The Doolittle Report was alarmist and heightened fear of the prospect of annihilation by the Soviet Union; it justified the suspension of longstanding American concepts of “fair play” and lent legitimacy to the Covert Activities of the CIA:

We are facing an implacable enemy whose avowed object is world domination by whatever means and at whatever cost. There are no rules in such a game. Hitherto acceptable longstanding American concepts of “fair play” must be reconsidered. We must . . . learn to subvert, sabotage, and destroy our enemies by more clever, sophisticated, and more effective methods than those used against us.