I don't mean to be confusing.  Yes, by definition black IE covert ops are definied by the fact that we as a government don't claim responsibility for it.  I prefer to seperate things into the following three categories.

 

Overt - No secrets whats done or who does it.

 

Covert - You know the action was done but you aren't supposed to know who did it, (or at least not be able to prove it)

 

Clandestine - You don't know the action ever occured.

 

What I was talking about earlier is the way the system works, which is just as I said.  Covert action conducted by the U.S. is governed by a very strict set of rules part of that rule set being the funding and and approval processes I discussed above.