News Analysis: Intelligence Fallouts for Bush. “Two
significant flare-ups early in his term — the collision of an American spy plane
and a Chinese fighter, and the mistaken downing of a plane carrying a
missionary family over Peru during an anti-narcotics operation — involved
elements of American intelligence.

By operating in gray areas beyond the scope of other aspects of American
foreign policy, such intelligence operations come with the potential for creating
international incidents, government officials say.” New York Times