Blowback ( intelligence ) Blowback is unintended consequence s of a covert operation that are suffered by the aggressor . To the civilians suffering the blowback of covert operations , the effect typically manifests itself as “ random ” acts of political violence without a discernible , direct cause ; because the public — in whose name the intelligence agency acted — are unaware of the effected secret attacks that " provoked revenge " ( counter - attack ) against them . Etymology . Originally , " blowback " was CIA internal coinage denoting the unintended , harmful consequences — to friendly populations and military forces — when a given weapon is used beyond its purpose as intended by the party supplying it . Examples include anti - Western religious figures ( e . g . Osama bin Laden ) who , in due course , attack foe and sponsor ; right - wing counter - revolutionaries who sell drugs to their sponsor ’ s civil populace ( see CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US ) ; and banana republic junta s ( see Salvadoran Civil War ) who kill American reporters or nuns ( e . g . Dorothy Kazel ) . In formal print usage , the term " blowback " first appeared in the " Clandestine Service History — Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran — November 1952 – August 1953 " , the CIA ' s internal history of the 1953 Iranian coup d ' état , sponsored by the US and UK , which was published in March 1954 . Blowback from this operation would indeed occur with the Iranian Revolution and the Iran hostage crisis . Examples of blowback . Nicaragua and Iran - Contra . In the 1980s blowback was a central theme in the legal and political debates about the efficacy of the Reagan Doctrine , which advocated public " and " secret support of anti - Communist counter - revolutionaries . For example , by secretly funding the secret war of the militarily - defeated , right - wing Contras against the left - wing Sandinista government of Nicaragua , which led to the Iran - Contra Affair , wherein the Reagan Administration sold American weapons to US enemy Iran to arm the Contras with Warsaw Pact weapons , and their consequent drug - dealing in American cities . Moreover , in the case of Nicaragua v . United States , the International Court of Justice ruled against the United States ’ secret military attacks against Sandinista Nicaragua , because the countries were not formally at war . Reagan Doctrine advocates , such as the Heritage Foundation , argue that support for anti - Communists would topple Communist régimes without retaliatory consequences to the United States and help win the global Cold War . Israel and Hamas . Another often cited example is Israeli support of Islamic movements in the 1970s and 1980s intended to weaken the PLO , and leading to the creation of Hamas . With its takeover of Gaza after the 1967 war with Egypt , Israel hunted down secular Palestinian Liberation Organization factions but dropped the previous Egyptian rulers ' harsh restrictions against Islamic activists . In fact , Israel for many years tolerated and at times encouraged Islamic activists and groups as a counterweight to the secular nationalists of the PLO and its dominant faction , Fatah . Among the activists benefited was Sheikh Ahmed Yassin , leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza , who had also formed the Islamist group Mujama al - Islamiya in 1973 , a charity recognized by Israel in 1979 . Israel allowed the organization to build mosques , clubs , schools , and a library in Gaza .