Comment by ttyprintk
It’s certainly a relief when polite society can recognize it that way. So, that ends one discussion but starts another. When foreign intelligence is tasked with, say, breaking laws and moral codes in Lebanon; it lives in the shade because we cannot distinguish it from terrorism or organized crime or a financial scam. It’s been this way for a long time and the debate nowadays is whether or not, on balance, we’re prevailing over evil.
Sometime in the 20th century, hot war killed more combatants than civilians and that’s mostly changed with drastic disproportionality. So, intelligence agencies have been forgiven because they describe themselves as non-combatants killing non-combatants to prevent civilian massacres. This explains a change in ideals mid-century.