Sadly this is not always the case. As stated by Franz Boas, there have been cases where anthropologists "have prostituted science by using it as a cover for their activities as spies"" (1919: 797). .
In Avatar, Jake Sully is conducting fieldwork learning about Na'vi culture under anthropologist Grace Augustine. However, Sully is also feeding this information to the corporation funding the research, a corporation trying to exploit the Na'vi for the rich deposit of minerals under the huge tree which is their home. He tells them how if they "want to hit [the tree] it's going to be complicated " because "there's an outer row of columns, real heavy duty, there's a secondary ring here and an inner ring " explaining how to destroy the home of the natives (Landau and Cameron 2009). While it may be assumed that an atrocity such as this would never happen in real life, that unfortunately is not the case, "some anthropologists applied their skills at the CIA after its inception in 1947", a situation which may certainly stand true today (Price 2000: 25). In 1919 Boas was censured by the AAA for charging four American anthropologists of conducting espionage during World War I in Central America (Price 2000). However, FBI documents released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that at least one of the accused, Samuel Lothrop, had been involved in espionage under the guise of science. "Lothrop's FBI file establishes that during World War I he indeed spied for Navel Intelligence, performing "highly commendable" work in the Caribbean until "his identity as an Agent of Naval Intelligence became known" (Price 2000: 24). Further, his skills were again utilized during World War II when he served in the Special Intelligence Service, a branch of the FBI set up by J. Edgar Hoover "to undertake and coordinate all intelligence activity in Central and South America. " While Lothrop monitored imports, exports and political developments in Lima, Peru, he maintained his cover by pretending to "undertake archaeological investigations.
