A is for Assassination (State-Sponsored)

State-sponsored assassination refers to the killing or attempted killing of a prominent individual by agencies of a state or actors operating on their behalf.While assassinations also occur in times of war, much of the attention associated with SSA focuses on peacetime assassination.Here, an individual may be targeted either within the territory of the sponsoring state or outside it.There are several interesting dimensions to this controversial practice.The first -clear in the definition itself -can be understood as the modality of the assassination.This refers to the actors involved.Throughout recent history, the intelligence agencies of various countries -the U.S. CIA, the Israeli Mossad, and the Russian FSB -have carried out assassinations directly, using employees of the agencies themselves.At other times, these agencies have hired contractors for a single operation or have kept contractors on their books for multiple operations.For example, the recent hiring by Iran of criminals and members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (Lucas 2024).Or the CIA's use of agent QJWIN/1, who was involved in both the assassination of Patrice Lumumba and in the ZR/RIFLE plots against Fidel Castro (Trenta 2024).More indirectly, assassination has featured as an explicit or implicit component of broader covert operations, such as regime change.Here, governments have often nurtured, shaped, or manipulated the grievances of local actors.They have provided various types of support to these actors, from financial support to weapons and training, and ultimately, 'turning a blind eye' while local actors kill a target (Trenta 2024).