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This section of E.O. 11905 stated, “Prohibition of Assassination. No employee of the United States
Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination.”
Congressional Research Service ˜˜ The Library of Congress
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Order Code RS21037
Updated January 4, 2002
Assassination Ban and E.O. 12333:
A Brief Summary
Elizabeth B. Bazan
Legislative Attorney
American Law Division
Summary
In the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the New York World
Trade Center and the Pentagon, some attention has been focused upon the assassination
ban contained in Executive Order (E.O.) 12333, Section 2.11, and whether it would
prohibit the United States from responding to the attacks by targeting those who
orchestrated these acts of terrorism. In considering the challenges involved in effectively
combating terrorism and protecting the United States from future terrorist attacks, there
has been wide-ranging debate as to what approaches might be beneficial. Part of that
discussion has centered around whether assassination of terrorist leaders is, or should be,
one of the options available. This report offers a summary discussion of the assassination
ban in E.O. 12333, its context, and possible interpretations of its scope.
On December 4, 1981, President Ronald Reagan issued Executive Order 12333 on
“United States Intelligence Activities.” Section 2.11 of the order provides: “Prohibition on
Assassination. No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government
shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.” Section 2.12 of the order prohibits
indirect participation in activities prohibited by the order, stating: “Indirect participation.
No agency of the Intelligence Community shall participate in or request any person to
undertake activities forbidden by this Order.” E.O. 12333 is still in force.
E.O. 12333 is the latest in a series of three executive orders which included assassination
bans. The first, Executive Order 11905, Sec. 5(g),
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41 Fed. Reg. 7703, 7733 (President
Gerald Ford, 2/19/76), was part of an executive order issued by President Ford in response
to concerns raised in the 1970's with respect to alleged abuses by the U.S. intelligence
community. A select committee chaired by Senator Frank Church (the Church Committee),
in its interim report, addressed allegations of possible U.S. involvement in assassination plots
against certain foreign leaders. In its recommendations section, the Church Committee
