Richard Lowry

About the author: Richard Lowry is editor of the National Review.

The CIA should be permitted to assassinate leaders of nations with which the United States is at war. The ban on CIA assassinations, which was issued in 1976 by then-president Gerald Ford, was a wrong-headed decision made as a result of national guilt over the Vietnam War. The ban is not required by international laws governing war. In fact, it is lawful to employ any method used to kill enemy soldiers to kill an enemy leader. Targeted killings are also morally superior to other wartime policies such as all-out war, which harms more people than assassination, or economic sanctions, which harm civilians. The fact that the CIA has bungled some assassination attempts is no reason to ban targeted killings.

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