Editing Plausible deniability (section)

{{Short description|Ability to deny responsibility}}
[[File:2014-03-09 - Perevalne military base - 0116.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Russian soldiers without insignia during the [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation]] in 2014. These so-called "[[Little green men (Russo-Ukrainian War)|little green men]]" have been given as an example of plausible deniability.]]
'''Plausible deniability''' is the ability of people, typically senior officials in a formal or informal [[chain of command]], to [[denial|deny]] knowledge or responsibility for actions committed by or on behalf of members of their organizational hierarchy. They may do so because of a lack of evidence that can confirm their participation, even if they were personally involved in or at least [[willful ignorance|willfully ignorant]] of the actions. If illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become public, high-ranking officials may deny any awareness of such acts to insulate themselves and [[Blame#Blame shifting|shift the blame]] onto the agents who carried out the acts, as they are confident that their doubters will be unable to prove otherwise. The lack of evidence to the contrary ostensibly makes the denial plausible (credible), but sometimes, it makes any accusations only [[cause of action|unactionable]].

The term typically implies forethought, such as intentionally setting up the conditions for the plausible avoidance of responsibility for one's future actions or knowledge. In some organizations, legal doctrines such as [[command responsibility]] exist to hold major parties responsible for the actions of subordinates who are involved in actions and nullify any legal protection that their denial of involvement would carry.

In [[politics]] and especially [[espionage]], deniability refers to the ability of a powerful player or intelligence agency to [[buck passing|pass the buck]] and to avoid [[blowback (intelligence)|blowback]] by secretly arranging for an action to be taken on its behalf by a third party that is ostensibly unconnected with the major player. In political campaigns, plausible deniability enables candidates to stay clean and denounce third-party advertisements that use unethical approaches or potentially libelous innuendo.

Although plausible deniability has existed throughout history, the term is believed to have been coined by the [[CIA]] in the 1950s and was popularized during the [[Watergate scandal]] in the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Harper |first1=Douglas |title=Etymology of plausible |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/plausible |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=7 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref>