Can You Be An Ethical Spy?

The world is full of secrets and there is a special group of professionals who try to expose them; we call them spies. In our movies and books, our spies can do anything they want to get the job done. James Bond has a license to kill. Agents Jay and Kay live complete lives in the shadows. Severus Snape is a jerk. Are spies this untethered in real life? As philosophers, we should really hope not. Cécille Fabre is a Professor of Philosophy and of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University. She is author of more than a half dozen books including the recent Spying through a glass darkly: The Ethics of Espionage and Counter-Intelligence.