipment failure and drifting off course, while ground-based black
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often incorporate both ground-based and air-based black reconnaissance concepts in their books, and movies such as the Bourne series blur the lines between "civilian" intelligence methods and "military" intelligence methods. It appears quite commonly in various
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of a completely covert nature. It is distinct from normal forms of covert recon in that discovery of the action would be so disruptive to relations between two countries that the instigators would be
74:, by all sides of the war. The fastest fighters were stripped of everything except fuel, painted matte black, and flew at night, trying to identify bombing targets, locate fleets, and the like. The
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and other military forms of recon in that covert operations are kept secret to protect the lives of the team conducting the mission. Black recon is kept secret because discovery would lead to
55:. The fact that such elements are incorporated into the reconnaissance mission is because most times, this will be the only reconnaissance allowed before a military action is taken.
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Black reconnaissance is also not a form of espionage, per se. The primary objective of black reconnaissance is to perform a military task, not to engage in any form of non-military
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Intelligence, Espionage and
Related Topics: An Annotated Bibliography of Serial Journal and Magazine Scholarship, 1844-1998. James D. Calder. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999.
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120:, most black reconnaissance is now of a ground nature, mixing standard reconnaissance objectives such as mapping terrain and identifying targets with
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objectives, political assessments, and designing mission specifications to avoid ambushes. Missions of this nature were run constantly during the
144:, were carried out in many cases by soldiers who carried no manner of identification, and did not carry American weapons as a method to increase
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They Could Not Trust the King: Nixon, Watergate, and the
American People. Stanley Tretick, William Vincent Shannon. Collier Books, 1974
140:, where they not only acted to scout military objectives but to identify psy-war targets. These missions, predominantly conducted by
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105:. This was a back and forth effort on the part of the two superpowers and lead to the development of single-use planes such as the
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to overfly Soviet airspace to locate the positions of missile silos, and by Soviet planes using MAD or FLIR gear to locate US
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novels have been written on the topic of black recon and its effects on the world sphere. Authors such as
Richard Moran and
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The End of
Nowhere: American Policy Toward Laos Since 1954. Charles A. Stevenson. Beacon Press, 1972.
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Reconnaissance Force for Urban Ground Combat
Operations By Russell W. Glenn, Jamison Jo Medby,
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Warfare.Norman
Friedman, United States Naval Institute Press. Naval Institute Press, 2000.
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Black
Reconnaissance: Trust in the era of Distrust. Jacob L. Phillips. Diamond Press, 2001.
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was fitted out with special planes just for this purpose, and used them in preparing for
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363:"A Proposed Aviation Training Strategy to Ensure Relevancy in the Objective Force"
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Most BRCON was traditionally conducted by specially constructed spy planes of the
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Research
Institute (U.S.), Scott Gerwehr, Fred Gellert, Andrew O'Donnell.
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USS Ranger: The Navy's First
Carrier from Keel to Mast, 1934-1946
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Black reconnaissance is different from more common terms such as
492:
They Cast No
Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati,
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Conspiracy Encyclopedia: The Encyclopedia of Conspiracy Theories
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216:"The Coming Wars : what the Pentagon can now do in secret"
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The earliest black reconnaissance missions were flown during
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recon is usually explained away as someone violating orders.
468:. Thom Burnett, Richard Belfield. Collins & Brown, 2005.
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Seapower and Space: From the Dawn of the Missile Age to
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1935-1946. Dennis Conroy. Trafford Publishing, 2003.
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35:Comparison to other forms of covert action
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445:. Xlibris Corporation. pp. 111–.
248:Honing the Keys to the City: Refining
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148:in the event of capture or death.
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442:Forgotten People, Forgotten Times
128:, along with other elements of
361:Johnson, Robert (2002-04-05).
344:. Washington, D.C.:Brassey's.
250:the United States Marine Corps
19:or BRCON is a term describing
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439:V.H. Markle (10 June 2014).
340:Cressman, Robert J. (2003).
103:ballistic missile submarines
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53:intelligence gathering
312:The Best of Luck: In
146:plausible deniability
97:, using high powered
17:Black reconnaissance
494:Revisionist History
314:the Royal Air Force
167:conspiracy theories
132:, operating out of
152:In popular culture
538:Covert operations
510:978-0-595-21957-5
482:978-1-84340-287-9
452:978-1-4990-3015-0
428:978-0-8070-0252-0
404:978-0-313-29290-3
330:978-1-4120-0910-2
302:978-1-55750-897-3
274:978-0-8330-3311-6
116:After the end of
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156:Quite a few
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118:the Cold War
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72:World War II
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60:World War II
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286:Net-centric
126:Vietnam War
31:if caught.
522:Categories
474:1843402874
377:2008-09-29
322:1412009103
226:2008-09-29
222:. CondeNet
189:References
162:John Ringo
111:Tsybin RSR
76:USS Ranger
41:covert ops
528:Espionage
183:Black ops
45:political
29:disavowed
260:, 2003.
177:See also
142:MACV-SOG
134:Cambodia
93:against
21:military
158:fiction
99:cameras
82:in the
58:During
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122:HUMINT
107:SR-71
66:Types
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392:ISBN
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318:ISBN
298:ISBN
290:ISBN
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262:ISBN
138:Laos
136:and
373:(4)
171:CIA
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