Executive action

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Executive Action is also the title of a 1973 movie about the JFK assassination. See Executive Action (movie)

Executive Action was the term used by the CIA starting in the early 1950s to refer to their assassination operations. These operations were often conducted by the CIA's Division D, a subsection of the agency's Directorate of Operations. "Executive Action" operations by the CIA ranged from an attempt to kill Fidel Castro using a cigar injected with Botulism toxin to a purported plan to kill rebel leader Che Guevara. The Ford administration outlawed assassination in 1976 with Executive Order 11905. A Wasington Post article, c. 1989, reported that a 'secret' ruling of the U.S. Department of State's Office of Legal Advisor interpreted Ford's Executive Order to ban only intentional killings of foreign leaders, thius clearing the way for 'accidental' killings of foreign leaders ---for example, during the confusion of a coup or invasion. As this ruling was one of at least four preceding the U.S. invasion of Panama, some saw the ruling as giving a green light for Noriega to be killed 'accidentally.'