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There are at least two known meanings: - A licence to kill can be defined as an official sanction by a government or government agency to a particular operative or employee to initiate the use of deadly force, presumably in furtherance of the government's aims or policies, or in carrying out the operative's assigned missions and presumably in an assassination or covert context rather than in an overtly military context.[1] It is normally a certificate from a certain government that allows the bearer to use the deadly force previously mentioned without obtaining permission from headquarters first.
- Another use of the term is found when talking about assisted suicide, or discontinuance of life support, editorialists may use the phrase, possibly pejoratively, in reference to government sanction of either action. [2]
While the idea of a licence to kill is known to us from the James Bond novels and films, and has been used at least once by a headline writer[3], in reality, the legitimacy of deadly force usage from country to country is generally controlled by statute law, particular and direct executive orders, the common law, or military rules of engagement. A certificate is an official document affirming some fact. ...
Most modern file systems have methods of administering permissions or access rights to specific users and groups of users. ...
Headquarters (HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are concentrated. ...
The James Bond 007 gun logo James Bond, also known as 007 (pronounced double-oh seven), is a fictional British spy created by writer Ian Fleming in 1953. ...
Deadly force or shoot to kill is that level of force which is inherently likely to cause death or great bodily injury. ...
A statute is a formal, written law of a country or state, written and enacted by its legislative authority, perhaps to then be ratified by the highest executive in the government, and finally published. ...
An executive order is an edict issued by a member of the executive branch of a government, usually the head of that branch. ...
This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...
This article describes the military term of the rules of engagement. ...
The actual existence of a "licence to kill" is debated. Some feel that the term is a mere literary device, popularized by novels and films, while others believe that such a licence exists in at least some countries, whether in the military, police or counter-intelligence services. In the literary sense, the licence is presumed to be a discretionary one, distributed rarely and requiring extensive training to obtain, and it is only granted to a handful of covert agents of a state, in the interest of national security. The agent is not necessarily expected to kill the enemy as part of a mission, but may receive immunity from prosecution for doing so, if, in the agent's estimation, it is necessary to complete the mission. Security measures taken to protect the Houses of Parliament in London, England. ...
In reality, such licences may run afoul of the laws of war: the covert agent would almost certainly be considered a spy or perhaps even a common criminal if murder is committed in a foreign country. For this reason, few governments, if any, are willing to disclose the existence of a licence to kill.
Similar is the Fifth Freedom, possessed by Third Echelon agents in the Splinter Cell series of computer games. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Splinter Cell. ...
Third Echelon is the name of a fictional organization featured in the Splinter Cell series of games manufactured by Ubisoft, endorsed by author Tom Clancy, and since accompanied by a novel with a related plot. ...
The latest game in the series, Chaos Theory was released in 2005 Splinter Cell is a series of video games and novels endorsed by American author Tom Clancy. ...
Notes - ↑ CBS News story A December 4, 2002 story from the CBS News website (www.cbsnews.com) on the CIA having been granted a "license to kill" (US spelling) with meaning essentially as given in the first definition.
- ↑ This meaning was used by at least Mark Alexander in this opinion piece which was widely replicated, with meaning essentially as given in the second definition.
December 4 is the 338th day (339th on leap years) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...
A CBS News Special Report ident card CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. Its current president is Sean McManus who is also head of CBS Sports. ...
The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ...
See also Extreme prejudice is a term coined to discribe the attitude and behavior exhibited by a certain armed force on any particular mission. ...
External links - USA Today editorial DeWayne Wickham editorial of November 6, 2001 arguing against the CIA "license to kill" authority.
- A 2000 BBC television documentary by Olenka Fenkiel, also shown on ABC, about murder of women in Pakistan in situations involving divorce or adultery. [4]
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