A licence to kill is a licence granted by a

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

government agency A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administrati ...

to a particular operative or employee to initiate the use of lethal force in the delivery of their objectives. The initiation of lethal force is in contrast to the use of lethal force in

self-defence Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force ...

or the protection of life. It is well known as a

literary device A narrative technique (known for literary fictional narratives as a literary technique, literary device, or fictional device) is any of several specific methods the creator of a narrative uses to convey what they want —in other words, a stra ...

used in espionage fiction.

Overview

The legitimacy of deadly force usage from country to country is generally controlled by

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by ...

, particular and direct

executive orders ''Executive Orders'' is a techno-thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and released on July 1, 1996. It picks up immediately where the final events of '' Debt of Honor'' (1994) left off, and features now- U.S. President Jack Ryan as he tries t ...

, the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...

, or

rules of engagement Rules of engagement (ROE) are the internal rules or directives afforded military forces (including individuals) that define the circumstances, conditions, degree, and manner in which the use of force, or actions which might be construed as pro ...

Sir Richard Dearlove Sir Richard Billing Dearlove (born 23 January 1945) was head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), a role known informally as "C", from 1999 until 6 May 2004. He was in his role as head of MI6 during the invasion of Iraq. He was bl ...

, former head of the UK

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intellige ...

MI6, testified in court as part of the 2007–2008 Diana, Princess of Wales Inquest in agreement with a statement that the SIS (MI6) could only use force "likely to cause injury" if specially authorized to do so by the UK

Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwe ...

. Dearlove also testified in the same inquest that he was unaware of anyone ever having been assassinated by MI6 during his time as head from 1999 to 2004. Former

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

agent Matthew Dunn stated that MI6 agents do not need a licence to kill as a spy's primary job is to violate the law in other countries, and if an agent is compromised, they are at the mercy of the authorities of that country. The idea of a licence to kill is popularly known from the ''

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

'' novels and films, where it is signified by the "00" (Double O) designation given to the agents in the series who are licensed to kill; Bond himself is famously agent 007. In literary portrayals, the licence is presumed to be a discretionary one, distributed rarely and requiring extensive training to obtain, granted only to a handful of covert agents of a state in the interest of

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military att ...

. The agent is not necessarily expected to kill enemies as part of a mission, but may receive

legal immunity Legal immunity, or immunity from prosecution, is a legal status wherein an individual or entity cannot be held liable for a violation of the law, in order to facilitate societal aims that outweigh the value of imposing liability in such cases. Su ...

from prosecution (in their own country) if in the agent's opinion, it became necessary to complete it.

References

{{JamesBond Secret Intelligence Service James Bond Homicide Assassinations

Overview

See also

References