In the course of our erudite discussion of your ass is grass, the question of ‘cover your ass’ was raised. For purposes of retrievability for the throngs in future generations searching for an answer, I am posting this discussion separately.
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Ahmed, This phrase was originally military and arose in the 1950s [probably during the Korean War]. It’s acronym, also widely used, is C.Y.A. This expression saw duty in Viet Nam and is commonly used in government, business, and elsewhere. Some more discrete folks in other lands (see below) use the bowdlerized version “cover
one’s back.”
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Cover means provide protection and in almost any old Western B-movie someone had to say something to the effect, “Cover me Zeke. I’m goin’ in.”

COVER transitive verb, Military: to protect and guard from attack (a soldier, force, or military position) during an expected period of ground combat by taking a position from which hostile troops can be fired upon. <units covering the retreat of the main army> <ships covering approaches to the harbor> <. . . just lawyers’ endless loopholes and cover-your-ass clauses> (Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary and Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary)
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COVER ONE’S ASS/TAIL, slang (vulgar) [mid 1900s to present]. 1) verb phrase: to take measures that will prevent one from suffering blame, loss, harm, etc.; to protect oneself; to act in advance of some hazard to protect one’s interest; to provide or arrange for exculpation; devise excuses and alibis. Cf. C.Y.A. <Some call it ‘risk management,’ others ‘covering your ass’—Toronto Life> <The FBI may have to let you be destroyed to cover its own ass—Nat Hentoff> <CYA, you know, that old French expression that means making sure that when historians write about it all it wont be seen as happening on your shift—Washington Post>. 2) adjective phrase: <writing long cover-your-ass memos—Village Voice>. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary and Slang and Euphemism by Spears, Chapman’s Dictionary of American Slang)
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CASSELL'S DICTIONARY OF SLANG

COVER YOUR ASS verb (also COVER ONE'S ARSE, . . . BACK) [1950s and still in use]

C.Y.A. phrase [1950s and still in use] (originally U.S. military): A phrase meaning look after yourself before worrying about anyone else, be it colleagues, customers, the larger world, whatever; the basic admonition to anyone, at any level, working in government or a large corporation. [abbreviation cover your ass
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AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF IDIOMS

COVER ONE’S ASS / HIDE / ONESELF: Make excuses or otherwise take action to avoid being blamed, punished, or harmed. For example, ‘The first thing you learn in the army is to cover your ass.’ or ‘Jane is ingenious at finding way s to cover her hide. The first phrase, considered vulgar slang, dates form the 1960s: the variant are more polite.
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OXFORD DICTIONARY OF IDIOMS

COVER ONE’S BACK (or North American ASS), Informal: foresee and avoid the possibility of attack or criticism.
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Ken G – June 18, 2003

Thanks Ken. I looked up the verb/noun cover and was truly amazed at the numerous examples given on this word.
Ahmed
BC Canada

Since we have been COVERING OUR ASSES and WATCHING OUR BACKS recently, I figured I should go back and assess the coverage in my above 5-year-old posting. What I found was that it gave short shrift to quotes. And short shifts can lead to one’s ass being uncovered, so to remedy this situation I offer the following:

The earliest quote I found was from 1955, which is in agreement with the above Cassell’s assertion that the expression is from the 1950s and which refutes the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms claim that it is from the 1960s (big deal, huh!):


(quotes from archived sources)
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Ken G – November 13, 2008