Assassins Heed

With the recent drone strike on Al Qaeda head Ayman al Zawahiri and the very public shooting of former Japanese PM Shinzo Ade, it seems the darkest tool of the intelligence world is coming out of the shadows. Assassination is seen by many as an act of morally repugnant barbarism, but regarded by others as the ultimate precision weapon. This week we focus our cross hairs on the application of extra-judicial killing: what actually constitutes an assassination; how and why is it used; and how is its use limited?Target acquired, you are weapons free. Take the shot with this weeks episodeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.